Fairtrade Application 2015
Solihull Fairtrade – Reapplication for Solihull’s Fairtrade Borough Status Introduction The group, initially set up as the Solihull Fairtrade Steering Group, has now been working for the benefit of Fairtrade (and fair trade) in Solihull since 2008. Fairtrade Borough Status was achieved in 2010, and this is the reapplication required to maintain the status. The first part of the document is a review of the activity since 2008. The second part is the action plan for the future.
Manager of Sainsburys Poplar Way support the ‘photo survey’ of Solihull town centre 2013. Photo courtesy of Solihull Photographic Society
Fairtrade Application 2015 Goal 1 : The local council passes a resolution supporting Fairtrade, and agrees to serve Fairtrade products (for example, in meetings and in its offices and canteens) Achievements The Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council passed a resolution in 2007. The Sustainable Development Team has provided the Chair for the group now since 2009. There are a number of keen and committed individuals but due to their other commitments there is no natural leader from the community. It is the Chair’s (and the council’s) approach to develop projects from the community and facilitate these e.g. Solihull Soroptomist’s Fairtrade Cake Off 2014. Should a leader of the group emerge with the drive to take the group forward, the chair would step aside and be directed by the group within the council’s remit. Councillor activity There has always been a good level of member interest and support.
In addition to the Member Champions that has been supporting the group since 2007, as of June 2014 two more Member Champions have been appointed. Other councillors continue to be involved, including turning out for a photo with the new Fairtrade Fortnight Banners https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/336714509616069630/ During Fairtrade Fortnight 2014, the councils work on Fairtrade was scrutinised by the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board, and a further report was taken to the portfolio holder for Fairtrade who endorsed the recommendation for the appointment of additional Fairtrade Champions from each party. Councillors Fairtrade and Local Food Tea – during Fairtrade Fortnight there is a Full Council to which all the councillors attend. During 2014 and 2015 a display prior to the tea showing what activities SoFT are undertaking. The Civic Suite Catering Manager puts on a Fairtrade and local food themed members tea (evening meal prior to meeting), demonstrating what is sourced this way during the rest of the year. Following the 2013 meeting the Mayor put on a Fairtrade and Local Food supper, featuring Fairtrade wine and beer and local cheese and bread. The councillors posed for a photo with the Fairtrade Borough Banners. https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/336714509616069630/
The Sustainable Development Team activity:
Supporting the Fairtrade steering group remains a key part of the targets of the Sustainability Team. The team manages the council’s website that it hosts on the Fairtrade and local foods campaign www.solihull.gov.uk/fairtrade , and the webteam provide the visit statistics. Supports schools to deliver Fairtrade often as part of the Citizenship GCSE and the Ecoschools Programme. https://storify.com/lardydaa/solihull-sustainable-schools
Fairtrade Application 2015
The team worked with True Fair and schools on a pot project which directly linked the producers of the pots to the learning of the pupils. The schools then joined the team on a stall selling the decorated pots. Funded wider event Fun in the Park and the Go Green Fair which in turn offered the group a stall at each event. At each of the events the Fairtrade group was with Fairtrade/ethical traders or local campaigners with complementary goals (e.g. Transition Solihull – local food. FOE – protection of bees/honey). Funded the any printed or promotional material, including a pull up banner. Influenced the organisers of ‘Your Green Futures’ schools careers event to invite a representative from the Fairtrade Foundation, and David Meller attended. https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/336714509616670423/
Communications Team
The Communications Team have done 3 articles in the last 3 years – one with a front page feature of the directory, a Christmas issue highlighting ‘ethical’ shopping and featuring the local Oxfam shop and more recently for Fairtrade Fortnight 2015 a feature on a local business https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/336714509616177605/ Developed printed and promotional material with communications officer and graphic designer.
Public Health Team A Food Strategy and Action Plan is being drawn up and a consultation is in progress. As part of the consultation there are ideas and actions proposed around Fairtrade.
