The Fairtrade India Project was established in 2015 through an Memorandum of Understanding signed between Fairtrade International and Centre for Social Markets. The project focuses on promoting sustainability in food and fashion production and consumption. The Fairtrade India project is based on the globally recognized Fairtrade International model of enabling sustainable livelihood for small and marginal farmers by adoption of sustainability in agricultural value chains.

The Fairtrade India project is developing an eco-system comprising of diverse stakeholders- from farmer organisations to education institutions, from brands and retailers to sustainable workplaces, from sustainability focussed consumers to network of civil society organisations- all committed to promoting a more sustainable system of making and consuming food, fashion and other agriculture based products. The main pillars of the project are:

• Promoting Sustainable Production practices in farms through the Fairtrade Certification model of environmental, social and economic sustainability
• Promoting market linkages for Fairtrade Certified farmer producer organisations to ensure market access on more favourable terms for the producer organisations which enable better and more sustainable livelihood for the farmers and workers committed to sustainable practices.
• Creating awareness among businesses, consumers and other stakeholders about the need for sustainability in everyday food and fashion choices. Informing them about the Fairtrade model for sustainability and how they can choose Fairtrade Labelled products and support the adoption of sustainable practices across the value chains.

The Fairtrade India project working along the lines of the global Fairtrade International model is supporting the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in India. For more details on the specific SDGs being worked on by CSM refer to the Enabling Sustainable Development Goals.

SWITCH ASIA Project of the European Union

CSM joined a Fairtrade International lead consortium which was awarded the European Union’s SWITCH ASIA project for implementation in India in 2018. The project titled- Switching India’s consumption to fair and sustainable goods focuses on promoting SDG12 in India. The main project objectives include:

• Educate and engage consumers in urban India with the concept of sustainability- particularly related to food and fashion
• Develop a network and active eco-system of institutions and partners including government agencies who promote sustainable consumption and procurement in India;
• Engage businesses and organisations to produce more sustainable and fair products by switching to Sustainable/Fairtrade supply chains, thus making sustainable products more accessible to Indian consumers.

Publications: 

For businesses to understand more about the sustainable sourcing options through the Fairtrade Sustainability framework please download the attached document: 

(Fairtrade B2B brochure- downloadable PDF)