Including More People/Pilots

Only through innovation can we expand the reach and deepen the impact of Fair Trade for rural families. Toward that end, we are slowly and carefully implementing a series of pilot programs to determine best practices for delivering more impact to more people. 

For over a decade, FLO has had rigorous Fair Trade standards for farm workers on banana, tea, and flowers estates. We have personally visited many of these farms, spoken with the workers, and witnessed a strong experience of empowerment and impact within their communities. We are now simply extending this positive experience to farm workers and their families in coffee and, eventually, in other crops. We believe the Fair Trade movement has a calling to be more inclusive and to embrace the needs of the entire rural community, including farm laborers on larger farms, many of whom have family members that are part of a cooperative.

Similarly, FLO standards have served independent small farmers (who are not in cooperatives) in the rice and cotton sectors for many years. This model creates a journey whereby independent small farmers can choose their own organizational form, enjoy the benefits of Fair Trade and, over time, organize themselves into more advanced structures such as cooperatives.  FLO evaluations indicate that this has been a successful experience that generates significant impact for participating rural families. We now seek to extend this model to independent small farmers in the coffee sector, who constitute the majority of the world’s coffee farmers. For those in the Fair Trade movement who prefer to champion the cause of small farmers, this innovation should be particularly welcomed.

To date we have launched six coffee innovation pilots, three with farm workers and three with groups of independent smallholders:

• Fazenda Nossa Senhora de Fatima (Brazil)
• Nariño (Colombia)
• Café de Altura de San Ramón (Costa Rica)
• Ipanema Agricola (Brazil)
• Beneficio Santa Rosa, S.A. (Honduras)
• Hacienda Venecia (Colombia)

Although we are only just beginning, we are already learning a lot from these pilots and are proud of the initial results.  Strong, respected NGO partners like Catholic Relief Services and United Farm Workers are supporting our efforts in the field.  Leading companies like Whole Foods and Green Mountain Coffee are excited to buy the coffee and be a part of expanding impact; and, most importantly, hundreds of farm workers and independent small farmers are eagerly participating in the pilots, looking to us all to expand opportunities for them and their families in the Fair Trade market. 

Multi-Stakeholder Support

Impact Assessment

In order to evaluate the impact of Fair Trade for All, we’ve developed a comprehensive Impact Assessment Process, which aims to bring clarity, transparency, and multi-stakeholder input to the forefront of our innovation work.

Multi-Stakeholder Consultation

To develop the framework for the Impact Assessment Process, we partnered with the Sustainable Food Lab to gather input from stakeholders from across the Fair Trade ecosystem. Participants included roasters, importers, NGO’s and Fair Trade farmers. Their feedback has been included in the final Impact Assessment Process.  

Gathering Data

Our system will gather information across each pillar of the Fair Trade standards--empowerment, economic development, social responsibility and environmental stewardship. Through personal interviews, group discussions, formal on-site audits, and a new labor evaluation technology called Labor Link, we will gather qualitative and quantitative information from participating farmers and workers.  We will also conduct thorough market research to determine whether or not farms already in the Fair Trade system remain competitive.  This process will be led by Fair Trade USA and implemented by independent consultants.

In addition, we are supporting the development of an independent impact assessment process that will be led by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), one of the leading research organizations in Latin America.  This second process will be complementary to our comprehensive Impact Assessment Process and would allow the Fair Trade community to understand the effects and outcomes of four specific pilots.

Evaluation and Reporting

To measure results, we will continue working with key external, independent stakeholders to help us analyze and report the findings from our pilot program and its influence on the overall market. We will work with our Coffee Innovation Council, formed by Fair Trade producers, NGO’s and business partners, for an independent analysis of the results. We will also work with our Impact Assessment Committee to analyze all information coming from our Impact Assessment Processes. We plan to share this work publically at the end of the pilot period.

We recognize that two years is a short time to measure the full impact of this work. However, based on the feedback we have received from people working in Monitor and Evaluation systems, we believe our methodology will allow us to capture enough information to understand, after the 2 year period, if we are headed in the right direction to bring the benefits of Fair Trade far more farmers and workers across the globe.

If you want to learn more about our Impact Assessment Process, please click here.

Board Governance

The insights and integrity of our distinguished Board of Directors are invaluable for effective strategic vision and accountability to the mission. Consistent with best practice in non-profit governance, Fair Trade USA recruits its board members from a range of diverse constituencies, including producers, philanthropists, entrepreneurs, academics and activists. Earlier this year, we conducted an evaluation of our Board of Directors, and at our March board meeting, we voted to increase the number of seats as well as the diversity of perspectives represented.

Read full board bios