Fairtrade, the ‘directory’ and the borough status are acknowledged and valued in the consultation for the food strategy, and The consultation proposes actions within the document that will benefit ‘fair trade’ and sustainable food sourcing. o “Create a food forum that actively promotes national campaigns and organises events.” o “Promote and facilitate an active food forum which is supportive in enabling networking and promoting healthy, sustainable businesses”. http://www.solihull.gov.uk/Portals/0/EnvironmentalHealth/A_food_strategy_and_a ction_plan_for_Solihull.pdf
Internal use of Fairtrade Council supports through its purchasing by:
The Civic Suite serves Fairtrade in all meetings and functions. Arts Complex Café organised the second Solihull Fairtrade Cake Off. https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/336714509615603563/
Fairtrade Application 2015
Solihull Arts Complex Café continues to serve Fairtrade and participates in Fairtrade Fortnight including offers on Fairtrade. Rainforest Alliance served in Sans Souci Education Centre Engaged Procurement Team who have developed a Sustainable Procurement Strategy. Are interested in the work around the Fairtrade and Local Foods Directory.
External influence
Engage our waste collection partner Amey through our Service Manager to find out that they source ‘fair trade’ cotton t-shirts.
Fairtrade Application 2015
Goal 2: Selling Fairtrade Increasing availability of Fairtrade in shops and cafes/restaurants Achievements Fairtrade and Local Foods Directory This was produced for 3 years in paper and pdf form. For these 3 years it was produced in partnership with Transition Solihull group who provided the data for the local foods. For the first time in 2014 the Fairtrade section was migrated to a Pinterest directory. The work on this both the paper and online version is hoped to increase the perceived opportunities to retailers and cafés. It is also a ‘volunteer’ opportunity within a portfolio of opportunities the Sustainable Development Team is seeking to publicise in its work with the Solihull Big Green Group. It has also been discussed as an opportunity with the Solihull Tourism Forum, who are looking for opportunities to further build the Solihull brand, local food including organic, ethical and Fairtrade are seen as part of this. Stall at public events The group have been doing at least 2 stalls per year, at Go Green Fair (Spring event hosted in Solihull town centre) and Fun in the Park (September in a Solihull park). Through working with Traidcraft suppliers, the stall at Fun in the Park 2013 sold Traidcraft products at a high profile event and did respectable trade on the day. Ethical Treats, a local online business selling ethical confectionary, and also Fairtrade Design (jewellery) also have attended this and the Go Green Fair. The stalls at the Go Green Fair tended to be for the distribution of the directory and promoted the website, however going forward the group is reconsidering and reinventing. At Fun in the Park 2014 the group partnered with the Solihull Arts Complex who supported the event with their pantomime dame. Engaging local stores The curate, David Egerton of Knowle Parish Church has taken a collaborative approach to influencing their local Tescos. Local store managers are allowed some degree of freedom in store, and so the store now stocks only Fairtrade pineapples and David has designed and put ‘Knowle supports Fairtrade’ at Fairtrade sales points. Direct influence on some partners has been successful, if pushing at an open door. BBBoutique set themselves up as an store selling environmentally friendly and ethically traded baby ware. They sponsored the Fairtrade Cake Off and hosted the winning cakes in their window display. Solihull Tourism Forum The chair now gets invited to the Solihull Tourism Forum. As part of their survey of members the forum asks about use of Fairtrade and local produce, and feeds the information back. The group are
Fairtrade Application 2015 considering how fair trade and ethical trading can be supported and ‘used’ for the benefit of local businesses. Events are also advertised through the forum and as a result of contacts support offered for the Fairtrade Cake Off. Engaging local restaurants/cafĂŠs A number of local businesses have supported us in the recent passed, with both local premier hotels offering staff time for judging the cake off and prizes. Hogarths Hotel provided a judge for the cake off, but also created its own press coverage through an advertisement in the local paper the following week. www.hogarths.co.uk/news/2014/solihullfairtrade-fortnight/
