We are very passionate about Fair Trade, and have recently been pushing ourselves to buy as much fairly traded produce as possible. However, upon researching it, there is only a very select number of items that are actually easy to buy, with most things being incredibly difficult to come across. We think that this is pretty ridiculous, and want to push to change this.
In this interest the project aims to make fairly traded products more widely available to students by setting up a non-profit making weekly stall on the concourse. This stall will sell a variety of goods, such as day to day essentials, as well as luxury type goods like chocolate. To run this project we would need funding up front to buy the stock from Trade Craft each week, which would then be made back when the goods are sold at cost-price. We want to show the students that it doesn’t cost the earth to buy ethical produce, and make sure it’s a readily available option.
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The project will be student run, by Luke Stewart and Jasmine Stockham, with a team of volunteers. Each week the stall will be set up on the concourse at 10am and run through until 2pm, with volunteers doing hourly shifts. The produce will be attractively displayed on a table with information about the idea of fair trade, and a small float to provide change.
As the university is a Fairtrade Uni, we feel that this facility should be available and that it’s a real gap in the market, which we would love to fill. Whilst aiming to practically meet people’s needs, the project also hopes to raise awareness, and provides an easy opportunity for them to buy ethically. My parents (Jasmine Stockham) run a similar project in my village at home, meaning that I have experience of working with Traid Craft, and have seen how well it works.
To run the stall, we would need a table and an available slot on the concourse each week on the same day, which could potentially be a Wednesday if there is space. The most essential thing needed by the project is funding for the cost of buying the products. However once this money has been earned back through sale of the produce, it can either be given back to Community Action each week, or worked back into the next weeks costs, depending on what you prefer.
For the first week of trading, we are looking to order £100 worth of stock, and after a few weeks of running and assessing what is popular, we will set up a regular order with Traid Craft, and keep well documented stock checks. This will ensure that we do not buy too much, and that the products are sold in the correct order according to their sell-by dates.
Our stall will be well publicised through the Wessex Scene, posters around campus and word of mouth. It will also be well decorated to be eye catching, and draw people in.
We have big ideas for this project and, if it is successful, we have a drive to turn it into a campaign to make fair trade mainstream. This would involve having speakers in, and really making people of aware of the help that they could do by spending a few pennies extra to choose the blue and green symbol, instead of Asda smart price.
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