Kiwis love coffee.
You can help change the world - one coffee at a time.
We crave our cappuccinos, live for our lattes and get fanatical about our flat whites. But it’s not often that we stop and think about where our coffee is coming from or the people producing it. We’re not talking about the awesome baristas behind the counter but rather coffee bean farmers in places like Papua New Guinea who are often exploited and underpaid for their produce. That’s where the Pay Fair Trade Forward campaign comes in. Brewed up by the young leaders in the P3 Foundation, Pay Fair Trade Forward is a social experiment aimed at increasing awareness about the importance of buying fairly traded coffee – and the impact this has on farmers in developing nations. This year, Pay Fair Trade Forward day is on Friday 13 May. At the beginning of the day, an army of volunteers will head into participating cafes (like yours!) and buy a cup of fair trade coffee. The twist is that as well as buying their own coffee, they will also pay a fair trade coffee forward for the next customer! The next customer then gets a free coffee (plus a quick rundown on fair trade from the barista) and the chance to pay it forward to someone else. We hope that the domino effect of customers paying it forward will also spark discussion about the fair trade movement which guarantees a better deal for Third World Producers – not through hand-outs but by letting them trade their way out of poverty. For those of you less familiar with Pay Fair Trade Forward – and the fair trade movement in general – turn over to find out more:
For more information contact David Tong at david.tong@p3foundation.org
Fast Facts about Fairtrade! In 2012, 41 cafes across New Zealand took part in Pay Fair Trade Forward day (and even more in in 2013 - we did different campaigns in 2014 and 2015!) We estimate that 4000 people paid a coffee forward in 2012 Savour and Devour in Grey Lynn, Auckland, reached over 200 people in their chain by 11.30 am in the morning! The media love Pay Fair Trade Forward, with past coverage including: Herald Online, TVNZ, TV3, Christchurch Mail, Central Leader & Southland Times. Each year fair trade coffee generates $45 million to support coffee farmers Fair trade ensures coffee growers receive a guaranteed minimum price (providing them with enough money to meet their basic needs and protecting the vulnerable from often crippling fluctuations in the world market) Fair trade ensures a social premium (extra payment for the co-operatives to put towards community development in the form of schools, medical centres and better water supplies) Fair trade ensures technical assistance (to improve crops, harvesting, processing, shipping and access to local services). Fair trade provides an expectation of future orders (enabling farmers to maintain and improve community development)
Photo by Tom Greenwood, Oxfam.