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Fair Trade University Annual Report
University of Adelaide
2017
This report has been prepared by Ecoversity, in conjunction with the University of Adelaide Fair Trade Collective (FTC), a registered Club of the Adelaide University Union (AUU). Ecoversity is the University of Adelaide’s sustainability engagement program. Our work remit is very broad, from recycling, energy and reuse, to sustainable purchasing, transport and water reduction. We work with local government and NGOs, input into campus planning and undertake carbon reporting to the federal government. E: [email protected] P: 08 8313 3763 http://www.adelaide.edu.au/ecoversity/ https://www.facebook.com/Ecoverstiy/ The FTC is a Club of University of Adelaide students who are passionate about Fair Trade and played a significant role in the university’s successful bid for Fair Trade Accreditation in 2012. The FTC has three main objectives:
1. ensure the University meets its Fair Trade accreditation standards by liaising with the University; 2. raise awareness and appreciation amongst students of fair trade, trade rules, and sustainable and
ethical consumption; and 3. liaise with the wider community to promote greater fair trade awareness and appreciation across
Adelaide and South Australia. E: [email protected] www.auu.org.au/clubs/Club.aspx?CID=67 www.facebook.com/Fair.Trade.Collective.AU
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1. Summary Overview of Year. The Fair Trade Collective (FTC) and Ecoversity have been working together to maintain Fair Trade Accreditation at the University of Adelaide. Key activities of the year included:
• Recruiting new members of the FTC, including at the 2017 O’Week Stall and the Fairtrade Information Session;
• Fashion Revolution Week Op Shop & Swap;
• Ecoversity internship, with fourth year International Development student Georgia Brazenall, reviewing the University’s compliance with Fair Trade Accreditation;
• Increasing the number of bulk Fairtrade products available through the University’s preferred supplier of stationery, office products and kitchen supplies (WINC)
2. Steering Committee details. Over the past year, there has been a significant change in membership of the Fair Trade Steering Committee due to students graduating or leaving the University. A goal for 2015/16 was to recruit up to 10 new members of the FTC who represent relevant and complementary areas of the University such as VGen Uni Group, Oxfam Uni Group, the Student Representative Council, staff from Strategic Procurement and other interested parties. It was the intent that all members would provide their opinions, recommendations and perspectives based on the area that they represent. The FTC has maintained strong existing relationships with contacts from Adelaide University Union Clubs such as Oaktree, Oxfam, Beneath the Seams, the Flinders University Fair Trade Collective, and Fairtrade Vision at Deakin University, Geelong. The 2017 Steering Committee consisted of the following members:
• Esther Richards, Co-President Fair Trade Collective
• Heidi Quiniones, Co-President Fair Trade Collective
• Phillipa Schliebs, Engagement Project Officer, Ecoversity
• Elaine Marinas, Media Officer Fair Trade Collective
• Hannah Sharp, Treasurer Fair Trade Collective
• Isabel Richards, Secretary Fair Trade Collective
• Georgia Brazenall, General Member Fair Trade Collective
• Sanjam Kohli, General Member Fair Trade Collective
• Thomas Suebwicha, General Member Fair Trade Collective
• Rui Shihombing, General Member Fair Trade Collective
• Isabelle Rogers, General Member Fair Trade Collective
• Dandin Lin, General Member Fair Trade Collective
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3. Campus Retail Outlets selling Fair Trade Products. Grassroots Café There are three Grassroots Café outlets at the North Terrace campus that serve Fairtrade Certified coffee (Monjava Nicaraguan Certified Organic Fair Trade Coffee). Over the past year, Grassroots has partnered with Ecoversity (sustainability engagement program) to provide Fairtrade coffee at a number of on-campus events, including Open Day and Ride to Uni Day. Marcus Breach, Manager P: 0423 204 987 E: [email protected]
The General Adelaide Managed by the Adelaide University Union (AUU), The General is the only convenience store on campus, offering students a variety of items including snacks, hot food, stationary, toiletries and clothing. Fairtrade Certified products include Cadbury Dairy Milk 55g and Cadbury Dairy Milk 200g. Nicola Hallard, Store Manager P: (08) 8232 6886 E: [email protected] Student Bookshop – Student Co-Op Shop The Student Co-Op is a variety store on the North Terrace campus that sells textbooks, fiction and non-fiction books, tech gear, stationery, consumables and gifts. Fairtrade Certified products include Divine Chocolate bars and blocks, and Seed and Bean Chocolate blocks. Store Manager P: 0475 814 755 W: www.coop.com.au/ 4. Staff-rooms, Offices etc using Fair Trade / Fairtrade Products. There are more than 60 schools, branches and operating units at the University of Adelaide, housing 100+ kitchens/kitchenettes, spread across three campuses and numerous inner-city buildings. Purchasing of consumables like coffee and tea is decentralised and discretionary. The University has a preferred supplier of stationery, office products and kitchen supplies (WINC, formerly called Staples), but many areas buy directly from local supermarkets. Although staff are encouraged to preference Fairtrade Certified products, it is difficult to influence their purchasing behaviour as there is no procurement mandate and only a limited number of staff are responsive to ethics as a reason to switch brands. Mid-way through 2017, the University’s supplier changed from Complete Office Supplies (COS) to WINC. During this time, complete and accurate reports were not easily ascertained, therefore a true picture of the annual percentage of Fairtrade products purchased by staff cannot be determined. Prior data suggests that only around 2-4%* of tea, coffee and drinking chocolate purchased through the University’s preferred office supplier is Fairtrade Certified. However, if you add Rainforest Alliance, UTZ Certified and other ethically certified products, this figure increases to between 15%-18%. While recognising that other ethical certifications are not as ‘good’ as Fairtrade, it is pleasing to see staff preferencing ethical products over traditional ones. Various actions are being undertaken to influence staff in purchasing Fairtrade products. *This data does not consider purchases by staff direct from supermarket
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5a. Fair Trade Education and Promotion Promotional resources that have been created or updated in 2017 include:
• WINC Sustainable Purchasing Guide – The Ecoversity ‘how to’ guide was created to make it easier for administrative staff to purchase ethical and Fairtrade products online.
