Fair Trade
Our Goals
The Fair Trade campaign is part of an overall national movement of university campaigns. We seek to raise awareness about Fair Trade options on campus and help students understand how buying Fair Trade impacts the lives of individuals around the world.In Spring 2016, we achieved our goal of having UCLA become a Fair Trade Certified University! We are now focused on increasing education and awareness of fair trade, and altering UCLA culture and policy to help small producers in developing countries.
Why Support Fair Trade Products?
Did you know about 50% of food-aid funds are spent on shipping products over to countries such as Africa, and that 75% of food-aid comes from USA? There is something wrong with the fact that half of our donations are not spent on the food itself, but in getting food from OUR nation to OTHER nations across the globe. Talk about inefficiency and wastefulness. How ​about we directly transfer the money over to farmers in suffering nations to have them distribute their produce to those in need of it? After all, farms in Africa are not subsidized by their government. It’s called local food procurement and it’s necessary to increase food independence and get people producing their own foods to support their people.
OK fine! Then how can I help? Easy: you can indirectly help farmers experiencing harsh economic conditions by purchasing Fair Trade products. Fair Trade supports small scale producers, those at the bottom of the economic ladder or from marginalized communities, that otherwise do not have access to economic mobility.