Liverpool, UK
Fairtrade City
Population: 441,477
Declaration date: 5th March 2004
www.fairtrade.liverpool.gov.uk

The success of the Liverpool Fairtrade City Campaign is rooted in the Merseyside social activist networks. In 2000 a coalition of national and local groups interested in global justice and Fairtrade formed the Liverpool World Centre (LWC). LWC is a locally run and managed Development Education Centre and a registered charity, with the aim of raising awareness of global justice. They coordinated Liverpool’s successful campaign for Fairtrade City Status by creating city wide interest and action on Fairtrade. In 2000 a steering group was formed that quickly signed up support from Liverpool City Council and its procurement team, the local education authority, universities, schools, National museums on Merseyside, retailers and café owners. Also important in the campaign was engaging the support of the wider Fairtrade movement including the UK Fairtrade Foundation and UK Fairtrade companies such as Cafedirect and Divine Chocolate. Members of the steering group also visited Garstang in Lancashire to see if there were lessons to be learnt from the world’s first ever Fairtrade Town.

Successive Fairtrade Fortnight campaigns of 2000-2003 were vital in capturing the imagination of opinion leaders and the public culminating in 2003 with Liverpool City Council passing a resolution to support and use its purchasing power to increase fairness and social justice throughout the world. This announcement coincided with a visit to Liverpool from Fairtrade cocoa farmer Comfort Kwaasibea who is a member of the Ghanaian cooperative Kuapa Kokoo Limited. In March 2004 Liverpool was awarded Fairtrade City status at a special ceremony at Liverpool Town hall, with the Leader of Liverpool City Council and LWC members. However LWC only ever saw this landmark as the beginning of a process of change.

Events since declaration
•    Fairtrade Business Breakfast, October 2004 - George Alagiah, Patron of the Fairtrade Foundation visited Liverpool in order to persuade more local business’s to convert to Fairtrade.
•    Fairtrade Schools initiative launched in 2005 by LWC in partnership with Liverpool Schools parliament and funded by the Department for International Development. At the end of the project, in March 2008, there were over 65 very active Fairtrade schools across Merseyside with 20 schools in Liverpool having achieved ‘Fairtrade School status’ and many more working towards this.
•    National Museums on Merseyside opened in the Liverpool World museum in 2005.This was the UK’s first 100% Fairtrade only museum shop.
•    ‘Fairtrade Statement Flag’ campaign, 2007. ‘Fairtrade Flag making’ community workshops were held in Liverpool World museum by members of the Liverpool Steering Committee and LWC in partnership with Envart (Arts in the Community group). Fairtrade Statement flags’ representing different Merseyside cultures and faiths and made from Fairtrade cotton were exhibited for 6-weeks at the museum. This ‘Fairtrade Statement Flag’ campaign led to Liverpool being awarded the Fairtrade Fortnight Runner-Up Award for Outreach and Networking by the Fairtrade Foundation. In addition the Fairtrade Flag project attended the African Oye Music festival June 2008 and 300 people got involved in new statement flags. For more details see www.communitiesandfairtrade.org
•    All three Liverpool universities including: Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), University of Liverpool and Liverpool Hope University have become Fairtrade Universities with innovative campaigns involving academics and students. LJMU is now internationally recognised as a leading research institution in the area of Fairtrade. In 2006 LJMU staged in partnership one of the three UK Cocoa Summits with LWC, Divine Chocolate and Comic Relief. These involved pupils from Fairtrade Schools in Liverpool.
•    In Liverpool European Capital of Culture in 2008 the Fairtrade Bus visited Liverpool to be involved in a series of events culminating with a Fairtrade Schools Conference at the Liverpool World Museum attended by 25 Fairtrade schools and Malawi Fairtrade nut producer Dyborn Chimonga. The aim of the event was to display all the wonderful hard work and achievements of the Fairtrade Schools. During the day many other schools turned up to join in with the event and many more paid a visit in the following weeks to view the exhibition. Hosts, visitors and pupils from Merseyside schools were delighted to meet Dyborn Chimonga (FT sugar and nuts producer from Malawi) taste Divine Chocolate, make and decorate Fairtrade Cotton flags, join in with Sola Arts interactive corner, tuck into fresh Fairtrade fruit, hop onto the Fairtrade Bus and much more.
•    In 2008 Liverpool Business School hosted the visit of both Hannah Reed (Fairtrade Foundation) and Jose Miguel Peralta Castellano, a small-scale banana producer from the Dominican Republic. They spoke to over 100 students and academics on the social and ethical impact of Fairtrade. Also the School of Social Sciences on March 10th 2008 hosted the visit of Joe Human of the Cumbria Fair Trade Network) who talked with 50 students about the impact of Fairtrade in Ethiopia.
•    Over 800 new starters in the Liverpool Business School have received information about Fairtrade as part of their induction. There is now a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) module at undergraduate level with over 400 students at Liverpool Business School with Fairtrade a key part of the curriculum.  Students can pursue Fairtrade as a subject for their dissertations at Masters level on all business programmes at LJMU.
•    Fairtrade Fortnight 2009 the Liverpool Fairtrade Steering Committee and the local cinema FACT organised a film night to screen the film ‘Black Gold’, that highlights the injustices behind the coffee trade. Bernard Ranaweera president of SOFA (a small organic farmers association in Sri Lanka) was the guest speaker and FACT provided free Fairtrade tea, coffee and chocolate samples for the evening. Bernard was also guest of honour at a Fairtrade reception hosted by the Lord Mayor of Liverpool at Liverpool Town Hall. The evening inspired people to take action and to not only buy Fairtrade products but also get involved in campaigning to challenge the systems in place that are keeping people poor.

Top Tips
•    Ensure steering committee has broad representation including council procurement officers, Universities, NGOs (such as Christian Aid), local faith groups and business leaders etc.
•    Work with all faith groups to raise awareness of Fairtrade.
•    Work with young people to create real change in Fairtrade schools, universities etc.
•    Form strong links with 100% Fairtrade companies such as Divine and Cafedirect.
•    Keep key local people up to date with campaign such as the Lord Mayor
•    Develop good links with local media