For two weeks each year at the end of February and start of March, hundreds of individuals, companies and groups across Ireland come together to share the stories of the people who grow our food, people who are often exploited and underpaid.
You are invited to join us (Virtually) for the launch of Fairtrade Fortnight at 4.30pm on Monday 22nd February to celebrate some of the things that are happening! Read more Read less
We will have very short, 5 minutes each, samples from across all the kinds of events that will be happening during the Fortnight. The photographer Sean Hawkey will show a couple of photographs from his exhibition about Climate Change and Fairtrade farmers; our new advertising campaign will be featured; the micro-finance NGO Prospero will explain how they support Fairtrade farmers’ coops and how you could support them; some of our partner companies will tell us what they are doing; an artist will talk to us about her new mural on Merrion street; the development education organisation, 80:20 will share our new schools education pack about chocolate and Fairtrade; Fairtrade communities in Donegal will share what they are doing during the Fortnight; we also also have Colm O’Gorman from Amnesty International doing a couple of cooking demonstrations, and chocolatier David Greenwood Haigh showing us how to make truffles...
This session will cover the first hand experiences of people dealing with chaotic climate change. Roberto Arturo Lopez,Read more Sustainability Program Manager in COAGRISCAL coffee and cocoa cooperative in Hondurass, and Deborah Osei – Mensah cocoa farmer Impact officer in ASUNAFO NORTH cocoa cooperative in Ghana, also share their first-hand experiences about the effects of climate change that farmers in the Global South are facing. Dr Oliver Moore will also talk about some of the things Fairtrade farmers are doing to increase their resilience in the face of climate change impacts.
Irish Examiner Food Columnist and Executive Director of Amnesty International Ireland, is doing some chocolatey things for us as part Fairtrade Fortnight! Read more Read less
People will be familiar with the ‘Colm Cooks’ phenomenon on social media channels like Twitter and Instagram. In this demonstration of cooking with Fairtrade chocolate, Colm is clearly bringing his twin passions for social justice and cooking together.
The recipes that Colm will be demonstrating use Lidl’s WayToGo! range of chocolate bars. The WayToGO! range, in addition to paying the Fairtrade minimum price and premium to cocoa farmers, also pay a living income supplement to further help cocoa farmers to earn a living income.
The recipes will be posted here, and in the meantime you can register here to book your place. #ChooseTheWorldYouWant - #Choose Fairtrade
As teachers, already know, many primary schools have chosen chocolate as part of their National Curriculum studies and children are learning about chocolate through the early years. Read more Read less
As part of their studies children will learn about the history of chocolate and chocolate production from bean to bar, which covers subjects including citizenship, geography, history and science. They may also study Roald Dahl and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as part of an English programme.
Having worked for over ten years for a Fairtrade chocolate company David proactively supports Fairtrade so it follows that he would only use Fairtrade chocolate in all educational chocolate workshops. David has found that chocolate can provide a fantastic gateway to a fun learning experience. chocolate has a long and interesting history. Today, chocolate provides a great way to look at global trade, and issues of social justice.
The End of the Road? – An exhibition of photographs by Sean Hawkey about climate change and Fairtrade farmers. 4.30pm, Wednesday 24th February. Read more Read less
Sean Hawkey is a renowned photographer who has documented the lives of people all over the world. In this exhibition Sean’s lens is focused on the impacts of multiple hurricanes on people in communities in Nicaragua and Honduras in Central America in 2020. For this expedition and talk Sean will be joined by Raquel Girón Rosales, from the coffee coop COMISYL in Honduras, and Kieran Durnien who worked with Fairtrade farmers in Central America for 10 years.
Photo: The end of the road. The main highway between San Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa at Tres Reyes, Pimienta was flooded during hurricane Iota, the water came at 2am, a lot of people were prepared, but flash flooding caught many by surprise and they lost all their belongings.
More Info to follow
David Greenwood-Haigh is an award-winning chocolatier with over forty years’ experience in the food industry as a Master Chef member of the Craft Guild of Chefs and sales manager for various blue-chip food businesses. Read more Read less
David’s passion for chocolate was born from his last employed position for Divine Chocolate, which is where his Food Adventure started to pick up pace. It was here that David focussed his enthusiasm for food on ethically sourced, fantastic quality chocolate. This role afforded David some career changing opportunities to work directly with Cocoa Farmers in Ghana to understand the subtle nuances of cocoa production.
Join David for a delicious Live Chocolate Truffle Making Workshop, Learn new chocolate skills and make the most delicious fresh truffles you’ve ever tasted – all from the comfort of your home!
We will send you the recipe a few days before the event.
From Athlone to Accra, we have all been hugely affected by the COVID 19 pandemic. Join us for a discussion with Deborah Osei – Mensah a young cocoa farmer from Asunafo North in Ghana, to hear a first-hand encounter of how producers in the Global South have been affected, what cooperatives and producer organisations are doing to keep everyone safe and how their communities are coping.Read more Read less
And to hear from us at Fairtrade Ireland about the Fairtrade Producer Resilience and Relief Fund and its aims to help farmers and workers in the Global South deal with both the short and long term effects of the Coronavirus.
Columnist and Executive Director of Amnesty International Ireland, is doing some chocolatey things for us as part Fairtrade Fortnight! People will be familiar with the ‘Colm Cooks’ phenomenon on social media channels like Twitter and Instagram.Read more Read less
He is joined on this demonstration by Allison Roberts from Exploding Tree Chocolate Company in Clonakilty. Exploding Tree is Ireland’s only Fairtrade Bean To Bar chocolate company. In this demonstration of cooking with Fairtrade chocolate, Colm and Allison are clearly bringing their twin passions for social justice, chocolate and cooking together. The recipes that Colm will be demonstrating use Exploding Tree’s range of chocolate bars. The recipes will be posted here, and in the meantime you can register here to book your place. #ChooseTheWorldYouWant – #Choose Fairtrade
This session is an opportunity to travel to Nicaragua to hear from coffee producers in the SOPPEXCCA cooperative, as well as to Brazil to understand how the COOMAP cooperative are benefiting from Fairtrade. Both of these coops have direct relationships with many of us in Ireland as they sell their coffee here. Read more Read less
Ever wanted to know about the people behind your Fairtrade Coffee? Why not ask, join us for a live conversation with producers from Latin America and hear why Fairtrade is important to them, their families and communities.
Join us for our early International Women’s Day event, celebrating the wonderful women in cocoa! Read more Read less
We will be hearing from speakers from at home and abroad – Deborah Osei – Mensah, a young Ghanaian cocoa farmer and a leader in her cocoa cooperative, Asunafo North and Allison Roberts, owner and founder of Exploding Tree, Ireland’s only Fairtrade certified bean to bar chocolate maker who is based in Clonakilty, Co. Cork
In 2015, the global community agreed on 17 global goals for a more just and sustainable world. Five years later, what has this done for disadvantaged people in the global South?
What challenges do they face? Is there hope for their future?
When the pay they receive for backbreaking work is barely enough, when generations of dedication to coffee cultivation are endangered by climate change, smallholder farmers and agricultural workers truly feel the weight of power imbalances in trade. Fairtrade shows that a sustainable future is possible under just trade conditions.
In Make the World a Better Place, you hear the voices of the people who directly experience just how close our world is to a point of no return.
Thanks to Fairtrade Germany for producing this illuminating film
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