A Partnership Case Study

Celebrating the Mothers behind your Mother’s Day Flowers

Nestled in the Ecuadorian Andes 9,280 feet above sea level lies Florecal, a Fair Trade Certified™ rose farm and processing center. Boasting mineral rich soil and weather ideal for year-round farming, it’s no wonder that Florecal has flourished as a high-quality flower producer for over 30 years.

Florecal processes 180,000 roses per day thanks to the their 480+ employees. Since taking the first step of their fair trade journey in 2012, Florecal workers now enjoy an impressive 11 projects supported by Community Development Funds. A central component of fair trade certification, Community Development Funds are an additional sum of money generated by fair trade sales that farmers and workers invest into community projects based on a needs assessment. In 2021 alone, fair trade floral partners generated $1.1 million in Community Development Funds, fostering prosperous communities and resilient supply chains across South America.

Florecal’s workforce is predominantly made up of women. As such, many of their fair trade projects are specifically designed to support mothers and children, to alleviate some of the stress and challenges that come with motherhood. Florecal’s longest-standing project is their day care center, where children are dropped off at the on-property day care facility, and receive meals, snacks, and age-appropriate educational activities before being picked up at the end of the workday. Other projects include a savings cooperative, laundromat, accelerated education program, supermarket and pharmacy stipends, school supply programs, and various health-related projects which increase accessibility to medical procedures and preventative care.

In honor of Mother’s Day, we asked the mothers of Florecal which projects have benefitted them and their families most. Here’s what they had to say:

“I benefit from many projects including the supermarket card, the savings cooperative, the medical specialties, and dental services. My daughter is now 10 but when she was 3 years old, she was part of the day care and it was a great help for me! Personally, I benefit from the Accelerated Education Program. It gave me the chance to finish my education and I recently graduated and got my high school diploma. It wasn’t easy, but I feel very happy I did it and now I have another goal to study marketing.” —Estefania Arroyo

“The savings cooperative project is what my family and I benefit from the most. It has helped us save up for important expenses and has given us peace of mind knowing that we have a safety net. The convenience of being able to pay in installments has made a huge difference for us.” —Alejandra Diaz

Across agricultural production in South America, women make up nearly half of the workforce but do not receive the same pay or benefits as men. Women work longer hours for fewer wages, typically invest 90% of their income back into their families, and in many cases finish their day with the unpaid work of homemaking and raising children.

As articulated in the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals, a sustainable future is not possible while gender-based inequities like these persist. In order for communities to prosper, women and girls must have equitable opportunity, and fair trade certification on farms and in factories is a giant step in the right direction. For any mothers who feel the challenges of motherhood are at times too much to bear, we leave you with the sentiment from Alejandra Diaz, a mother with 13 years of experience at Florecal:

“To mothers who may be struggling, I want to say that you are not alone. It can be tough, but never give up on your dreams and the dreams you have for your children. Work hard and be there for your children, and they will grow up to be successful and happy individuals.”

Learn More

To learn more about Florecal click here or reach out to our team. For more information on how Fair Trade Certified empowers women, check out our webpage on gender equality.

This Mother’s Day, give a gift that loves as much as she does.

On Mother’s Day, we get to honor and spoil the special mother figures in our lives. Finding the perfect gift or gesture of love can take some time, but we’re here to help you plan! Maybe you’ll kick it off with brunch and surprise her with flowers, or set her up for an at-home spa weekend. However you choose to celebrate her, you can show her your appreciation with a gift that supports moms everywhere. From something as simple as the coffee on the breakfast table to home and body gifts to help her relax (who doesn’t need that right now?), a Fair Trade Certified™ gift supports mothers everywhere by improving access to paid maternity leave, safe and accommodating workplaces; providing sustainable incomes; and protecting from discrimination and sexual harassment. Keep reading for gift and recipe ideas.

To mothers everywhere: We see you working hard to make the world a better place for us, shouldering our burdens, and being a constant in times of uncertainty. We may never be able to repay you, but we’ll do whatever it takes to make the world a better place to be a mother.

