FAIR TRADE ACTION (FTA) Fair Trade Student Movement in Singapore
For more information, to register your school as part of our network or to receive a campaign tool kit, email us fairtrade.action@gmail.com
Who are we? We are a network of students in Singapore committed to challenge and empower youths to be agents of social change through activism for Fair Trade. FTA exists to assist students who wish to take action for Fair Trade by connecting them to relevant resources and recognising their efforts on our online directory. Fair Trade Action (FTA) was started by a group of students in Raffles Girls’ School (RGS) in 2005 but has quickly grown to become a nationwide movement. How did Fair Trade Action get started? FTA began with the aim of raising awareness and availability of Fair Trade products within one school, RGS. With it’s initial mission achieved, RGS was the first school in Singapore to have Fair Trade beverages available in staffrooms as well as during staff meetings, the core group of students that started Fair Trade Action moved on to Raffles Junior College. While at RJC, the group started The Equator Initiative, a Special Interest Group dedicated to increasing awareness of world issues and promoting active global citizenship and continued and expanded its Fair Trade activities. The Equator Initiative, in partnership with the folks at Footprint Singapore, has now expanded Fair Trade Action to a Singapore-wide focus and has launched The Student Movement for Fair Trade in Singapore. The students participating in FTA are from a large number of schools across secondary and tertiary levels. How can I get my school get involved? this section will be added soon, meanwhile email us for more information!
What resources are available? a complete campaign tool kit will soon be available on-line, meanwhile email us for more information! Why we support Fair Trade in SingaporeWe believe that Fair Trade enables us to look beyond our own needs and wants to the impact of our consumer choices on others’ lives. We also wish to increase availability of alternative goods for Singaporean consumers to empower them to be ethical consumers. Many of us read about issues of international poverty and environmental degradation yet do not know how we can play a part in helping to alleviate these issues; buying Fair Trade products is an effective way of taking action against these issues on an individual and daily basis. Singapore imports 90% of her food supply, and we can definitely afford to attribute a portion of this 90% to Fair Trade products. We hope that Singapore can become a truly global city, one that is actively involved in improving the lives of others around the world and taking a stand on global issues. Project objectives Through this project, we hope to: 1) Raise awareness of Fairtrade amongst students and the general public by improving ease of access to information on this subject. 2) Make the choice of buying Fairtrade products available to the public, thus giving them the chance to make a difference by practicing ethical consumerism. We will achieve this by harnessing public support and demand for a greater supply of Fairtrade goods in Singapore by means of pledges and petitions, thereby appealing to local supermarkets and mainstream retailers to stock up on Fairtrade products. 3) Challenge and empower youths and the general public to be agents of social change. It is easy to be a responsible consumer! Fair Trade Action is an easily accessible means of impacting the lives of others with the simple action of prioritizing Fairtrade goods on your shopping list. We also encourage youths to take action to bring Fairtrade into their own schools as well. | 
