Trade for Development Centre is a programme of Enabel, the Belgian development agency.
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News and publications

The difficult search for fair trade gold

November 3rd 2014

The production of one single golden ring generates 20 tonnes of highly toxic waste and requires 50,000 litres of water. These numbers are impressive. Also, mining companies are seldom champions in respecting the local populations. The sector tries to redeem its negative image with standards and codes while NGOs work with cooperatives of artisanal miners towards producing fair trade gold
The first fair trade jewels were sold in 2011, but there are still many obstacles to overcome before miners will actually enjoy a better – golden? – future.

Read more »

Sustainable tourism and pleasure

November 2nd 2014

With a turnover of 500 billion dollars and 250 million employees, tourism is one of the main economic activities globally. However, revenue from the tourist business is often distributed unfairly and the environment is under pressure because of tourism. Does ‘sustainable tourism’ offer an alternative? And how can the triple P of sustainable development (people, planet, profit) be reconciled with the P of pleasure?

Read more »

Fish on the menu but for how much longer?

October 28th 2014

Unlike many of its neighbours, Senegal has a very large local fishery sector which plays an essential role in local food security. But tens of thousands of fishermen are too many, especially since they have to share the seas with foreign competitors and Russian pirates, which is why fish stocks have declined dramatically. Fortunately, the Senegalese government and the fisheries associations are acting.

Read more »

Say it with flowers

October 28th 2014

In 2007, Hilary Benn, Britain’s International Development Secretary asked consumers to buy roses from Kenya because importing African flowers is better for the environment in view of the fact they are not grown in heated greenhouses. He added that it makes it easier for African people to make a decent living.
But are his arguments right? How sustainable are flowers from the South and how good are the working conditions? And what is fair trade’s role in this?

Read more »

Fair trade from Europe. Fair trade no longer an exclusive North-South story

October 28th 2014

Over the last forty years, fair trade has proved to be a strong development model built on a cup of coffee from Latin America and a chocolate bar from Africa. It is a way for consumers to fight existing inequalities between the North and the South. But what about our own farmers who are also victims of the existing agricultural model? Isn’t a Greek farmer entitled to a fair price for his produce? These issues have occupied European fair trade movements for a while. Over the last few years more and more concrete initiatives in the area have emerged.

Read more »

Fair trade brings hope to vanilla producers

October 28th 2014

Few crops are as labour-intensive and time-demanding as vanilla. After saffron, vanilla is the most expensive spice in the world. Still, it brings farmers in Madagascar and elsewhere little more than dire poverty. The vanilla value chain is a complex one and competition from synthetic vanilla is deadly. Fortunately, thanks to fair trade, some vanilla producers are hopeful for the future.

Read more »

Fair wages for farm labourers? Fair trade in search of better employment conditions in the weakest link of its value chain

October 28th 2014

Consumers relate fair trade to products of ‘small farmers’ who work in cooperatives. This image is not really correct because already in 1994 a first large tea plantation became fair trade certified. Twenty years later fair trade labels source bananas, tea, flowers and wine from large farm businesses, while the debate whether this is the way to go is still raging. Central to the debate is the living wage concept, a fair wage for all workers – including seasonal workers

Read more »

Made in Misery: Ethics in the garment industry after Rana Plaza

October 28th 2014

1138 Bangladeshi workers were found dead between loads of garments destined for the European and American markets after the six-floor Rana Plaza complex in the industrial outskirts of Dhaka collapsed on 24 April 2013. Asia’s largest industrial catastrophe – after Bhopal – did not only disclose construction shortcomings but also the race to the bottom in the garment sector, which this time led to a deadly finish. How have authorities, businesses, trade unions and NGOs responded? Does the consumer have any sustainable alternatives?

Read more »

Better market access for producers in four TDC projects

October 28th 2014

Better market access for producers in four Trade for Development Centre projects. What do Palestinian cooperatives, Peruvian loggers, Bolivian organic farmers and Congolese coffee growers have in common? They all look for a way out of poverty and conflict by strengthening their organisation and searching for markets for their improved products. To achieve that dream each of them received a real boost of the Trade for Development Centre.