Fair Trade Ideas for Mother’s Day

Fair Trade Gift Ideas for Mother’s Day

When thinking about Fair Trade Certified™, what comes to mind? For many the answers focus primarily on wages and working conditions. Digging deeper, though, at the core of the Fair Trade Certified model lies an understanding that for farmers, workers, and fishers to prosper and thrive, we need to recognize the interconnectedness between the planet and its people.

The production of food and goods impacts the environment, while our changing environment also impacts the production of food and goods. Fair trade seeks to minimize harm to the environment from production activities while ensuring that producers have the tools to cope with changes in the environment – including climate, severe weather, and pests – and evolve more sustainable production models.

Our Approach to Environmental Sustainability

The Fair Trade Certified program recognizes the connection between planet and people in three ways: by minimizing the environmental impact of production activities; ensuring that farmers, workers, and fishers have the knowledge they need to produce sustainably; and providing funds to support their sustainability journeys.

1. Minimizing the environmental impact of production activities. Across our programs for farms, fisheries, and factories, our standards and certification first seek to prevent harm to the environment. Farmers must use integrated pest management techniques to minimize chemical use, and our standards prohibit the use of the most harmful pesticides. Fair trade farms may not destroy or degrade natural forest habitats to expand production, a major issue with crops like avocadoes.[i] Our factory standards mandate industry-aligned practices for handling hazardous chemicals to prevent soil and water contamination and protect worker health. Fair trade fishers must follow requirements around gear, fishing practices, and careful monitoring of ecosystem metrics to ensure the long-term viability of species and avoid overfishing.

Our standards also require all producers to follow local and national laws governing environmental practices, with audits to provide an extra level of incentive to follow these regulations which might otherwise go unenforced.

2. Ensuring farmers, workers, and fishers have the knowledge they need to produce sustainably. Minimizing environmental harm is an important first step, but we go deeper by engaging certified producers as leaders in sustainable production. Required trainings on topics like intercropping, soil analysis, and pest management ensure producers have the tools and knowledge needed to produce sustainably. Our program also provides a structure for producers to put that knowledge into action by creating environmental management systems to prioritize and implement solutions to protect their natural environment.

3. Providing funds to support sustainability journeys. Sustainable farming, fishing, and factory production take time and money, which is where the Fair Trade Community Development Fund comes in. Fair Trade Certified producers receive an extra sum of money from their sales of fair trade products. Farmers, fishers, and workers decide how to invest this fund to address the greatest needs of their communities. These community development projects can support investments in sustainable production and help producer communities cope with environmental changes that threaten their livelihoods. In our wild-capture seafood program, fishers must use at least 30% of their Community Development Funds for environmental projects.

“The biggest challenge we face is the preservation of the bay, and we are working hard to address that.” – Gabriel Tiburcio García Inzunza, who has been fishing for 42 years

Fair trade and the planet-people connection

A trip to the store can make it feel like social and environmental responsibility are competing options. Do you pick the “green” product or the “fair” product? In reality, this is a false choice. The decades-long histories of the environmental justice and fair trade movements teach us that social, economic, and environmental sustainability are deeply entangled: to solve one, we must address the others.

Marginalized communities on the environmental forefront

When the state of North Carolina needed a place to dispose of toxic industrial waste in the early 1980s, they picked the small town of Afton, a majority-Black community where 1 in 4 residents was below the poverty line. This sparked protests that brought together environmental and civil rights activists and led to a landmark study that found that “race was the most significant factor in siting hazardous waste facilities, and that three out of every five African Americans and Hispanics live in a community housing toxic waste sites.”[ii]

The modern environmental justice movement grew out of this recognition that environmental harm often falls most acutely on the least privileged communities – a pattern we have seen for decades in the fair trade movement. Smallholder farmers have long faced environmental challenges that threaten their livelihoods. Fair Trade Certified coffee farmers in Peru had to move production to higher elevations due to rising temperatures, while “coffee rust” – a devastating fungal crop infection – is growing more widespread with climate change, reducing yields and incomes for small producers. Changing weather patterns are also affecting harvests for cocoa farmers in the Ivory Coast, and cocoa growing areas are expected to shrink as global temperatures rise.[iii]

