120
future- focused. This move can be surprisingly hard, as some people are attached to
beliefs and values even if those beliefs seem to be contradicted by facts. Social
change requires a dramatic change of behaviour, of course at the individual level but
also at an organisational level. Our approach is then to follow and readdress
Lagarde’s recommendation that we should “adopt the right narratives, the right language” in order “to make globalisation work for all, not only for some happy few”
(Lagarde 2017). This chapter aims to contribute with analysis and recommendations
for policy design related to agriculture development identified through fair trade
initiatives, given its potential for economic growth and decent work conditions
assurance.
9.2 Literature Review
9.2.1 The Fair Trade Model and the SDG 8
Fair trade is a social movement striving to change conventional trade and promote
economic growth by exposing small producers in developing countries in global
markets. How is this proposed social change enabled? By establishing a fair price
sufficient to provide a stable income and to protect small producers from price fluctuations in exchange for a production based on stringent ethical standards in line
with the fair trade certification label. Fair trade aims to promote the following values
and principles: creating opportunities for small producers in social and economically disadvantaged areas; establishing and maintaining long-term commercial relations with respect to democracy, transparency and accountability; paying a fair price
to producers; paying a social bonus for community development; pre-funding to
assure production sustainability; rejecting child labour; rejecting forced labour;
practising non-discrimination (gender, association); promoting capacity building;
and protecting the environment (FLO 2016–2017; WFTO 2016).
Welcomed by small producers and farmers associations (Carlisle 2016; Barratt
Brown 2007; Shiesari and Gruninger 2014), this alternative trade model received
positive reviews from several academic studies (Sharma et al. 2018; Englund and
Berndes 2015; Becchetti et al. 2012; Udomkit and Winnett 2002; Rice 2001) but
also criticism (Garret et al. 2016; Thavat 2011; Carimentrand and Ballet, 2010). The
fair trade movement was launched in 1988 as a solidary movement to aid coffee
farmers in Mexico. It is possible to observe the progress of a sustainability agenda
in the fair trade organisations’ corporate social responsibility reports across the
years. The consistency of the fair trade aims with the sustainable development goals
was demonstrated in a recent work from Ribeiro-Duthie et al. (2018). This evolution
can be understood as developing in line to the maturity of the concept of sustainable
development since its inception on the world stage by the Brundtland Commission
in 1987. This means that fair trade organisations have shown effective commitment
to targets expressed in the sustainable development goals (SDG) since they were
A. C. Ribeiro-Duthie
future- focused. This move can be surprisingly hard, as some people are attached to
beliefs and values even if those beliefs seem to be contradicted by facts. Social
change requires a dramatic change of behaviour, of course at the individual level but
also at an organisational level. Our approach is then to follow and readdress
Lagarde’s recommendation that we should “adopt the right narratives, the right language” in order “to make globalisation work for all, not only for some happy few”
(Lagarde 2017). This chapter aims to contribute with analysis and recommendations
for policy design related to agriculture development identified through fair trade
initiatives, given its potential for economic growth and decent work conditions
assurance.
9.2 Literature Review
9.2.1 The Fair Trade Model and the SDG 8
Fair trade is a social movement striving to change conventional trade and promote
economic growth by exposing small producers in developing countries in global
markets. How is this proposed social change enabled? By establishing a fair price
sufficient to provide a stable income and to protect small producers from price fluctuations in exchange for a production based on stringent ethical standards in line
with the fair trade certification label. Fair trade aims to promote the following values
and principles: creating opportunities for small producers in social and economically disadvantaged areas; establishing and maintaining long-term commercial relations with respect to democracy, transparency and accountability; paying a fair price
to producers; paying a social bonus for community development; pre-funding to
assure production sustainability; rejecting child labour; rejecting forced labour;
practising non-discrimination (gender, association); promoting capacity building;
and protecting the environment (FLO 2016–2017; WFTO 2016).
Welcomed by small producers and farmers associations (Carlisle 2016; Barratt
Brown 2007; Shiesari and Gruninger 2014), this alternative trade model received
positive reviews from several academic studies (Sharma et al. 2018; Englund and
Berndes 2015; Becchetti et al. 2012; Udomkit and Winnett 2002; Rice 2001) but
also criticism (Garret et al. 2016; Thavat 2011; Carimentrand and Ballet, 2010). The
fair trade movement was launched in 1988 as a solidary movement to aid coffee
farmers in Mexico. It is possible to observe the progress of a sustainability agenda
in the fair trade organisations’ corporate social responsibility reports across the
years. The consistency of the fair trade aims with the sustainable development goals
was demonstrated in a recent work from Ribeiro-Duthie et al. (2018). This evolution
can be understood as developing in line to the maturity of the concept of sustainable
development since its inception on the world stage by the Brundtland Commission
in 1987. This means that fair trade organisations have shown effective commitment
to targets expressed in the sustainable development goals (SDG) since they were
A. C. Ribeiro-Duthie