World Fair Trade Day Celebration

8th May 2010

Fair trade is market-based approach to alleviating poverty and promoting sustainability through ethical practices. It aims to educate and empower disadvantaged producers in the developing world and connect them to a market, so they too can participate in global trade. To know more about Fair Trade, click here.

World Fair Trade Day is observed annually on the second Saturday of the month of May. It is celebrated all over the world by the supporters of Fair Trade.

A lot many people are still unaware of the concept of Fair Trade, especially the youth. This is a serious issue as most of the subsequent change & development lies in the hands of today’s youth and therefore it is very important for them to be aware of a wonderful and practical concept as Fair Trade. Also in today’s times of recession, when the number of job cuts is more than the number of recruitment in case of corporate sector, the young people would be more keen to look for alternate streams and, Fair trade offers huge opportunities for growth. There are many areas in which an exciting career can be made like community development, sustainable development in rural areas, working for NGOs and Cooperatives or starting other mission-based activities. Young educated youth can join these groups & communities and can help them achieve their objectives by working with them at the grass root level. Also they can help promote SHGs, cooperatives or start their own Fair Trade businesses. The young catalysts of change can reinforce the underprivileged communities by their knowledge & vigor. Generally the artisan or farmer groups are not well exposed / educated and therefore fall short on various dimensions like marketing of products, knowing the latest trends & technologies in the market. etc. Their problem can be solved to a great extent if the young educated folks help them in this regard. With a view to promote Fair Trade and to create awareness among the youth, SETU celebrated World Fair Trade Day with a theme ‘Fair Trade and Youth’. To mark this theme, a workshop was organized in Aditya College, a leading Management Institute of Gwalior.

It was a highly interactive session where our President Rashmi told students the basics of Fair Trade; how it can bring a positive change in the life of artisans, career opportunities involving it, its basic principles and much more. In all, a comprehensive outlook on Fair Trade was given. To make the session more interesting quizzes were incorporated in the presentation and awards were given away to those who got the quizzes right. The session proved to be a huge success as many students were seen taking interest in Fair Trade. Some of them are even planning to make it their career. Looking at the positive response received we plan to organize more such sessions in near future.