Alliances

CLAC

Website: http://www.claccomerciojusto.org/index.html.

Location: Latin America (no central office)

Coordinadora Latinoamericana y del Caribe de Pequenos Productores de Comercio Justo is an association of cooperatives in the Latin American and Caribbean regions, that assists in the representation, coordination, and collaboration of Fair Trade producers.  They work across 21 national (by country) and 11 product networks, ranging from coffee to honey to nuts to wine.  The mission of the association is to help strengthen cooperative organizations by being involved locally and internationally.  CLAC has representation in the Board of FLO International and in the International Committee of IFAT.  Cooperative Coffees sees CLAC as a wonderful potential in terms of increasing and improving direct relations with Latin American partners.  It also provides an opportunity for our producer partners to become more involved with their national and regional Fair Trade allies and networks. 

BALLE

Website: http://www.livingeconomies.org/         Location: San Francisco, CA

BALLE (Business Alliance for Local Living Economies) is the world’s fastest growing network of sustainable businesses committed to building local economies and transforming the community economic development field. BALLE is comprised of nearly 60 local networks of independent businesses in a variety of locales across the US and Canada, and represents more than 15,000 entrepreneurs. BALLE believes in the power of bottom-up, networked change and that local, independent businesses are among our most potent change agents. 

Cooperative Coffees and BALLE share common values and operating styles. We understand our involvement with BALLE as a way to promote more comprehensive consumer education. When we talk about sustainable consumption, we want people to think: Fair, Green, and Local. We have received very positive feedback from BALLE leaders about our participation and see a future where we collaborate more closely to encourage Fair Trade sourcing within the local concept of BALLE. 

To learn more about BALLE, check out this report.

Trade Aid

Website: http://www.tradeaid.org.nz/home

Location: New Zealand

Trade Aid began 30 years ago as a couple’s vision to increase the trade of handcrafts and commodities between New Zealand and developing countries. At the heart of Trade Aid’s philosophy is the notion that income generation is an essential part of breaking the poverty cycle. The organization aims to build just and sustainable communities through fair trade. They engage in effective trading partnerships according to fair trade standards, choose trading partners who work with the most disadvantaged producers, and assist producers to move from poverty to self reliance. They also seek to make changes by increasing awareness of trading injustices and its impact on our trading partners, campaigning for change to unjust trading systems, and promoting fair trade as a positive alternative. Cooperative Coffees works together with Trade Aid in finding and developing these trading partnerships with coffee producers. For more info, visit www.tradeaid.org.nz .

Affiliations

United Students for Fair Trade (USFT)

USFT is a collaboration of American and Canadian students advocating around Fair Trade products, policies, and principles. The core objective of USFT is to raise the awareness of and expand the demand for Fair Trade alternatives, both on campuses and in communities. They do so through three main functions: organizing with over 100 active student Fair Trade organizations in the U.S., leadership development and capacity building, and as a resource group for student-based affiliates. These student groups work with commodities and retail companies, NGOs and producers to inspire consumers to buy fair trade. Coop Coffees is working with USFT to develop further partnerships in the near future. For more info, visit www.usft.net .

Catholic Relief Services (CRS)

Catholic Relief Services was founded in 1943 by the Catholic Bishops of the United States. Their mission is to assist the poor and disadvantaged, leveraging the teachings of the Gospel to alleviate human suffering, promote development of all people, and to foster charity and justice throughout the world. Working through local offices and an extensive network of partners, CRS operates on five continents and in 99 countries. CRS is also committed to educating the people of the United States to fulfill their moral responsibilities toward our global brothers and sisters by helping the poor, working to remove the causes of poverty, and promoting social justice. For more info, visit www.crs.org .

Oxfam America

Oxfam International launched a major Make Trade Fair campaign in the spring of 2001. The goals of this campaign are to expose and change the severe inequities that exist in the international trading system. Oxfam International and its 12 affiliates are calling on governments, institutions, and multinational companies to change the rules so that trade can become part of the solution to poverty, not part of the problem. Oxfam America, one of the affiliates, works with a broad range of groups—coffee farmers, US consumers, policy makers, retailers, and the coffee industry—to create sustainable solutions to poverty in coffee communities. One way they do is is by supporting cooperative marketing organizations that give small-scale farmers direct access to the market and the benefits of fair trade. For more info, visit www.oxfamamerica.org .