Help us stop unfair trade
A major cause of poverty is unfair trade which denies poor countries and their people the chance to develop and prosper.
"The people making these laws should come to the ground and see how we live. We are very bitter. We are sad and we are stranded because we don’t know what tomorrow will have for us. Will they come to help us when we are dead?"
Linet, a sugar cane farmer in Kenya, East Africa.
In addition to promoting fairly-traded products, Traidcraft also campaigns to change the systems and rules of trade which are stacked against poor people.
We aim to raise awareness of injustices, build public support for change and put pressure on decision-makers – like government ministers, MPs, or businesses – to bring about change.
And we don't just do this in the UK. We work with partner organisations around the world to help build their knowledge and experience – so they can expose and campaign against injustices for themselves in their own countries.
Does it work?
Yes! History is littered with examples of popular pressure making a difference – such as the abolition of the slave trade and women getting the vote in the UK.
More recently:
-
Public pressure was crucial in getting world leaders to write off billions of dollars of poor countries’ unpayable debts. In countries like Tanzania and Malawi the money saved has been used to provide essential services like free education and child vaccinations.
-
In 2005, 8 million people in the UK, alongside millions more around the world, joined the call to MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY . World leaders responded with important new commitments on trade, aid and debt.
-
In 2006, more than 100,000 people sent campaign postcards to their MPs demanding changes in UK company law. As a result, businesses now have to publicly report on their effects on local communities and the environment.
Watch our video of Mike Gidney, Traidcraft's Director of Policy, explaining why campaigning is so important:
We need people like you!
You don't need to be worthy, serious or an expert on the issues to campaign – you just need to care enough to take an action – however small and insignificant it may seem.
At Traidcraft we believe it'll be thanks to the individual actions of people like you, now and in the years ahead, that poverty will ultimately become a scandal of the past.