Fairtrade Application 2015 Goal 3: Using Fairtrade in workplaces, schools, churches and community organisations Achievements The group have developed good relationships with a limited number of workplaces. This is one of our more challenging of goals. As mentioned, many team at the council are keen users of Fairtrade, and the Fairtrade group have worked with the below to support more workplaces to adopt Fairtrade. Below are those we have engaged in using Fairtrade. Workplaces https://uk.pinterest.com/solihullftrade/workplaces/ Schools - https://uk.pinterest.com/solihullftrade/fairtrade-schools/ Churches - https://uk.pinterest.com/solihullftrade/fairtrade-churches/ Supporters - https://uk.pinterest.com/solihullftrade/supporters-of-solihull-fairtrade/
Flagship Employer – continuing support John Lewis Partnership have been supporting Solihull Fairtrade since 2007 when they were on and chaired the steering group. Since then they have provided a number of prizes for the steering group and displays of Fairtrade and organic products for events. During Fairtrade Fortnight 2013 they had a Fairtrade display in the partners restaurant showing the range of Fairtrade goods available in store and publicising the Fairtrade and Local Foods Directory. The restaurant serves Fairtrade teas and coffee, sugar and biscuits, fruit juices, flapjacks. The store serves over 100 staff members every day with Fairtrade products and uses Fairtrade in all its meeting rooms. The public cafes serve Rainforest Alliance tea and coffee. During the Fairtrade Fortnight 2013 John Lewis provided 4 volunteers to survey the town centre and to me subjects for the Solihull Photographic Society. During winter 2013 they hosted the Art in Rure project and the launch. Fairtrade is being linked with the art exhibition. https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/336714509616177990/ While they remain committed to Fairtrade in their restaurant. Support for Fairtrade on the shop floor is weaker, and they report poor sales leading to Fairtrade products being dropped. Solihull Sustain Sustain are commissioned to provide support to the local third sector, and use Fairtrade in meetings and for breaks. A number of their staff are committed Fairtrade supporters. Bromford Support Following a chance conversation at Solihull Sixth Form College at a volunteer fair, the Solihull manager pledged to move all tea and coffee for meetings and in the office over to Fairtrade.
Fairtrade Application 2015 They have across Solihull 7 schemes where colleagues can work from and have 17 colleagues across Solihull within our support contracts. They are also organising a fairtrade coffee mornings during Fairtrade Fortnight, and their own cake off competition with residents and staff. Npower These are a large employer in Solihull and hosted one of the Soroptimists’ coffee mornings. They have numerous Fairtrade products in their canteen and in their meetings. Gro-Organic CiC This is a small environmental education organisation that delivers food growing projects. They have been engaged with mostly local/organic growing projects but are also interested in the wider sustainability, and Fairtrade fits into the ethics of their business and its message. In 2014 they also moved to Fairtrade t-shirts. AMEY AMEY provide the domestic waste collection service to the council. There suppliers claim that all their t-shirts are fair trade, (but not through the Fairtrade scheme). They also have a Sustainable Procurement Policy which includes local procurement of foods. While a partial success, this did serve to raise Fairtrade through the contract managers at both the council and AMEY. Further investigation is needed to confirm the form of the ‘fairtrade’. Jurnie (formerly BB Boutique) These are local organic baby clothing retailer and are committed to using Fairtrade products both selling but also in their back office for breaks. They are supporting the Solihull Fairtrade Cake Off by displaying the winning cakes in their shop window the weeks after the competition.
Fairtrade Application 2015 Goal 4 – Communicating Fairtrade Achievements Stalls A regular activity for the group is the stall.