• Social media promotion – Facebook events and posts, and Instagram content were used to promote new Fairtrade Certified products, and on-campus fair trade events including Fair Trade Collective market stalls, Fair Trade Fortnight and Fashion Revolution Week (See Appendices).
Existing promotional resources that have been used throughout the year include:
• FTC Brochures – The Fair Trade Club’s brochure, which provides information about fair trade, the University’s accreditation and where to purchase Fairtrade certified products in the Adelaide CBD.
• Fair Trade FAQ and Fair Trade on Campus FAQs – Distributed at on-campus events.
• Ethical Code of Conduct for AUU Clubs – Developed in 2015 by the FTC for Adelaide University Union clubs, the Code includes information about fair trade, guidelines about how clubs can be ethical consumers, and a commitment for each club President to sign.
• Ecoversity Newsletter – The monthly newsletter has promoted fair trade activity, resources and successes via articles and links to upcoming events.
• Ethical Shopping Guide for University of Adelaide Students – Created in 2016, this fun and informative guide includes information about cheap labour and unsafe working conditions in clothing factories, a map of the best Op Shops in Adelaide, explanation of the brand ratings in Baptist Aid’s Australian Fashion Report 2016, and an interview with a fashion student about recycled clothing.
• Fairtrade Sorting Game – Created in 2015 by the FTC to use at University events as an interesting way to engage the general public in thinking about Fairtrade.
• Ecoversity website – Regularly updated, the website includes information about sustainable purchasing and a case study about the Fair Trade Collective.
5b. Fair Trade Events Throughout the year, the FTC have actively and regularly advocated for fair trade at on-campus events. Key activities and events included:
21 February Market stall at University O’Week with Fairtrade Certified chocolate and tea samples provided. Awesome conversations with passionate world-changers.
16 March The FTC Information Session provided an opportunity for interested students to learn more about Fair Trade and learn about how they could get involved in the movement on campus.
21 April In the lead up to Fashion Revolution Week, Club President, Esther Richards, joined the team at Radio Adelaide 101.5 FM to chat about the documentary ‘Who made my clothes?’ and plug the Ethical Shopping Guide.
11 May To raise awareness for Fashion Revolution Day, the FTC collaborated with Environment Collective of Students (ECOS) and VGen - World Vision to hold an Op Shop and Swap to help reduce fast fashion and support sustainable shopping.
20 August The FTC and Ecoversity teamed up with Grassroots Café for the third year running to serve free Fairtrade coffee, tea and chocolates to more than 900 potential students and their families at University Open Day. Many lively discussions were had.
17 October The FTC hosted a Mini Farmers' Market on campus with the Oxfam Group and ECOS. It was a scorching day and the FTC served up home-made Fairtrade iced tea, among other goodies. All proceeds went to Oxfam's campaigns in Yemen, Nigeria, South Sudan and the Horn of Africa, where millions of people face hunger and famine.
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6. 2017 Goals (related to Minimum Requirements & Other / Suggested Initiatives) and outcomes
Goals (Intention) Actions/Activities Achievements/Challenges Outcomes MR3 - Fair Trade products are made readily available at as many on-campus retail outlets as possible.
Increase the sale of Fair Trade coffee from Grassroots Cafe by raising awareness of Fair Trade.
