This year's World Shop Forum organized by the Baden-Württemberg Development Cooperation Foundation (SEZ) took participants to the Netherlands and the Rhineland.
“We wanted to give the employees of the Baden-Württemberg world shops a slightly different look behind the scenes,” says Klaus Weingärtner. The deputy SEZ managing director in office accompanied the around 30 participants on the 4-day trip.
The first stop was FairRegio world shop Andernach, which has a regional market Andernacher Perspective gGmbHcooperated. “This is something special because it shows that fair is much more than just fairly traded goods from countries in the global south,” says Weingärtner. “Fair also means social justice and creating prospects for disadvantaged people here. The Weltladen in Andernach shows very impressively and in an exemplary manner how this can work.”
We continued to Culemborg in the Netherlands World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO), which has its headquarters there. The global network of fair trade companies was founded in 1989. More than 320 fair trade organizations and around 70 support organizations and networks are members of the WFTO. Together they promote fair trade in 75 countries worldwide. FairForward, another player in the fair trade scene, is a member of WFTO. The company, which is also based in Culemborg, trades fair trade interior accessories and gift items.
Standing in Amsterdam Fairphone at the center of the World Shop Forum. The Amsterdam smartphone manufacturer focuses on sustainability and social values. Through its campaigns, Fairphone draws consumers' attention to the conflict materials contained in smartphones and to the often inhumane working conditions of miners.
We went back to Germany via Utrecht, to Gronau in Westphalia. The visit to Niehoff's coffee roasterygave participants a deeper insight into the coffee business. The oldest organic roasting company covers the entire coffee value chain - from the coffee bush to the finished roasted bean. The visit was made possible through the mediation of GEPA. The trip ended with a visit to... Weltladen Mühlheim and the visit to the Fair trade center Rhineland in Alfter-Witterschlick. The fair trade center is a regional wholesaler for fair trade products. As a special feature, the fair trade center has delicatessen products and wines in its range that come from Italian cooperatives. They grow the products on confiscated land that was previously owned by the mafia.