June 2010 - Go Green Fair – Directory distribution Sept 2010 - Fun in the Park – Stall – Fairtrade Fashion Show by Excentree Fashion and presentation of the Fairtrade Borough Status - Certificate of Achievement. June 2011 - Go Green Fair – Directory distribution Sept 2011 - Fun in the Park – Stall June 2012 - Go Green Fair – Directory distribution Sept 2012 - Fun in the Park – Directory distribution June 2013 – Go Green Fair – Directory distribution Sept 2013 – Fun in the Park – Traidcraft stall May 2014 – Go Green Fair – in conjunction with ESD Schools pot project with True Fair Sept 2014 – Fun in the Park – in partnership with the Solihull Arts Centre May 2015 – Go Green Fair – information stand
Fairtrade Fortnight 2010 “A Celebration of Fairtrade in Solihull” event – hosted by the Mayor in the Council Chamber – over 70 people attended to listen to eight 5minute talks on Fairtrade from local businesses, schools and groups, followed by a question and answer session. Fairtrade Fortnight 2011 “Fairtrade – Near and Far” – conference organised by SMBC. Over 70 people attended talks including a Fairtrade Shea Butter producer courtesy of the Fairtrade Foundation, also Dr Matthew Anderson. Fairtrade Fortnight 2012 The group failed to get anything organised for this Fairtrade Fortnight. A walk was organised with Fairtrade Action Birmingham, but it was poorly attended with nobody from Solihull attending – mostly due to ill health and other personal reasons. Fairtrade Fortnight 2013 Knowle Parish Church – over 3 consecutive weeks the curate organised a talk about Fairtrade by Cadbury, a showing of the film Black Gold, and the final talk was on Tearfunds work. Fairtrade Photo Survey with Solihull Photographic Society –we worked with 4 photographers to get some semi-professional shots to use in the campaign. Volunteers from Sainsburys, John Lewis, BB Boutique joined us as subjects. https://www.flickr.com/photos/greenheath/sets/72157632888721412/
Fairtrade Application 2015 Fairtrade Fortnight 2014 Solihull Fairtrade Cake Off – organised by Solihull Fairtrade, Soroptimists, Solihull Council and The Gastrocard, and hosted by Solihull Methodist Hall. Over 60 children and adults entered a variety of cakes from decorated cupcakes, teatime favourites and celebration cakes. A film of the event was produced event https://youtu.be/VnjEzxhvNL0 Solihull Methodists – pledged the use of their newly refurbished hall (with parking). This is a central location next to the train/bus station and 5 minutes walk from the town centre. The Gastro Card/Sally Bowen – supported the event and invited the judge from Purnell’s Bistro (Mitchelin starred restaurant owned by Chef Glynn Purnell). http://www.gastrocard.co.uk/2014/01/26/solihull-fairtrade-fortnight-24th-feb-to-9th-marchincluding-cake-off-on-1st-march/ Solihull Schools Catering– as supporters of sourcing Fairtrade and local foods, and promoting healthy eating, the schools catering team were involved providing the refreshments for the day as well as providing a judge. The event was promoted through twitter and a website at https://softcakeoff.wordpress.com/ The Soroptimists organised 10 coffee mornings over the fortnight. Mostly they were at the volunteers homes with friends and family invited, and 2 were held in workplaces including nPower. Lorely Burt MP attended one of the mornings. Bromford Support held two coffee mornings with service users. The Mayor of Solihull visited one while the Solihull Photography Society took some pictures. This was part of the Solihull Fairtrade Photo Survey. For the second year, a Fairtrade Photo Survey was undertaken by the Solihull Photographic Society. The pictures have been used for promotional material and can be seen at http://ow.ly/KJiSW https://www.flickr.com/photos/132036560@N03/sets/72157651128905228/ Fairtrade Fortnight 2015 Solihull Arts Complex Cake Off – for the second year the cake off moved to the Solihull Arts Complex, who organised it. This year 40 people entered in 4 categories, 2 childs categories, teatime favourite and celebration cake. The event also had demonstrations and stalls again. The event was filmed by Big Centre TV for a local news bulletin and by Reel Eyes Films for a promotional film https://youtu.be/GDod1JwSsng Soroptimists – Cake sale at the Manor House Café https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/336714509616178301/ and held a Pancake night – these events raised over £200. Solihull Fairtrade and the Soroptimists – designed and bought 5 street banners that were hosted around the town centre. https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/336714509616178343/
Fairtrade Application 2015 Hogarths Hotel – as well as supporting the Cake Off, they also advertised in the local press that they had and their own cake competition for children. https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/336714509616301177/ Social Media Primarily the recent successes have come through Twitter, notably:
