Fair trade

Description of the organization:

The Ministry of Education and Culture in Saarland is responsible for the topic of development cooperation. The goal is to work closely with actors from civil society and the municipal level who are active in development policy. Together with these partners, the Saarland assumes global responsibility. This includes fostering partnerships with countries and regions of the global South and promoting development policy information and education as well as civic engagement for the One World.

Goals and priorities

Since development cooperation is above all a task for society as a whole, the successful work of private initiatives, the churches and other non-governmental organizations in particular receives financial and non-material support. Saarland organizations working in and for South-North partnerships network with each other. Together, the state government and civil society want to make a concrete contribution to fighting poverty worldwide, securing peace, realizing democracy and making globalization fairer.

Particular importance is attached to the open and cooperative exchange of all actors in development policy work, both in global partnerships and in information and education work. In order to promote this exchange, the Ministry of Education and Culture invites to the open forum on development cooperation twice a year.

The Saarland Development Cooperation Guidelines were adopted by the Saarland Parliament in March 2017 and are the result of a development process with the active participation of civil society and Saarland non-governmental organizations. They represent the framework of Saarland's development cooperation and are intended to strengthen existing structures, initiatives and activities. They serve as orientation and form the basis for Saarland's future development policy relevant engagement.

The fields of action of Saarland's development cooperation are:

- development policy information, advisory and educational work

- science, research and teaching

- international exchange

- economy, enterprises, public administrations and municipalities

- international trade and agricultural policy

- North-South partnerships/cooperations

- impact of European policy on countries of the global south

Since 2018, the State Coordination Office for Education for Sustainable Development has been the key position for the structural anchoring of Education for Sustainable Development in school education. With the state coordination office, Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is systematically and structurally anchored in the education sector. In order to link global interrelationships and individual behavior, even schoolchildren are to be sensitized to sustainable development.

There are also far-reaching efforts in the area of fair trade/sustainable procurement. For example, with the decision of the Council of Ministers on May 2, 2023, fair trade coffee and another fair trade product - such as chocolate, tea or sugar - will be used in all houses of the state government from July 1, 2023. "If you want to have good working conditions in your own country, you cannot save on the price of coffee, cocoa or sugar at the expense of people in the global south. Therefore, in the future, there will be fair trade products in the areas of the ministers, the Prime Minister, but also in the hospitality of guests," explains Secretary of State for Education Jan Benedyczuk. With this decision, the state government has launched the "Fair Federal State" project. With this, Saarland will be the first federal state to submit an application for certification as a Fairtrade federal state in the fall of 2023. The certification is intended to structurally anchor Fair Trade in Saarland.

There are also far-reaching efforts in the area of fair trade/sustainable procurement. For example, with the decision of the Council of Ministers on May 2, 2023, fair trade coffee and another fair trade product - such as chocolate, tea or sugar - will be used in all houses of the state government from July 1, 2023. "If you want to have good working conditions in your own country, you cannot save on the price of coffee, cocoa or sugar at the expense of people in the global south. Therefore, in the future, there will be fair trade products in the areas of the ministers, the Prime Minister, but also in the hospitality of guests," explains Secretary of State for Education Jan Benedyczuk. With this decision, the state government has launched the "Fair Federal State" project. With this, Saarland will be the first federal state to submit an application for certification as a Fairtrade federal state in the fall of 2023. The certification is intended to structurally anchor Fair Trade in Saarland.

The application documents must be submitted to the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Saarland by December 31 of the previous year at the latest for the budget year of the funding. For project funding within the framework of development cooperation, the guidelines of development cooperation of the Saarland apply as a content-related framework. The legal framework for funding is formed by the guidelines of the Ministry of Education and Culture for the granting of subsidies for the funding of projects within the framework of development cooperation, as amended from time to time.

The non-profit association "Bund für Bildung" translates socially relevant issues into educational projects. The focus is on issues of inclusion, participation and democracy.

FAIR for all generations FAIR education - Our campaigns are aimed at schools, kindergartens and day-care centres (Kitas), extracurricular actors in the greater Saarbrücken area and Saarland University. Several "Fair Kitas", "Fairtrade Schools" and "Fairtrade Universities" from the greater Saarbrücken area have already been awarded. School classes and courses from the Saarbrücken region have already received the award "Fair School Class - Fair Trade Class" more than 100 times. Through our young "Fair Trade Ambassadors" as multipliers and through our wide-ranging commitment, we reach a broad public. The guiding principle of our network is Education for Sustainable Development (ESD).

Gepa: A Story of Success in Fair Trade

"Jute instead of plastic." This is the slogan that made the Gepa well known. In May of 1975, the two big ecclesiastical denominations in Germany founded the "society for the promotion of partnerships with the Third World" (gepa) in Wuppertal, Germany. Since then the gepa has developed into the largest fair trade organization in Europe with a turnover of more than 36 million Euros for the financial year 2003/2004. The gepa is also a member of an international fair trade network that is committed to the observance of binding principles like fair prices, long-term trade relations, consulting on developing products and organic farming. In this manner the gepa improves the living conditions of people in the South in accordance with the Agenda 21 program established by the UN economic, social and ecological sustainability.

More than 100,000 volunteers work in Third World shops and action groups. In addition, a large number of consumers has been acknowledging the high quality work of the gepa's trade partners by buying Fair Trade products. The gepa transfers about 15 Million US dollars annually for food products such as coffee, tea, and chocolate, or crafted products such as footballs, baskets or stainless steel kitchen tools for the approximately 150 farm cooperatives and socially committed private corporations in Latin America, Africa and Asia.

In addition to Third World shops and action groups, gepa products are also available in many supermarkets, natural food shops, company canteens and education centers throughout Germany. You can order coffee, tea, chocolate or organically grown wine directly at www.gepa.de.

Fairly Trade Hellas is an NGO not oriented to profit which was founded in June, 2004 with the aim to promote the Fairtrade movement and ethical consumption in Greece. In this direction going Fairly Trade Hellas opened on the 16th of March, 2006 as the first Fairtrade store not oriented to profit in Greece in cooperation with the Italian NGO CTM ALTROMERCATO (a study group in which Fairly Trade Hellas is a member of). Fairly Trade Hellas promotes with the help of five employees and many voluntary educational operations, sensitization campaigns of alternative and fair economy and supports responsible consuming.

We are an organisation that deals with development issues / development awareness raising and global education, fair trade promotion, we also have Fair trade salepoints in Prague and Brno and import limited range of Fair trade products.