Food sovereignty, fair trade and local government

Food Sovereignty, Fair Trade and Local Government An opportunity to develop alternatives

“Thanks to agriculture we remenber our bond with our territory, agriculture grounds us to the land: the basis of life. In the local approach lays the foundation for social

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transformation (local peasant)

Over the past few years, Fair Trade has seen an unanticipated boost.

In quantitative terms, the figures show continuous growth over the past decade (even during the recession), although in qualitative terms debates surrounding the issue are ever more prevalent. The numbers, which are positive in theory, mask a less encouraging reality.

In actual fact, the current situation means we are at risk of losing sight of the philosophy behind Fair Trade and the foundations of the concept, which means we need to strengthen the existing ties between Fair Trade and the Solidarity Economy.

This is necessary because when Fair Trade is approached from the perspective of the Solidarity Economy, we can better understand all the nuances that make it a tool with a real potential to create change, moving away more capitalist leaning processes. You only have to look at the content of the “Charter on Economic Solidarity” to see how many different approaches there are to Fair Trade.

Naturally, Emaús Fundación Social sees Fair Trade from this perspective of Solidarity Economy. More specifically, this research aims to delve into the relationships that should be in place when Fair Trade is introduced into a local area, based on a broad, solidary, co-responsible and comprehensive understanding of the situation in the North and the South.

In order to achieve this, we will be looking at the Fair Trade Towns programme1, which we coordinate for the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, and where we have found the perfect opportunity to incorporate this vision. The programme focuses on five criteria, which involve the most relevant actors and organizations in the municipality, including local government, the commercial sector and the hotel industry, educational community, associations and the private sector. We understand that the programme might seem reductive if it does not specifically include a local perspective, one that also takes into account the principles that underline fair trade in our own surrounding area. This relationship is inexorably linked to Fair Trade, as well as to the Solidarity Economy and Food Sovereignty. That is why one of the aims of our research is to propose a new criteria, one that allows for a detailed discussion of the local points of view that should be incorporated into the programme2. We hope that this criteria will promote the alternatives available to local governments so that they can support local processes in favour of Food Sovereignty.

In order to achieve this, we needed to identify the different actions that have been implemented in the region with the help of the local government, relating to trade and the production as well as to consumer sectors. Over the course of this document, we will look at factors relating to sustainability, regulatory guidelines and other useful information related to good practice. We believe that these actions can be replicated, and that they could become a source of inspiration for municipalities that have the political will to put these kind of processes into practice.

1 More information can be found at www.ciudadesjustas.org 2 In other areas where Fair Trade has been developed further, the Fair Trade Towns programme already includes this final goal (e.g. in Belgium , where the programme covers specific actions for local producers).

Proposal to include a local perspective in the Fair Trade Towns programme

Where did the idea to include a new criteria come from?

The Fair Trade Towns programme is based on universality and scalability, within a flexible methodology. It is therefore natural that the programme will evolve in a different way in every region, while maintaining some shared foundations.

This flexibility can be seen in countries such as Ireland, where the programme has been adapted and modified with four criteria/objectives, placing special emphasis on the work to be carried out in education centres1.

In other countries, such as the Netherlands, Canada and Belgium, a new criteria has been added alongside the five internationally recognised criteria, in order to complement the programme and strengthen its vision. .

• The Netherlands have created a new criteria that is directly linked to Social Responsibility2.

• In Canada, the extra criteria is related to different methods that could be used by the community to promote sustainability and responsible consumption3.

• Over in Belgium, in the Wallonia region, the sixth criteria is related to promoting locally produced, sustainable products4.

More specifically, a review of each national initiative shows the particular characteristics that give the programme its own personality.

In order to carry out this research, we met with representatives from the Belgian programme in order to learn about their processes and draw from any lessons that could be applied to our local area.

At the same time, we shared all of the progress made with IDEAS, the programme coordinator in Spain.

As part of the process to establish the new criteria, it is interesting to see how we have reviewed the actions and initiatives already started and put in place by local governments.

In other words, the proposal for the new criteria is based on situations that already exist, but that are not widely known.

A further aspect of the participative nature we tried to achieve in our research is that it involves both local governments and producers.

The different phases that our research has gone through are summarised in the diagram on the next page.

1 http://www.fairtrade.ie/assets/files/Fairtrade%20Towns%20-%20Goals%20and%20Guidelines.pdf 2 http://www.fairtradegemeenten.nl/algemeen/criteria/

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3 http://fairtradetoronto.ca/about-us/fair-trade-town/ 4 http://cdce.be/les-6-crit%C3%A8res

Figure 1. Stages involved in establishing the sixth goal

Stage I

Stage II

Stage III

Analysis of good practice in town and city councils relating to promoting local production and consumption

Stage IV

2015 Fair Trade Town Criteria 1. Public procurement Proposing a 6th goal

Workshops for producers, asking themhow could the local government promote your activity?

