Traidcraft, the UK’s leading fair trade organisation, is launching the Trainers for Trainers fundraising initiative. Schools are invited to organise fundraising events at their school, which involve pupils paying £1 each to take part in a non-uniform day – a fun and simple way to raise money for charity.
There are many resources available to download from www.traidcraftschools.co.uk/trainers4trainers. This includes fundraising ideas, a customisable press release, posters, assembly ideas and a template sponsorship form.
Charlotte Flowers, community and events fundraiser, says: “Schools can use the fundraising pack to organise a day of activities relating to fair trade, which can help achieve or maintain Fairtrade School status. This fundraising activity is a way of acting on your commitment to promote and take action for Fairtrade at least once a term in the school, while fundraising for charity is looked on favourably during Ofsted reports.”
There was a fourfold increase in the number of Fairtrade schools in the UK over the past two years. There are now 482 schools that have been granted a Fairtrade School Award, while a further 4288 schools are registered with the Fairtrade Foundation as working towards Fairtrade School status.
More than one in three people in the world live in poverty. The money raised during Trainers for Trainers day will go towards helping Traidcraft change this, by providing more training for poor people so they can work their way out of poverty.
Traidcraft provides training in best practice for farmers and producers in developing countries so they can earn a better living. Farmers like Kamal, who lives with his wife and children in one of the poorest and most isolated parts of Bangladesh.
Lacking knowledge, skills and equipment, it is difficult for Kamal to earn a fair and decent living from duck farming. By learning how to trade more effectively, Kamal could earn enough to build his own house, afford proper healthcare and send his children to school.
*Statistics from the Fairtrade Foundation, 2010
