Fairtrade Africa shares the vision of FLO for a world in which all producers can enjoy secure and sustainable livelihoods and fulfill their potential. In addition, Fairtrade Africa aims to provide active participation and ownership of decisions that impact on producers’ livelihoods and futures.
- We believe that transparent and equitable trading environments allow African producers to improve their lives with all partners recognising their ability, capacity and commitment to their families and communities
- We believe that real empowerment is giving people the power to make choices. Empowerment will enable African producers to take control of their lives, work and resources in a way that will provide the greatest benefit for them
- We believe that people, businesses and civil society in Africa are supportive of Fairtrade and its contribution to the sustainable development of African producers. This is being increasingly demonstrated when they have the opportunity to participate and contribute through advocacy or purchase of African Fairtrade products in support of producers.
Our work is driven by the belief that the collective efforts of African producers, businesses, civil society and governments in promoting trade justice will yield much higher benefits for producers and contribute greatly towards sustainable development in Africa.
Our mission
Our mission is to promote the interests of African Fairtrade certified producer organisations within the wider Fairtrade system and in other trade corridors to enable African producers to improve their socio-economic conditions through increased access to better trading conditions.
As a membership-based organisation, we do not only work to increase producer participation in the governance of the Fairtrade system, we also work to empower our members to improve their capacity to trade effectively through the provision of technical, organisational and financial support. We actively promote intra-African trade opportunities for our members through networking and partnerships with regional and sub-regional bodies within Africa.
Membership of Fairtrade Africa currently comprises over 300 Fairtrade certified producer organisations. Fairtrade Africa is made up of both small producer organisations (SPOs) and plantations. In plantation set ups, the focus is on supporting companies to provide better working conditions for their workers.
Through representation, coordination, exchange and partnership, we aim to:
- champion the cause of African producers and promote genuine producer participation in the Fairtrade system
- increase market access for African producers by providing access to technical, financial and organisational capacity improvement opportunities
- promote trade justice in Africa to champion socio-economic development in the continent via trade
- promote and empower producers to exploit intra-African trade opportunities thereby enabling them to contribute to the development of African producers.