To solve global poverty, we must recognize that 80% of the world’s poor live in rural areas – mostly working in farming – and will need tools, knowledge, and resources to adapt to a changing climate.[iv]

Empowered communities are environmental problem-solvers

While farmers, fishers, and workers are vulnerable to a changing environment, they can also be creative leaders at the forefront of environmental solutions. When those at the core of global supply chains have the tools to put their lived experience into action, we see innovation that lifts up livelihoods and ecosystems alike.

In the Fair Trade Certified program, many producers and workers recognize the link between environmental and economic vitality, and put their fair trade funds to work accordingly:

Farmworkers at Wholesum’s Fair Trade Certified greenhouse farm in Sonora, Mexico voted in 2016 to invest their Community Development Funds to build a store where their families and the community could buy food and essential goods at discounted prices. When electrical bills of nearly $2,000 per month threatened the store’s viability, workers used additional fair trade funds to install solar panels to power the store. In a win for the community and the environment, the panels should pay off in just three years, while saving 1,000 tons in CO2 emissions over their 40-year lifespan.

Fair Trade Certified fishers in communities around the globe are using their Community Development Funds to address issues that threaten both ecosystems and livelihoods. In Mozambique, the Maldives, and Indonesia, fishers invested in beach cleanups and plastic recycling programs to reduce marine trash – a significant problem for fishing communities. Shrimp fishers in Mexico used their fair trade funds to transport shrimp larvae from threatened waterways to less-polluted estuaries where more will survive and mature, an investment towards a more robust shrimp population and their own future livelihoods.

If we want farms with low carbon footprints, fishing practices that protect marine ecosystems, and factories that don’t pollute waterways, the farmers, workers, and fishers at the heart of global supply chains must first be resilient, prosperous, and thriving. This means investing in solutions like fair trade that build a foundation of sustainable incomes and safe working conditions while providing resources for communities to tackle the interwoven economic and environmental challenges of the years to come.

When you choose Fair Trade Certified products, you’re purchasing with purpose and making a conscious decision for a better future for planet and people.

The Connection Between Planet and People

Access our full report to learn more about our approach to the environment and hear how Fair Trade Participants have had a positive impact on their local environments.

Establishing effective provisions to protect workers requires meaningful participation by employers, employees, public health actors, and other relevant parties. At Fair Trade USA™, we consider the perspectives of all these groups in assembling standards for creating and maintaining safe working environments that protect the health of workers.

Advantages of Strong Workplace Safety Standards

The resulting benefits of strong workplace safety standards are profound for workers, as well as management and the business enterprise overall. For workers, safety measures can prevent injuries, illness, and loss of life. At the same time, the knowledge that workers are safe in their place of employment can lead to greater peace of mind for workers and their families. For businesses, a safer work environment can lead to reduced costs, improved morale and culture, and enhanced production.

When a company’s safety standards are verified through a credible program like Fair Trade Certified™, brands, retailers, and traders can source their products with confidence, helping improve traceability and credibility for their business, and creating shared value for consumers who care about shopping ethically. The end game is to generate a true win-win scenario for everyone involved.

Fair Trade Certified’s Approach to Workplace Safety

How do we contribute to the establishment and enforcement of safe working conditions? Fair Trade Certified producers, groups of producers, and facilities of all sizes, including farms, fisheries, and factories, are audited according to our rigorous standards for sustainability, fair wages, and workplace safety. Our organization develops, implements, and monitors our fair trade standards with the goals of driving income equality, community and individual well-being, empowerment, and environmental stewardship.