A new Ecoversity/Grassroots initiative that was trialled this year with great success, was the UoA Mug Wall. The Mug Wall can be used by any staff or student who forgets to bring their Keep Cup, or feels like taking the time to sit and enjoy their coffee. Not only does it reduce disposable coffee cup waste and provide a 50c discount to those who use the mugs, but it inadvertently promotes Fairtrade as well, as mugs can only be used at Grassroots, which is the only café on campus to sell fairtrade coffee.
Grassroots were initially wary of the concept, fearing that students would not bring back the mugs that they borrowed and that it would lead to additional work for them (washing mugs). These concerns quickly became unfounded. Staff responded well when asked for donations of mugs from school kitchenettes. There are excess mugs in storage if mugs go walk-about. The biggest challenge has been losing the Fairtrade message amongst the primary focus of the campaign (i.e. reducing disposable coffee cup waste)
While the primary purpose of the Mug Wall was to reduce coffee cup waste, we were able to promote Grassroots and fair trade coffee at the same time. The Mug Wall post on the Ecoversity facebook page was the most popular post of the year. The photo was liked 218 times and commented on 13 times. The Mug Wall has been well utilised and anecdotally, Grassroots staff tell us that sales of fair trade coffee have increased as a result.
Increase the sale of Fair Trade products in The General Store and Student Co-Op by using point-of-sale messaging to raise awareness of Fair Trade.
n/a n/a Due to other priorities, this action was not a focus in 2017.
MR4 - Fair Trade tea/coffee are default options at Council and Student Union meetings and in staff kitchenettes
Increase staff representation on the Fair Trade Steering Committee by approaching specific academics and professional to serve on the committee and establishing a list of discrete “tasks” that staff
n/a Throughout the year, there were numerous conversations within and outside the Fair Trade Steering Committee about the validity of the Fair Trade Universities accreditation, the cost of accreditation and the lack of support from FTAANZ. It was decided
Due to issues mentioned, this action was not a focus in 2017.
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would assist with throughout the year.
that the Committee would not attempt to expand until there was clarification about what the University’s position would be going forward.
MR5a - Fair Trade is promoted within the university, including use of Fair Trade Association promotional resources.
Convince the University to stock at least one item of merchandise from a Fairtrade supplier e.g. tee shirt, hoodie, ball or bag
In semester 2, a fourth year International Development student and long-standing member of the FTC (Georgia Brazenall), began an internship with Ecoversity as part of the ARTS Internship Program. The internship sought to review the University’s compliance with the Fairtrade Universities Accreditation requirements, and develop a costed business case for Fairtrade University of Adelaide merchandise to present to the Marketing department, outlining the significance of having Fairtrade Accreditation and the commitment to which the University is obliged.
As the internship progressed, it became clear that the scope of Georgia’s project was too large, so it was scaled back, with the primary focus on accreditation.
The resulting Internship Report provides a fantastic overview of the University’s Fair Trade progression, challenges and opportunities over the last 5 years. The Report recommends that a new Intern be engaged in 2019 to continue the project, focusing on University merchandise.
Increase the number of bulk Fairtrade items available through COS**. Note: Mid-way through 2017, the University’s supplier of stationery, office products and kitchen supplies changed from Complete Office Supplies (COS) to WINC (formally known as Staples).
Staff within the Infrastructure Branch have been working with the University’s WINC Account Manager to increase the number of bulk items available to staff on the University’s online ordering system.
Influencing local purchasing habits remains difficult as budgets are discretionary. While the cost of bulk Fairtrade tea is comparable to non-Fairtrade, the cost of Fairtrade Instant Coffee (the most commonly purchased kitchen item) is significantly more expensive than non-Fairtrade - $39.22 (500g) compared with $17.98-$33.00 (500g). Until a cheaper Instant coffee becomes available, the economic
There are currently 50 Fairtrade Certified products available through WINC and over the past 3 months, four new bulk products (varieties of Scarborough Fair Tea x500) have been added to the University’s online selection. Hopefully in the future we will see the percentage of Fairtrade products purchased by staff increase.
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argument for non-Fairtrade is likely to hold weight.
The role of purchasing officer in a school or area changes depending on the area - whether Executive Assistant, Business Manager, Administrative Officer or ‘other’. There is no central list of names of purchasing staff, so even identifying who to target with Fair Trade messaging is challenging.
MR5b - Fair Trade is promoted within the university by hosting at least one Fair Trade focused event each year.
Increase social media presence of the FTC, their efforts and activity.
Increase scope of events by utilising location and creative event ideas.
The activities and achievements of the FTC have been regularly promoted on the on the revamped Ecoversity facebook page and new Instagram. Efforts have been made to use the Fairtrade hashtag and promote events through social media, including the use of photos. FTC deliberately organised two collaborative on-campus and central events to promote Fairtrade, sustainability and ethical fashion.
The FTC were not as active on campus or on social media as in previous years, meaning that there was less content to ‘share’ or promote on the Ecoversity page.