Approving a 6th goal

2. Trade and the hotel industry 3. Associations, education centres and the private sector 4. Local work group 5. Residents 6. Local consumption

Source: www.ciudadesjustas.org

Reasons for setting the criteria There are three key reasons that led us to work towards establishing a new criteria for the Fair Trade Towns programme.

As we mentioned at the beginning, our main motivation was ideological, as we believe that dealing with Fair Trade from the perspective of the Solidarity Economy and Food Sovereignty involves related factors that should be taken into account.

The second reason was to create an appropriate framework to adapt the programme to local circumstances, and even to recommend adapting specific objectives depending on the situation in the region.

Lastly, local governments have a far-reaching influence in terms of putting alternatives in place to promote the consumption, production and/or distribution of local products.

In many cases, we saw that one of the main factors that hinders the programme is a lack of awareness of the options, and we therefore hope to show the available possibilities with this new criteria. In addition, experience shows that the Fair Trade Towns programme is received significantly better when presented to local governments if it includes adaptations that take the local perspective into account to some extent, thereby overcoming the North-South dichotomy that the classic Fair Trade vision implies. Whether due to a better appreciation of the programme, or to a more direct appreciation of their responsibility as the local government, in the case of the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, the distinguishing feature of the programme was, without doubt, the work carried out for the sixth criteria.

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Moving towards a sixth criteria Using the analysis and the conclusions drawn from the interviews and workshops that were carried out, we propose a criteria that is consistent enough to include in the agenda for the local programme, but that is also flexible enough to be included in all the regions involved in the Fair Trade Towns programme. This means that, despite it being a criteria that is more adapted to the quirks and socio-political context of the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, we expect it to be useful as a guideline for other regions.

Having covered this point, we think the best method is to include a gradual criteria, starting with some basic points and moving towards ideal goals, so that each municipality can decide what point it wants to reach. In any case, the areas considered are inter-related, which means that our proposal is not to bring them closer together independently, but rather to analyse the connections that might rise naturally between them. This means that including a local perspective should be more comprehensive, with greater coherency between public policy and/or different departments.

Having previously analysed the various options available to local governments (town and city councils) for encouraging local processes in favour of Food Sovereignty, and using the characteristics of the Fair Trade Towns programme as a framework, we believe that the basic criteria that needs to be included should be related to promoting local products and making them more visible. As we are discussing an emerging criteria, during the first stage we think it would be better not to relate it directly with the number of inhabitants in a given municipality (as with the other criteria), and rather just include it on the list of criteria.

In order to do this, local governments have a wide range of options at their disposal, from strengthening short distribution channels (consumer groups), to promoting local product fairs, making local products more visible, and making it easier to access them.

For every one of these aspects, there are a wide variety of different ways of promoting them.

In the case of short distribution channels, institutional support can be provided by offering spaces for the necessary facilities, providing the use of premises owned by the municipality, or simply by helping to publicise the alternatives locally.

In terms of fairs/markets for local products, support can be provided by exempting them from municipal taxes, simplifying administrative processes, or offering help making the events more visible.

Possible actions to carry out • Making short distribution channels more visible in the municipality • Organising local product fairs • Training and increasing awareness • Providing municipal premises to distribute produce in baskets or boxes • Identifying local, organic products • Simplifying bureaucratic processes • Exempting local producers from fees

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Once this has been achieved, we propose making further changes in areas where local governments might be able to have an impact.

This includes municipal garden allotments, which have the opportunity to become a driving force in the primary sector, both for their educational value and capacity to raise

awareness, and for their potential to become alternative facilities for local producers.

The actions to be carried out range from conducting a census of the land available on a municipal level, to setting up allotments and/or municipal gardens to be used by potential producers that have difficulty accessing land.

Possible actions to carry out • Setting up a census for public and privately owned agricultural land • Establishing rules and regulations to facilitate access to land (for recreational use and/or production) • Providing municipal land for allotments • Offering training and support to people who start allotments

The last aspect that the sixth criteria aims to work on is related to public food procurement, whether by specifically including a statement about the situation of local producers in the official statement supporting the programme, or by including local products in public tenders (e.g. for school canteens, and for residential centres managed by the municipality).

Possible actions to carry out • Issuing statements in support of local producers.

• Including local, organic products in public procurement processes (for example, in canteens) • Municipal kitchens

How should the sixth criteria be applied?

As mentioned above, it should be a gradual criteria, focussing on qualitative aspects rather than quantitative ones.

We propose ensuring that the criteria primarily covers a basic minimum (promoting local products and making them more visible), while considering new actions every year, whether they are related to this area, or to one of the two other areas. In this respect, remember that the criteria was suggested with a comprehensive approach in mind, with the potential to encourage collaboration between different local government departments and/or social organisations.

That is why we want to advocate the sixth criteria as a process, rather than limiting it to sporadic actions. Lastly, it should be emphasised that when considering this process, we think it is extremely important to make it more participative, to encourage community development.

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