Our Theory of Change describes how the strategies and activities of an organization can impact the lives and livelihoods of farmers, fishers, and workers in hired labor settings over time. This model is built on four stakeholder journeys:

• Resilient Communities
• Conscious Consumers
• Mutually Beneficial Trade
• Prosperous Individuals

Our focus on helping to establish and maintain Prosperous Individuals throughout the world includes our protocols for safe working conditions. We seek to provide protections for workers, farmers, and fishers by requiring secure environments, additional capital and resources, and education along their path to achieving fair trade certification

However, our workplace safety standards do not solely pertain to the well-being of individuals. All stakeholder goals work in tandem, so that providing for the safety and health of certified producers can also lead to Resilient Communities made up of secure families who are treated equitably, Mutually Beneficial Trade sourced from ethical supply chains, and Conscious Consumers made aware of fair trade practices and understanding their value.

Setting the Standards for Workplace Safety

An important way that Fair Trade Certified drives collective empowerment is by setting industry and agricultural standards that establish groups to foster communication and collaboration on important issues such as health and safety, community investments, and working conditions. As an example, our Agricultural Production Standard (APS) requires the formation of a Fair Trade Committee, a Health and Safety Committee, and a Social Engagement Team that collaborate to set, enforce, and communicate guiding principles for the workplace, including:

• Ensuring adequate first aid supplies and access to medical services are provided in the case of workplace incidents.
• Workers are provided with acute medical care for all workplace injuries and illnesses, as well as lost wages during immediate recovery time.
• Machinery and equipment on the site, as well as worker transportation, are maintained and equipped with appropriate safety devices.
• In hot climates and in hot workplaces, workers are provided with suitably cool water and shade for rest breaks in order to protect against heat stress.

Examples of Our Safety Standards in Action

Personal Well-Being:

• A major U.S. retailer sourcing their produce from Fair Trade Certified tomato farms in Mexico indicated only 6% of workers reported accidents in the last year, while 94% said that they always felt physically safe while working.
• We surveyed over 11,000 workers employed at factories across China, India, Mexico, Nepal, and Vietnam that implemented Fair Trade Certified standards between 2016 – 2022 and learned that 90% of the respondents now feel safe working there (vs. 65% in 2016)

On-Site Safety Equipment:

• Franklin Baker Company, a producer of Fair Trade Certified coconuts in the Philippines, has provided not only first aid kits for workers, but also cash assistance to employees who tested positive for COVID-19 to take care of their medical expenses and food.
• In Peru, Fair Trade Certified coffee cooperative Asociación Provincial de Cafetaleros Solidarios San Ignacio presented workers with COVID training, bio-safety products, as well as first aid kits.

Clean Drinking Water and Sanitary Conditions:

• The Intebaj SAPI de CV tomato growers located in Salamanca & Santiago Valley in Guanajuato, Mexico recognized that the bathrooms of 50 of their workers’ residential homes (housing over 200 individuals in total) lacked basic sanitary infrastructure. A Community Development Fund project is now helping to fund construction costs for each of the bathrooms identified as needing upgrades. Making the bathrooms more hygienic will help prevent illnesses contributing to absences from work and medical expenses. It also enhances workers’ sense of health and well-being.

A Global Initiative

Fair Trade USA is proud to align its practices with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030. While the SDGs were primarily conceived as government-level objectives, achievement of the goals and targets will require an investment from all stakeholders, including the business community.

We track our impact and measure progress against 6 of the 17 SDGs, with our focus on Safe Working Conditions supporting two specifically:

• SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation – Fair trade standards require that workers have access to potable water and adequate sanitation facilities on plantations and in factories.
• SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth – Fair trade standards minimize workplace risks and ensure that appropriate measures are taken to ensure that workers and farmers are safe.

Through collaboration with our partners, we aspire to improve livelihoods, protect the environment, and build resilient, transparent supply chains. Together, we can build a more equitable world!

Safe Working Conditions Report

If you ever watched Sesame Street as a kid, you may remember the song “One of these things is not like the other”, which entered the cultural fabric of multiple generations and, according to researchers[i], gave Sesame Street viewers a 40% higher ability to sort and distinguish similar and dissimilar groupings of objects.