Engaging Solihull Mayor in particular during Fairtrade Fortnight 2012, has since become a keen supporter. Mayors since have supported to various degrees depending on their use of twitter Sarah Silver, who suggested an arts/fairtrade project which resulted in the John Lewis/SpecSavers displays Solihull Photographic Society leading to the photo survey, and the relationship continues Introduction to Solihull Scouts which resulted in a meeting
Other events Amnesty International – hosted a talk by Traidcraft on ‘What is Fairtrade?’ https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/336714509616177641/
Social Media Twitter has proved an excellent forum for asking for assistance, finding out about local users/retailer/servers of Fairtrade and as a catalyst for new projects. It has also allowed me to keep up to date with those adopting Fairtrade, the most recent was the Olive Branch café tweeting that they had gone Fairtrade. Facebook and Wordpress Blogs have proved harder to use and working with the Solihull Big Green Group page, have proved less effective at generating contacts, projects and interest. Pinterest - https://uk.pinterest.com/solihullftrade/ This has been an excellent platform for hosting the Fairtrade Directory, recognising supporters and providing a link to online material, both produced by the group and externally (e.g. Fairtrade Foundation material). A paper directory was maintained but was limited to being published and refreshed annually, and was therefore only upto date once a year. The pinterest directory can be updated if a new retailer or supporters is found. It is also easier to produce and maintain. Issuu - http://issuu.com/solihullfairtrade The council maintained website is limited in number of documents you can host, so it was necessary to find another host for newsletters etc. Issuu, the online magazine publishing platform provides an
Fairtrade Application 2015 excellent place to host the literature the group produces. It is easy to use as both a publisher and a user, with a smooth and professional feel to browsers who come upon the leaflets etc produced. Flickr - https://www.flickr.com/photos/132036560@N03/sets/72157651128905228/ With the production of more photos, the need to share them has provided an opportunity to publicise our activity. Video – increasingly this medium is being cited as key in the expansion of social media, with video increasingly easy to produce and with an online audience that is becoming more accustomed to viewing video content. We have now generated a number of videos: Tom Bowen, independent - https://youtu.be/VnjEzxhvNL0 Reeleyez Films – Fairtrade Cake Off - https://youtu.be/GDod1JwSsng Big Centre TV – promotional video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fGoPVNa8kA at 1m 20s Big Centre TV – news coverage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDod1JwSsng
Fairtrade Application 2015
Goal 5 – Steering Group Achievements Up until mid 2014, the steering group met monthly. Unfortunately attendances declined due to a natural turnover, with out suitable replacement coming through. There have been a limited of number of meetings since, mostly with a specific purpose i.e. Fairtrade Fortnight 2015. There is a core of a steering group which is fewer than when set up, and the members are outlined below:
Chair - Andrew Greenall – Solihull Council Pauline Mackey – Soroptimists Carol Linfield – Transition Solihull Beryl Moppett – Councillor Bell – Member Champion
However, there is a wider group involved in promoting Fairtrade in the borough who don’t attend meetings, and these include:
Sara Breen – Representative from John Lewis David Egerton – Curate – Knowle Parish Church Rosemary Gardner - nPower Sarah Silver – Bastion Contrarion
Other supporters:
Solihull Photographic Society Soroptimists Lobby Group Reel Eyes Films
The steering group has a bank account in which any money raised is held, and for Fairtrade Fortnight 2015 these funds were used to pay for the banners. The group tends to invite offers of good will, including donations of prizes for the Cake Off and the production of the promotional video.
Fairtrade Application 2015
Fairtrade Application 2015
Action Plan Goal 1 : The local council passes a resolution supporting Fairtrade, and agrees to serve Fairtrade products (for example, in meetings and in its offices and canteens) Overall aims
To maintain a network of people and organisations that support the groups objectives To increase the number of participants at the steering group meeting To broaden the range of organisations Further engage the Councillors who support Fairtrade as a ‘good cause’ Engage other council officers on with the local benefits of supporting ‘fair trade’. Maintain the support given by the council through the Sustainable Development Team Maintain and increase the support from the members, especially the Fairtrade Champion and the Mayor.
Actions The council intends to maintain the support has it provided over the recent past.