Read more »

The difficult search for fair trade gold

November 3rd 2014

The production of one single golden ring generates 20 tonnes of highly toxic waste and requires 50,000 litres of water. These numbers are impressive. Also, mining companies are seldom champions in respecting the local populations. The sector tries to redeem its negative image with standards and codes while NGOs work with cooperatives of artisanal miners towards producing fair trade gold
The first fair trade jewels were sold in 2011, but there are still many obstacles to overcome before miners will actually enjoy a better – golden? – future.

Read more »

Sustainable tourism and pleasure

November 2nd 2014

With a turnover of 500 billion dollars and 250 million employees, tourism is one of the main economic activities globally. However, revenue from the tourist business is often distributed unfairly and the environment is under pressure because of tourism. Does ‘sustainable tourism’ offer an alternative? And how can the triple P of sustainable development (people, planet, profit) be reconciled with the P of pleasure?

Read more »

Fish on the menu but for how much longer?

October 28th 2014

Unlike many of its neighbours, Senegal has a very large local fishery sector which plays an essential role in local food security. But tens of thousands of fishermen are too many, especially since they have to share the seas with foreign competitors and Russian pirates, which is why fish stocks have declined dramatically. Fortunately, the Senegalese government and the fisheries associations are acting.

Read more »

Say it with flowers

October 28th 2014

In 2007, Hilary Benn, Britain’s International Development Secretary asked consumers to buy roses from Kenya because importing African flowers is better for the environment in view of the fact they are not grown in heated greenhouses. He added that it makes it easier for African people to make a decent living.
But are his arguments right? How sustainable are flowers from the South and how good are the working conditions? And what is fair trade’s role in this?

Read more »

Fair trade from Europe. Fair trade no longer an exclusive North-South story

October 28th 2014

Over the last forty years, fair trade has proved to be a strong development model built on a cup of coffee from Latin America and a chocolate bar from Africa. It is a way for consumers to fight existing inequalities between the North and the South. But what about our own farmers who are also victims of the existing agricultural model? Isn’t a Greek farmer entitled to a fair price for his produce? These issues have occupied European fair trade movements for a while. Over the last few years more and more concrete initiatives in the area have emerged.

Read more »

Fair trade brings hope to vanilla producers

October 28th 2014

Few crops are as labour-intensive and time-demanding as vanilla. After saffron, vanilla is the most expensive spice in the world. Still, it brings farmers in Madagascar and elsewhere little more than dire poverty. The vanilla value chain is a complex one and competition from synthetic vanilla is deadly. Fortunately, thanks to fair trade, some vanilla producers are hopeful for the future.

Read more »

Fair wages for farm labourers? Fair trade in search of better employment conditions in the weakest link of its value chain

October 28th 2014

Consumers relate fair trade to products of ‘small farmers’ who work in cooperatives. This image is not really correct because already in 1994 a first large tea plantation became fair trade certified. Twenty years later fair trade labels source bananas, tea, flowers and wine from large farm businesses, while the debate whether this is the way to go is still raging. Central to the debate is the living wage concept, a fair wage for all workers – including seasonal workers

Read more »

Made in Misery: Ethics in the garment industry after Rana Plaza

October 28th 2014

1138 Bangladeshi workers were found dead between loads of garments destined for the European and American markets after the six-floor Rana Plaza complex in the industrial outskirts of Dhaka collapsed on 24 April 2013. Asia’s largest industrial catastrophe – after Bhopal – did not only disclose construction shortcomings but also the race to the bottom in the garment sector, which this time led to a deadly finish. How have authorities, businesses, trade unions and NGOs responded? Does the consumer have any sustainable alternatives?

Read more »

Better market access for producers in four TDC projects

October 28th 2014

Better market access for producers in four Trade for Development Centre projects. What do Palestinian cooperatives, Peruvian loggers, Bolivian organic farmers and Congolese coffee growers have in common? They all look for a way out of poverty and conflict by strengthening their organisation and searching for markets for their improved products. To achieve that dream each of them received a real boost of the Trade for Development Centre.

Read more »

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