#4 Fair Trade beyond food and crafts
Taking it to the next level
The MORNING session of this workshop is fully booked and can no longer be selected
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 works for WSM and she is closely involved in the Clean Clothes Campaign, the TruStone Initiative and other multi-stakeholder initiatives that promote decent working conditions and respect for human rights in international value chains. Drawing on this experience, she demonstrates how organisations and public authorities can use their purchasing power to support fairer and more sustainable production worldwide.
We Social Movements (WSM) a Belgian NGO that advocates for the right to decent work and social protection worldwide.
Linde Stael works for ACV BIE and is closely involved in the TruStone Initiative, a multi-stakeholder partnership that brings together governments, companies, NGOs and trade unions to promote responsible sourcing of natural stone. Through her work on sustainable procurement and due diligence, she supports public authorities and organisations in addressing human rights and environmental risks in global supply chains. Drawing on the lessons of TruStone, she demonstrates how local purchasing decisions can strengthen fairer, more transparent and sustainable value chains worldwide.
ACV Construction, Industry & Energy (ACV BIE) is a trade union federation within the Confederation of Christian Trade Unions
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.