I’ve now left the conference and am currently sat waiting for the Eurostar to London, so thought this an opportune moment to write another(!) short blog.

This morning was very interesting, learning a lot about procurement. Whilst with EU legislation many of the issues are the same it was nonetheless valuable to see an international perspective on the topic. At the very least, I now know a lot more about procurement at Leeds City Council than I did before! It was reassuring to see the efforts made by procurement officers to encourage sustainable and ethical procurement as much as is possible.

I spent most of this afternoon talking to activists and others involved in the Fairtrade movement- sharing experiences and ideas.

I will shortly be en route (see, I can speak some French!) to Leeds. Over the last 3 days I’ve met many excellent people with a real passion for Fairtrade and commitment to its furtherance. They’ve shown great hospitality.

I hope to keep in touch with many of the people I’ve spoken to- building on the excellent links Leeds has with its twin city.

From Lille, au revoir!

(For those that don’t know, Leeds is twinned with Lille. More information on this can be found at: http://www.international-leeds.org.uk)

–Guest blogpost from Ian Adderley, Chair of Fairtrade Leeds–

I’m writing this on my Blackberry in the hotel, so apologies for brevity, typos, lack of hyper links, and photos!

Yesterday I arrived at ‘forum national du commerce equitable’ in Lille, France.

I’m here representing Fairtrade Leeds having been asked to speak.

I met with some of the Deputy Mayors here in Lille before attending the first conference. The first conference looked at the impact of the financial crisis on ethical trading.

Later in the day I spoke about Fairtrade in the City of Leeds, the Fairtrade movement in the UK, the role of elected officials, and international co-operation & solidarity. It was an interesting experience as I speak little French so my speech was being simultaneously translated! The speech was followed by a question and answer session, where great interest was shown for ‘The Big Swap’ challenge.

We also shared experiences of campaigning for Fairtrade places and I discussed the work that has just started campaigning for a Fairtrade Yorkshire. http://www.fairtradeyorkshire.org.uk

Later this afternoon I will be attending an a workshop on ‘The Impact of Fairtrade in developing countries’- looking at the positive impact of Fairtrade on the economy, education and infrastructure.

Tomorrow is the last day of the conference. I’ll be attending a workshop on public procurement where a representative from Leeds City Council will be speaking.

You can read more about the conference at: http://www.forum-equitable.org

With the General Election now called, and the date set for May 6th, it is time to assess whether the candidates are ‘Fairtrade’.

To help with this the Fairtrade Foundation have produced some handy tips and advice here:

On a local level, global justice activists in Leeds are running a campaign around the general election. To find out more information, click here.

Taking place on Thursday 29th April between 6-8pm at Found by Create, on Lower Floor, The St Johns  Centre, Leeds.

For more information download the flyer by clicking on the image below.

Now you can do your fairtrade food shopping without going to the shops!The Beehive Fairtrade Shop (on Potternewton Lane in Chapel Allerton) have launced their Fairtrade foods home delivery service to people within a three mile radius of Chapel Allerton, or there abouts!  All you have to do is fill out their Customer Order Form (on your PC or by hand) and email or post it back to our shop, and they will deliver your order within a week of receiving it at a time that is convenient with you.  Or you could go and collect your order from their shop.

Please find further details on the form that can be downloaded here.  The Beehive is run by volunteers and any profits made by the shop are donated to Traidcraft (to develop further Fairtrade projects around the world).

http://www.thebeehiveshop.org.uk/

Leeds Fairtrade campaigners are celebrating after the city took up its challenge to make a real difference this Fairtrade Fortnight and swapped 5,000 more Fairtrade products than Manchester.

The theme of this year’s Fairtrade Fortnight, which ran from 22 February to 7 March, was ‘The Big Swap’, where people were encouraged to switch to Fairtrade brands permanently. The Fairtrade Foundation asked people to tot up their product swaps on an online swap-o-meter at http://www.thebigswap.org.uk.

On day five of Fairtrade Fortnight swaps for Leeds stood at 705 while Manchester was slightly ahead on 781, so Fairtrade Leeds issued a challenge to encourage Leeds residents to swap to Fairtrade products.

Final figures show that Leeds swapped 7426 products compared with Manchester’s 2439. Top Leeds swaps were tea 1598, chocolate 864 and fruits 794. While top swaps for Manchester were flowers 608, tea 407 and chocolate 330.

Last Thursday Fairtrade activists in Leeds met and heard from Nioka Abbott, a Fairtrade farmer from the Windward Islands. We heard first hand the difference Fairtrade has made.

After the talk people had the opportunity to try a range of Fairtrade products including wine, ale, cola, chocolate, and a range of other snacks.

The event was kindly sponsored by the Leeds and Wakefield Area Committee of the Co-operative Group, with support from the University of Leeds.

Leeds Library celebrated Fairtrade on 3rd March this Fairtrade Fortnight with a talk on Traidcraft.

Local Fairtrade Banana Andy Brown (!) with Andy Vernon, the winner of the National Cross-Country Championship taking part in Leeds last weekend.

The chair of Fairtrade Leeds has issued a challenge to Leeds residents to make a real difference this Fairtrade Fortnight and buy more Fairtrade products than local rivals Manchester.
The theme of this year’s Fairtrade Fortnight, which runs from 22 February to 7 March, is ‘The Big Swap’, where people are encouraged to switch to Fairtrade brands permanently. The Fairtrade Foundation is aiming for one million and one swaps and is asking people to tot up their product swaps on an online swap-o-meter at http://www.bigswap.org.uk.
Hundreds of Leeds residents have already supported the campaign and on day five of Fairtrade fortnight swaps for Leeds currently stand at 705 while Manchester is on 781. Fairtrade Leeds has now issued a target of 1500 swaps to ensure that Leeds tops the Fairtrade challenge.

Chair of Fairtrade Leeds, Ian Adderley said: “So far in The Big Swap, it’s neck and neck between Leeds and Manchester. We’re laying down a challenge for the people of Leeds to out swap Manchester by the end of Fairtrade Fortnight.
“Whether it be swapping your normal cuppa for Fairtrade tea, switching your choice of chocolate, or swapping one of over 3,000 other products, register your swap on the Fairtrade Foundation’s Big Swap website or let us know at: bigswap@fairtradeleeds.org.uk  or on Twitter @FairtradeLeeds. Be sure to include your name and email address.”