“Public Affairs: Mobilising action for Fair Trade Public Procurement” is a 3-year project led by EFTA: the European Fair Trade Association and brings together 3 of EFTA’s members - CTM-Altromercato in Italy, IDEAS in Spain and Oxfam Wereldwinkels in Belgium – as well as ICLEI: Local Governments for Sustainability. Having started in December 2007, this project, co-financed by the European Commission, will build on the previous “Fair Procura” project, also led by EFTA.

Why Public Procurement?

Public authorities are major consumers and public procurement currently accounts for around 16% of the EU’s Gross Domestic Product GDP. This purchasing power represents a huge opportunity to boost the sales of Fair Trade products and is an excellent way for public authorities to set an example and show their support to Fair Trade.

Public Affairs focuses on raising awareness towards European, national and regional authorities about Fair Public Procurement (FPP), but attention is also given to other actors in FPP such as the catering and vending sector.

Activities and outputs

• The European Observatory on Fair Trade and Public Procurement, a Europe-wide platform for those interested in Fair Public Procurement, has been set up within this project and will continuously monitor and analyse laws on Public Procurement, disseminate research and studies on this subject and make available best practices, case studies and tenders.
• Research and studies on current situation of Fair Trade criteria in public tenders will be carried out throughout the project
• A database on Fair Trade Public Tenders, with good practices and case studies will be created
• Relevant laws and policies will be monitored and shared
• Training sessions and workshops for Public Authorities, HORECA sector and Fair Trade Organisations will take place throughout the 3 years
• Educational activities will be carried out in schools
• Seminars and conferences will take place in Italy, Spain and another European city
• Newsletter will be sent out twice a year
• By 2010, a European Model on FPP will be published, that will guide public authorities on how to include Fair Trade criteria in their tenders and will indicate targets towards purchasing in a Fair manner.

Partners

EFTA   

EFTA (the European Fair Trade Association) is an association of eleven Fair Trade importers in nine European countries (Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom). EFTA was established informally in 1987 by some of the oldest and largest Fair Trade importers. It gained formal status in 1990. EFTA is based in the Netherlands and has Dutch Articles of Association.

The aim of EFTA is to support its member organizations in their work and to encourage them to cooperate and coordinate. It facilitates the exchange of information and networking, it creates conditions for labour division and it identifies and develops joint projects. It does this, among others, by organizing meetings of the members (on food, handicrafts, marketing, managers) and by circulating relevant information to them. It is also maintaining a database of EFTA suppliers, called Fairdata, which contains details on suppliers and their products.
 
Back to top

CTM-Altromercato is a Consortium of 130 non profit organisations spread all around Italy which develop and promote Fair Trade. It is the main Fair Trade organisation in Italy and the second in the world regarding dimension and turnover.

CTM also continuously promotes research and information sharing with its southern world partners through the publication of informative and in-depth dossiers, awareness-raising campaigns, conferences and meetings.

The consortium members are co-operatives, associations and volunteer groups which manage around 350 “World Shops” in Italy and develop activities liked to Fair Trade, particularly the promotion of ethical finance instruments and informative/awareness-raising campaigns.

Back to top

IDEAS

IDEAS is a Spanish Fair Trade and Alternative Economy organisation who’s mission is to help build a more fair and sustainable world with national and international activities in Fair Trade, solidarity economy and responsible consumption. The origin of IDEAS dates back to 1989, but its current structure is the result of a restructuring process that took place in 1997. It is the first Spanish organisation to develop Fair Trade activities with organisations from the South (Africa, Latin America and Asia) through cooperation projects, technical assistance, importing, distributions and sales of handicrafts and foodstuffs.

Spain, in Cordoba, and also has offices in Madrid and Extremadura.

Oxfam-Wereldwinkels

Founded in 1971, Oxfam-Wereldwinkels (OWW) sells Fair Trade food and handicraft products from developing countries and is also very active in educational and political activities. OWW consists of 206 local “World Shops” throughout the Flemish and Brussels regions of Belgium and are managed mostly by volunteers.

Since 2002, OWW also distributes Fair Trade products through other mainstream channels such as supermarkets, thus achieving a greater turnover that is having a direct impact on the income of producers in developing countries. OXFAM FAIRTRADE is the commercial branch of OWW under which products are sold to retailers and is responsible for import, distribution and sales of Fair Trade products, whereas OWW represents the Fair Trade movement as well as being responsible for the political and educational activities.

ICLEI

ICLEI—Local Governments for Sustainability is an international association of local governments and national and regional local government organizations that have made a commitment to sustainable development.