supported by Gillingham Town CouncilGillingham (Dorset) Fair Trade Campaign
promoting fair trade world wide and locally
campaigning to make Gillingham a Fairtrade town
www.gillinghamfairtrade.org.uk
supported by Gillingham Town Council
website under construction
Two billion people – a third of humanity – still survive on less than $2 a day. Unfair trade rules keep them in poverty, but they face the global challenges of food shortages and climate change too. Fairtrade is a people’s movement for change that aims to tip the balance of trade in favour of poor producers. We all need Fairtrade more than ever and we all have the power to create positive change for people and planet.
Events during this fortnight - including banana eating as part of the "Go bananas for Fairtrade!"
See the events page for details
(we promise not to disclose your e-mail address to others or use it for any other purpose)
news relating to our campaign will be added here - once we've got going and have some!
Keep up-to-date with news from the Fairtrade Foundation
Since to be a "Fairtrade Town" requires the support of the Town Council (and Gillingham Town Council has made the change and is supporting this campaign), the area we are looking to cover is that covered by the Town Council, i.e. including Milton-on-Stour but not other villages.
However, if other neighbouring villages would like to share in Gillingham events as part of their own efforts to become a "Fairtrade Village" we will be very pleased to work together.
All of our supermarkets in the town sell some Fairtrade products as well as at least 3 other shops, and at least 3 of the churches actively support Fairtrade. There are also caterers serving Fairtrade tea / coffee. I'm sure there are many individuals out there supporting Fairtrade too. We also have at least 2 shops and 2 Traidcraft stalls selling other fair trade goods.
We have set up a small Steering Group to run the Campaign and to help us achive and maintain Fairtrade town status. More welcome! Ideally the group should have representatives from churches, schools, businesses and the council. But most importantly it should have members who are fully committed to the Campaign and willing to give some time to it. Helpers and contacts will also be welcome who do not wish to be part of a Steering Group.
We will be assessing what support for fair trade there is already, as well as organising and publicising events to generate more. Groups may like to have speakers talk to them about fair trade. So there will be lots of different ways in which people can contribute depending on your skills, abilities and freetime.
If you are interested in being involved - as a member of the steering group or a helper - please contact me.
Teresa Campaign Co-ordinator
"Fair trade" - normal English: trade that is fair. We want to know that producers have not been exploited when we shop - whether they work in Gillingham or the other side of the world.
But the expression "fair trade" has come to mean trade that is fair from parts of the world that experience serious poverty, where many have been emplyed or had to sell the goods they produce at wages that are not adequate for even a very basic acceptable standard of living. It covers all sorts of goods, but particularly paper and craft goods, as well as those which have Fairtrade accreditation. (This is generally how we will use the term fair trade on this website)
"Fairtrade" is the term used for those products ("commodities" - mostly food, but also cotton and 1 or 2 other raw materials).
Our campaign will encourage the support of local producers, but concentrate on fair trade:
helping people to work themselves out of poverty
images on this page © Simon Rawles/Marcus Lyon
