Fairtrade Africa (FTA) 9396 views

Fairtrade is a global movement which addressees the injustices of conventional trade by supporting smallholder farmers and workers to secure better terms of trade.

Fairtrade Africa, a member of the wider International Fairtrade movement represents Fairtrade certified producers in Africa and the Middle East.

Established in 2005, Fairtrade Africa is the independent non-profit umbrella organisation representing all Fairtrade certified producers in Africa. Fairtrade Africa is owned by its members, who are African producer organisations certified against international Fairtrade standards producing traditional export commodities such as coffee, cocoa, tea, cotton, bananas, mango and non-traditional commodities including shea butter and rooibos tea. Currently, the organisation represents over 1,050,000 producers across 33 countries in Africa.

Fairtrade Africa is a membership-based organisation. The General Assembly (GA) held every two years is the highest decision making body. All members have the right to participate and vote for the election of the Fairtrade Africa Board through their regional representatives at the GA.

We work through primary structures such as product groups, country partnerships and regional networks which enable members to have a strong voice in the governance and management of the organisation. We operate four regional networks: Eastern and Central Africa Network (FTA-ECAN) based in Nairobi, Kenya; West Africa Network (FTA-WAN) based in Accra, Ghana and Southern Africa Network (FTA-SAN) based in Cape Town, South Africa. We also have a new network in Middle East and North Africa  region whose regional office is soon to be established. The Fairtrade Africa secretariat is located in Nairobi, Kenya.. Fairtrade Africa has 50% ownership of the Fairtrade system.