SMBC Sustainable Development Team o Maintain and develop group – provide leadership until group develops own leadership potential o Coordinate the activity and bring together those separate supporters of Fairtrade. o Maintain www.solihull.gov.uk/fairtrade as a host for directory o Provide funding for printed materials, also funding available for Fairtrade Fortnight on application, likely funding stalls o Continue to develop online presence, that is further exploiting the opportunities that Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook offer. o To provide support to schools through the Education for Sustainable Development officer. o To meet with Councillor Champions following election. o Ensure teams and partners are communicated with and are influenced to use Fairtrade as part of Sustainable Procurement, and to ensure current good practice is recognised and celebrated. Communications Team – o Refresh printed material – directory, leaflets, poster
Fairtrade Application 2015 Goal 2: Selling Fairtrade Increasing availability of Fairtrade in shops and cafes/restaurants Aims
To continue to partner up with organisations to have Fairtrade as a theme To ensure there is enough reward in each project for the organisers to ensure future support. to engage businesses in seeing Fairtrade as a USP (unique selling point) and a marque of quality to distinguish themselves from the competition, rather than to lobby the cause of Fairtrade.
Actions
Continue developing Fairtrade and Local Foods Directory – now the Fairtrade Pinterest Board. Investigate the benefits of a paper directory alongside the Pinterest board. Fairtrade stalls – to continue to engage local Traidcraft representative to support the group. Also to engage other groups (e.g. the scouts to run them). Traidcraft – there is a small network of local traders which operate largely ‘under the radar’, and it is planned to further engage these volunteers and promote the work they do and the availability of Fairtrade Products through them. Solihull Tourism Forum – the forum has been interested in the groups work around the directory of Fairtrade and local food outlets. While their initial interest was around the local foods, they are keen on the Fairtrade and ethical trading angle on promoting business within the borough. While they are looking for a ‘unique selling point’, they are also very interested in the motivation behind going Fairtrade, i.e. it is deeper than just marketing. It is planned to keep the group engaged and a representative from the Fairtrade group will be attending. Solihull Food Forum – as a result of the Solihull Food Strategy, a representative of the Fairtrade group will be attending the meetings to ensure the Fairtrade actions are kept on the agenda. It will also be a good forum for discussing Fairtrade alongside other food issues and exploiting opportunities.
Fairtrade Application 2015 Goal 3: Using Fairtrade Aim
Make Fairtrade fun/interesting/beneficial to be associated with.
Actions
Engage nPower in becoming a second flagship employer – engage JLR and Solihull Sustainability Visioning Group members. To engage as many workplaces to get involved with the Fairtrade Fortnight activities To use Twitter further engage businesses. Promote those workplaces that do use Fairtrade through the use of the directory/online (as a reward).
Goal 4 – Communicating Fairtrade Aims
Continue to build relationships with key organisations Use a mix of media to communicate with a range of users
Actions Public events
Set up steering group for events – a mix of businesses and representatives of community groups, business groups (e.g. tourism forum), and other interested parties, with the goal of identifying events to put on in Fairtrade Fortnight 2016 and other opportunities. Develop “Cake Off 2016” with Arts Centre Café, including promotion during September at Fun in the Park, ‘the Big Taste’.
Social Media - Website
To investigate the development of a dedicated website o use of Social Solihull webpages to host a dedicated Fairtrade website. o Use of wordpress Continue to develop the Solihull Council website as the “landing page” for all enquiries in the borough. Acquire the web address www.solihullfairtrade.co.uk from former volunteer.
Social Media - Twitter
Continue to watch and contact potential supporters using Twitter Use #solihullhour, #brumhour, etc – as a way of engaging businesses.
Fairtrade Application 2015
Penetration of Twitter to both business and the community is still low, however those active on Twitter tend to be proactive, and therefore more willing to get involved. To use more picture tweets, more interesting local subject matter
Social media - general
To recruit a fellow support on social media to assist with the campaign. Further investigate the use of other platforms – e.g. Vine, Periscope etc, including further using video. To investigate the use of crowdfunding for future events.
Goal 5 – Steering Group Aims
To develop a group that works together, meeting as and when necessary.
Actions
Set up a Fairtrade Fortnight 2016 steering group Investigate the setting up of meetings with a specific purpose. A minimum of 4 meetings per year – targeted and with a specific agenda e.g. Fairtrade Fortnight, business engagement etc. Arrange a boroughwide meeting to get all interested parties involved! Bring all those not on the steering group formally into a meeting to celebrate the work all the groups and individuals are achieving.