Buy Into Change:
Invest in people!

Investing in people instead of financial markets reinforces economic power within communities. By purchasing Fair Trade products, we can help individuals and communities to take control of their lives. Not only will they see a difference in their livelihoods, they will also have better access to education, health care services, public participation and much more. You too can contribute. Give the economy a more human face by promoting ethical purchasing.

The Cost of Cheap

The reality is that our economy is profit driven. Many people chose to buy products at the lowest possible cost, favoring manufacturers who respond by keeping it cheap! But while we might be saving on the final price tag, we are losing out in other ways.

• It’s cheaper to move production to the poorest of the poor countries – taking advantage of lax or absent environmental and labour laws and of a workforce desperate because of massive unemployment.
• It’s cheaper to pay the people making the product or harvesting the crop the absolute minimum – workers are lucky if they earn enough to survive.
• It’s cheaper to offer poor working conditions and not to spend on health and safety practices, especially disadvantaging women and children.
• It’s cheaper to not consider the environment and use destructive practices rather than sustainable ones.
• It’s cheaper to maintain this status quo.

In contrast, investing in people allows them to lift themselves out of poverty: by developing their resources, they increase their economic power and, with work and efforts, they manage to escape poverty and to be autonomous. In short, this way they take charge of their destiny on the economical side, and this has an impact at many levels – social, health, education, equality between women and men, political participation, community and will benefit future generations.

Fair Trade: One Solution

Fair Trade empowers farmers and producers to rise above the challenges of market pressure they face. On the one hand, it enables them to access consumers who believe in global social responsibility, fair wages, adherence to international labour, and environmental standards. On the other hand, it gives them access to a market system that doesn’t marginalize small-scale producers. Fair Trade importers invest in community development, environmental protection initiatives and social services, so that not just producers but entire communities benefit.

People like you have the means to question and change the status quo. Each time you choose Fair Trade products, it creates demand for these products, and companies that manufacture them thrive. Every time you turn away from the philosophy of the cheapest possible, you encourage the creation of a better world. The economy is demand-driven, so make an overall investment for the future of humanity.

What You Can Do

Using portraits photo, show the human face of the economy and the people behind Fair Trade products whenever you can!

• Celebrate Halloween and give Fair Trade chocolates to passers-by to encourage them to support a fairer trade.
• Committees who are registered for the campaign on My Committee before September 23 will receive mini-chocolates and information on Fair Trade.
  - Distribute the chocolates on your campus and your community by giving out free chocolates and promote the other faces of Fair Trade.

• Hold a sale of Fair Trade products on campus before the holiday season and donate some or all the profits to the “The other faces of the economy” campaign. The funds will help reinforce Uniterra’s development projects in social economy.
  - Order Delapointe products made of Fair Trade and Organic Certified Shea butter from Burkina Faso or contact the nearest Ten Thousand Villages store to arrange a Fair Trade sale on your campus. Refer to the “Resources” section below.
• Be “My Fair Valentine”: promote love and friendship by promoting Fair Trade products!
• Organize a fundraiser to promote the stories of individuals that make up the Fair Trade economies and to raise funds to support Uniterra’s development projects in social economy.
• Become a Uniterra volunteer overseas and directly support the program’s projects in social economic development.
• Campaign to make your campus a “Fair Trade Campus”

Some results to date

In 2010 and 2011, WUSC Local Committees were very active in the “Buy Into Change” campaign! They managed to:

• Inform more than 19,000 people on the importance of Fair Trade.
• Mobilize nearly 10,000 people who have taken a concrete action to support Fair Trade.
• Raised more than $8 000 through their activities.

Want to participate?

Check out the campaign resources and contact your Regional Liaison Officer for more info or to let them know what you are planning! Sign you committee up for the campaign on My Committee. Not sure who to contact? Email campus@wusc.ca.

Resources

Use these resources – and create your own! – to engage the public in the campaign and in your events:

• 3 campaign posters (pdf):
  - Invest in people. They’ll invest in their community.
  - Invest in people. Let’s make a more human economy.
  - Invest in people. Buy Fair Trade products.
• Activity Sheet "Buy Into Change! Invest in people "(to come)
• "Fair Trade on Campus" power point presentation
• Fair Trade Canada: Order resources (posters, buttons, stickers, etc.)
• Karité Delapointe: Info Sheet (pdf)
• Karité Delapointe: Shea Products Order Form (xls)
• CECI: Information Fair Trade and Organic Certified Shea (in French)
• Eric St-Pierre: Order books, calendars and more
• Ten Thousand Villages: Information on organizing a sale of Fair Trade products

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