How are our sorting abilities today? How easy is it for us to make purchasing decisions when we have competing priorities? And, how easy is it for us to find products that have been certified to the best ethical and environmental standards so that our purchases align with our economic resources and our values?

The average consumer is managing inflationary prices and fears of a recession, choice-overload or disappearing product favorites, and heightened interest in sustainable and ethical products. Brands and retailers, on the other hand, face the impossible tasks of product differentiation, supply chain resiliency, and customer loyalty.

Trust is what ultimately drives a consumer to choose one brand or product over the other. The Edelman Trust Barometer, a global report that measures global trust, has published its 23rd edition this year, and once again Business is the only institution seen as competent and ethical. Global respondents in this research expect businesses to “inform, debate, and deliver” solutions for sustainable, fair, and ethical restoration.

That’s why we’re excited to announce our 2023 campaign ‘Purchase with Purpose’! We are leaning into those expectations to support our global partners, provide greater clarity for people shopping, and deliver sustainable livelihoods to the people behind the products bought and sold. Here’s how:

1. Label it Fair!

We will be celebrating and promoting the pledges of our brand, retail, and distributor partners who are meeting and increasing their ethical sourcing commitments. These industry and sector leaders are holding themselves accountable to our rigorous third-party certification, promoting transparency, and encouraging ongoing improvements. By differentiating their products with the Fair Trade Certified™ label, they are deepening loyalty between their brands and their customers. 78% of consumers trust in the independent, objective assurance that the Fair Trade Certified label promises. Only one of the two products in the campaign bears the label. Wondering which line of shoes, coffee, chocolate, cosmetics are benefiting from consumer loyalty and love? Take a look at some of our partners who are reducing risk in their supply chains, creating deeper engagement with their customers, and building lasting impact for workers, farmers, fishers, and their communities around the world.

2. Look for the label!

Despite the hardships of the last few years, consumers’ demand for sustainable products is growing and their willingness to pay for sustainable goods is increasing. 63% of people surveyed in Edelman’s study said that they buy or advocate for brands based upon their beliefs and values. In another study[ii], 86% of shoppers want more sustainable and equitable products, 75% consider sustainability traits when choosing between brands and 77% of consumers are more willing to spend more with a company that has a corporate social responsibility pledge[iii]. In our recent consumer research over 65% of consumers recognize the Fair Trade Certified label, one in three said they are more likely to buy a product with it, and 40% reported a willingness to pay 20% more.

Will consumers trade loyalty for sustainability? Or will they trade loyalty for lower prices? In a recent Blackhawk Network marketing study, 25% of respondents said they are spending less with the brands they typically buy from, and are reprioritizing how much they spend, and where they spend it. The time is now for retailers (online or offline) to highlight sustainable brands, even their own private label brands with a trusted label like Fair Trade Certified – and to engage 82% of shoppers[iv] who say they want to embrace sustainable and people-first practices with their purchases.

If you are a brand or retailer, you do not need to compromise. Fair trade certification mitigates hidden social, economic, and environmental risks thus strengthening your supply chains – all while meeting consumer demand for transparency and sustainability. And for all of us who are shoppers, we do not need to compromise either! Fair Trade Certified products can be found across the broadest range of categories and stores, so look for the label and let your favorite brands and retailers know you want to Purchase with Purpose!

So, as we move into a new year are we prepared to sort as those wonderful puppets taught to us many years ago? Are we ready to answer the call to make long term investments with our shopping dollars and sourcing decisions toward sustainable solutions? We are committed to unlocking the ability of consumers and companies to Purchase with Purpose and to demonstrate that the Fair Trade Certified label is definitively not like the others.