There was a great turn out in regards to the number of people who attended and participated in the Farmer’s Market and Clothes Swap. Students were drawn into events because of visibility and location – allowing for conversation about Fairtrade to occur more naturally. However, collaborative events mean there is less opportunity to promote solely Fairtrade.
Of 69 Ecoversity Instagram posts between April and November 2017, seven related to Fairtrade coffee and FTC events, and were tagged #fairtrade. 15 Ecoversity Facebook posts between March and November 2017 related to the FTC, Fair Trade Fortnight activities, or other Fair Trade initiatives.
Considering Fair Trade Collective social media, 7 Instagram posts and 21 Facebook posts were made between February and October 2017 to promote buying Fairtrade products, information about events and campaigns.
The Clothes Swap event raised $400 for Fashion Revolution and the Farmer’s Market raised $200 to support Oxfam’s work in Africa.
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7. Suggested Main Goals and Actions/Activities for next year Goals Actions/Activities Increase the sale of Fair Trade products at on-campus retail stores and cafes.
Better utilise digital screens to advertise Fairtrade options and raise awareness of the benefits of Fair Trade, and promote Fairtrade products through point-of-sale messaging.
Start building ethical procurement considerations into new university retail contracts.
Meet with members of the procurement team to discuss how ethical procurement considerations can be embedded in the contract tendering process.
Contribute to knowledge growth about Fairtrade by sharing more social media content from the Fair Trade Association.
Share quality social media content on the Ecoversity and FTC facebook pages, such as gifs, images, videos and stats.
Begin gaining student support through campaigns for ethical merchandise to be sold on campus.
Organise petitions and encourage students to email their support to the union.
Increase the number of quality events organised by FTC in order to encourage a rise in membership
Review past successful events and make sure events are accessible and engaging to a broader audience.
8. Conclusion Events have again proven to be the most successful and fun way of engaging with students, and success of these events have relied heavily on having a knowledgeable and enthusiastic group of students from the Fair Trade Collective. As these students are generally high-achieving, curious about the world and motivated to succeed in their studies, it remains challenging for the students to balance FTC activities with their course work, student exchanges and international travel. Without a university-wide policy that mandates the sale of Fair Trade products, it also remains challenging to influence purchasing behaviour in order to increase the sale of Fairtrade kitchen products, like coffee and tea. Rather than focusing attention on the schools and areas, the intention for 2018 is to target the procurement team and contract managers, in an attempt to start embedding ethical procurement considerations into the tendering process. Finally, the lack of assistance or support from FTAANZ during this year has been disappointing to say the least. Aside from a request for the annual accreditation payment and a reminder about submitting our 2016 Report, we have received little contact from anyone over the past 18 months. While appreciating that there have been changes to the staff and structure of FTAANZ, the lack of response to emails is unacceptable and the lack of transparency in the ability for FTAANZ to provide assistance to us has been confusing. While acknowledging early on that the level of support from FTAANZ would likely decrease as more institutions became Fair Trade Accredited, we do not believe that we receive value for money in paying our annual $600 accreditation fee. Although we will continue to support ethical principles on campus, we have been given cause to question the validity of Fair Trade Accreditation as a whole and consider whether Accreditation is something we will pursue in the future. These discussions are ongoing. Looking to the future, ideal support we would like from FTAANZ includes:
• Updated Fair Trade merchandise supplier/retailer details - University merchandise and sports uniforms are a new area of focus for a lot of universities, including the University of Adelaide;
• Case studies from other universities about how they have embedded Fair Trade into their institution; • Suggestions on how to engage Finance and Procurement staff in the Fair Trade conversation; • Updated information on why the Fair Trade certification is better than other ethical certifications -
staff are buying more UTZ and Rainforest Alliance coffee but not Fair Trade; • Information about the sale of Fair Trade products in Australia – is it increasing; and • A monthly feature university on the FTAANZ website, tagging all accredited universities - having our
University logo on one webpage is not ‘promoting’ our efforts.
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9. Appendices
University O’Week, February
Fashion Revolution Op Shop & Swap, May Ecoversity & members of the FTC at Open Day, August
Fair Trade Collective brochure
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Fair Trade Sorting Game Mini Farmers’ Market, October
Example posts from the Fair Trade Collective and Ecoversity social media
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This Fair Trade University Annual Report was completed by: Signature Date 12 December 2017 Name: Esther Richards
Position: Co-President of the Fair Trade Collective (2017) Email: [email protected]
Signature Date 15 December 2017 Name: Phillipa Schliebs
Position: Engagement Project Officer (Ecoversity) Email: [email protected]
Thank you for completing the Fair Trade Community annual report.
Please submit using one of the following methods:
BY EMAIL: Australia: [email protected] New Zealand: [email protected] BY POST: 61 Bailey Street Trigg WA 6029 Australia
Thank you for ongoing commitment in being a Fair Trade Community.
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Phillipa Schliebs
