#4 Fair Trade beyond food and crafts
Taking it to the next level
In Flanders, the Fair Towns network works with a 7th criterion, the so called Next Level. It challenges municipalities that already perform strongly on fair food and fair crafts to go further in ethical policy and public purchasing. Think fair banking, fair mining and minerals, and fair ICT; areas where human rights, decent pay and environmental standards are too often ignored.
Three Belgian organisations will show how this ‘next level’ approach can make a real difference in your municipality: which human-rights issues you can help prevent, how much leverage public procurement has in each theme, and how their work connects to international networks.
We ask us questions as:
How fair are the minerals in your ICT?
Fair natural stone on the streets of your Fair Trade Town?
How fair is your organisation or your Fair Trade Town’s banks and investments?
Come for inspiration, leave with practical ways to act.
WHITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM :
Diliara Akhmetova European Solidarity Corps volunteer at Catapa, an NGO that strives for a world in which the extraction of non-renewable resources is no longer necessary.
CATAPA, a volunteer movement. They strive for a world where mining is no longer necessary. To achieve this, they focus on two campaigns. With the Right To Say No Campaign, that supports affected communities in South America to stop mining projects in their territories. The campaigns believe in saying YES to a society that focuses on the needs and wants of people and planet, rather than unbridled growth and greed.
Kiki Berkers is a Policy Officer for Climate and Natural Resources at 11.11.11, the umbrella organisation for international solidarity in Flanders.
Sara Cuestermans is a Policy Officer for WSM and TruStone.
Bram Trachet is an engineer by training and has been FairFin’s coordinator since 2025. There, he works with a motivated and committed team to create a fairer financial system.
FairFin strives for a transparent and democratic financial system that does not merely pursue profit, but serves society as a whole. Based on their conviction that money is the key to our future - from climate action to peace - they are committed to redistributing the power of the financial sector.