Over the next two decades, the consumer sector is predicted to grow at a strong rate of five percent per year. Disruptions such as worker health and safety issues, labor rights violations, and the impact of climate change have the potential to dramatically alter these growth projections, as well as the total return to shareholders.[i] As a result, investors have been prioritizing sustainability initiatives that minimize disruptions and build resiliency at an increasing rate; $357 billion in assets were invested in sustainable funds at the end of 2021, more than four times the amount in 2018.[ii]

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the already growing use of sustainability metrics and elevated the challenges we face as an interconnected, global economy: labor shortages, supply chain disruptions, and fears of a recession creating uncertainty among businesses worldwide. Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investment professionals now indicate that the pandemic highlights the need for systemic thinking.

It is tempting to look at short-term savings when facing economic contraction. In reality, this approach is the opposite of systemic thinking; it undercuts the stability of markets and undermines sustainable supply chain health.

Instead, one effective approach to systemic thinking is True Cost Accounting (TCA).

Also known as True Pricing, TCA is the idea that we can determine a price that better accounts for impacts on communities and the environment during the production process. TCA often translates to a higher upfront cost when sourcing or manufacturing a final product, which accounts for the resources the business must invest to keep their supply chains resilient and ethical.

In a time of economic contraction, why do market leaders invest their resources in using TCA for supply chain resilience?

In short: True Cost Accounting reveals externalities.

An “externality” is a cost associated with the production of a good that is not reflected in its final price. Communities or ecosystems tend to absorb and bear the burden of negative externalities. If a company places a production plant near a town and does not enact measures to keep local bodies of water clean, the community and the environment “pay” the cost. In addition, communities of color and vulnerable populations disproportionately experience negative externalities. These costs can also impact communities across the globe or future generations.

TCA includes the cost of actions taken either to prevent or to remediate negative impacts. These actions include removing carbon dioxide from the air, protecting or restoring forests, or providing fair wages so that communities remain healthy and free of practices such as forced or child labor. It is not a simple calculation; our world is increasingly interconnected, and every product draws on different sources of human and natural capital.

The last few years have shown that companies with higher ESG performance are more resilient, and this is recognized by investment firms and private investors. Now more than ever, Wall Street is paying attention to a company’s long-term investments in environmental and social sustainability as an indicator of business health and longevity. This shift away from short-term profit at the expense of communities and ecosystems in favor of stable, long-term investments that are socially and environmentally sustainable, is a shift away from shareholder capitalism towards stakeholder capitalism.[iii]

According to recent research, despite the hardships of the last few years, consumers’ willingness to pay for sustainable goods is increasing, and they accept that sustainably made products may have higher production costs.[iv] Consumer demand for sustainable products is growing, and businesses that respond authentically stand to profit.

Where does Fair Trade USA™ fit into this equation?

While no framework or program will account for every externality, the Fair Trade USA model is proving the value that products that more closely reflect their true cost represent in the market.

Fair Trade USA’s auditing system helps ensure workers are treated well.

• Our standards require that producers have the frameworks necessary to prevent forced labor and child labor, and to ensure workers receive fair wages, based on country-specific benchmarks.
• Working conditions are safer and producers have access to health care and emergency medical funds if needed. Because of community development projects and cash transfers, workers and their families also experience improved health. Projects focused on child education foster prosperity for the entire community.
• Participation in the fair trade system results in higher retention rates and less absenteeism, which are critical elements of a sustainable, resilient supply chain.

Fair Trade Certified™ products can have lower environmental externalities.

• Fair Trade Certified farms, factories and fisheries receive training focused on environmental performance improvement relevant to their industry. For example, farms are encouraged to evaluate and enhance biodiversity, soil health, and waste and water management.
• Fair trade farmers are also trained in organic farming and integrated pest management methods, which have lower greenhouse gas emissions and higher organic soil carbon sequestration than industrial farming methods.
• Collectively, these practices contribute to climate change mitigation efforts.
• Fair Trade Certified fisheries invest in long-term viability of species ensuring biodiversity and ecosystem protection. By leveraging data and monitoring systems, communities invest in the sustainability of the natural resources needed to ensure healthy oceans and species.
• Fair Trade Certified factories are required to implement practices related to the handling and disposal of chemicals that are hazardous to the environment or people, good waste management practices, and prevention of water contamination, which have very immediate impacts on worker/community health and the environment.

