Birmingham will be celebrating 10 years of being a Fairtrade City later this year and Fairtrade Birmingham (the organisation that maintains the City’s Fairtrade status) is looking for Fairtrade Employers who would be willing to become Flagship Fairtrade Employers for the City.

To become a Fairtrade Employer you need to ensure that Fairtrade products are used in the workplace (i.e. tea and coffee served at meetings for example).

To become a Fairtrade Flagship Employer you also need to:
• promote Fairtrade both within your organisation and externally and
• support Fairtrade Birmingham.

Here are some suggestions for ways to become a Flagship Employer:

1) Promote Fairtrade to staff via internal newsletter – this could be done by putting an articles promoting Fairtrade in your newsletters or at any events you hold
2) You could also promote and show support of Fairtrade externally to partners via your newsletter or by including Fairtrade in any events you hold
3) Fairtrade Birmingham (FAB) meets about once a month – usually in the city centre (near the station). If you have a city centre office that could provide a venue for meetings that would be appreciated
4) A member of your staff could attend FAB meetings (we usually meet at 5.30pm and finish by around 7.15).
5) Attend events that FAB organises – these are mainly during Fairtrade Fortnight (which is late Feb – early March) although in 2015 there are a couple of other events in the pipeline – the Fairtrade Foundation is holding a conference at the University of Birmingham on 26th September and in October there’s a multi-faith Fairtrade service planned at Carrs Lane Church Centre. There’ll also be an event at the end of November to celebrate 10 years of Fairtrade in Birmingham.

Contact us at fab@fairtradebirmingham.org.uk for further information