In a time of economic uncertainty, it is more important than ever for companies to continue investing in supply chain resiliency rather than focusing on short-term gains. Fair Trade Certified products help mitigate hidden social, economic, and environmental risks compared to conventional products, thus strengthening supply chains. While supply chain auditing and certification may have an upfront cost, they ultimately have a stabilizing effect on a business’ supply chain as well as its reputation – all while meeting consumer demand for transparency and sustainability.

With support from the Walmart Foundation, Fair Trade USA completes a comprehensive project to improve Needs Assessments. The project outlines multiple technological and system improvements to the Needs Assessment process — which is critical to maximizing the impact of Premium fund investments into worker communities. The improvement project is scheduled to be completed in January 2023.

Every Fair Trade Certified™ product you purchase delivers a financial premium back to the farmers, fishers, and workers who created or harvested that product. That premium pools into Community Development Funds, a core element of the fair trade model. Determining how and where community development investments should be made is a democratic process among the farmers, fishers, and workers who benefit from the investment. The goal is to identify the most pressing needs of the community which are surfaced by conducting a Needs Assessment.

As part of our commitment to ongoing improvement, Fair Trade USA began the Needs Assessment Redesign (NAR) project after becoming aware of areas where producers and workers would benefit more from stronger support in the Needs Assessment process. The intention of the NAR project is to optimize the investment of Fair Trade Premiums by ensuring that the process systematically incorporates the perspectives of producers and program participants in their specific context. Fair Trade USA works across 51 countries and every community has their own specific needs and challenges.

With funding support from the Walmart Foundation, the project began with an initial design phase in 2020 intended to find gaps and improvements to current Needs Assessment processes. Consisting of interviews and workshops with producers and Fair Trade USA staff, the design phase shaped pilot projects later implemented in Mexico, Colombia, and Indonesia in 2021, in which interviews, focus groups, and a survey were administered to program participants. In culmination, a research team from Wageningen University & Research (WUR) provided an independent assessment of the pilots and shared a number of key findings.

The design phase and pilot led to findings critical to the NAR project:

• Fair Trade Committees would benefit from additional support from Fair Trade USA consultants and producers in implementing the Needs Assessment.
• Meeting the Premium fund beneficiaries (Fair Trade Committees and certificate holders) where they currently are in terms of skillsets and motivation is critical in the design and success of the process and tools associated with the Needs Assessment.
• The projects and funds will be more effectively distributed if producers can conduct Needs Assessments more often, and if Fair Trade Committees and producers receive more regular training on implementing the Needs Assessment process.
• Further digitalization of the Needs Assessment process would increase efficiency, and the resulting data visualization capability would make it easier to identify needs and trends.

Project Outcomes and Next Steps
The NAR project has informed multiple developments to the Needs Assessment process.

1. The creation of a new learning platform for producers, the Fair Trade Academy, which will provide simple, digestible modules streamlining the Needs Assessment process.

2. A Partner Portal application for producers that includes dashboards, toolkits, and trainings. These tools will allow producers to approach the Needs Assessment flexibly, choosing the components that best support them rather than having a predetermined process.

3. A data visualization tool within the Partner Portal that will help producers understand and optimize the Needs Assessment process and communicate about it with their communities and buyers. As a result of these innovations, producers are driven to spend the Premium funds in ways that are informed by data, and best meet the specific needs of their communities.

4. The Partner Portal and its suite of tools standardizes and automates Needs Assessment processes.

Fair Trade Academy portal offering courses on the Needs Assessment and Premium Planning.

Needs Assessment developments will revolutionize how Fair Trade USA and our partners track community development project outcomes, understand needs across different supply chains, and optimize program interventions. These tools create efficiencies for producer partners and their spend of Community Development Funds, expanding support more effectively and enhancing communication with our brand partners about their impact.

The project is set to be completed in December 2022, and the new Resource Hub is already live here, making a selection of these resources available to the public. The Fair Trade Academy and Partner Portal will both be launched in January 2023.