World Fair Trade Day 2012 : Join us!

Celebrate with us the World Fair Trade Day at Beirut Souks, with plenty of fun activities!

An event organized by: Fair Trade Lebanon, Fairtrade International and the Ministry of Environment.
Supported by: Institut Francais du Liban, TSC Signature, Beirut Souks, Solidere, MTV

Your support and presence would be great to us! Thank you all!

Black Gold: coffee, a very tough business

This trailer puts forward the coffee business and its hardships on producers; To sum it up, for a 3$ cup of coffee, producers only earn 3 cents.
Let's make trade fair!

What will you do for fairtrade this year?

This year take a step for fair trade! watch this video by fairtrade UK and let's get started!

Conférence débat animée par M. Philippe Adaime: les Jeudis du MEREF

Le Jeudi 22 Mars 2012 :

M. Philippe Adaime, trésorier administrateur de Fair Trade Lebanon, a animé une conférence débat sur le thème "le commerce équitable au Liban" dans le cadre des Jeudis du MEREF (le Mouvement des Entreprises et Représentations Economiques Françaises au Liban).

La conférence a été suivie d'une dégustation des produits de Fair Trade Lebanon: vin rouge équitable, confitures, sirops, mana'ishs...

Ces conférences ont lieu une fois par mois à l'université de l'ESA!

"How can trade be fair?"

by Eliot Stempf from the TimeOut Beirut magazine !

‘When we translate the phrase “fair trade” in Arabic for farmers, they sometimes laugh! “How can trade be fair? In Lebanon, trade is always unfair. If you are not the winner, you are the loser.” So Benoit Berger, Director of Projects for the organization Fair Trade Lebanon (FTL), illustrated one of the several fundamental challenges that fair trade foods face in Lebanon. Not even local Lebanese producers – those who could stand to benefit the most from a market for Lebanese fair trade foods – necessarily get the idea.

Fair Trade Lebanon began out of a desire to alleviate the impovershed circumstances of the south and the many villages caught in conflicts over the Lebanese- Israeli border. International NGOs were distributing goods, but not ways to sustain growth. Studies conducted by founders Philippe Adaime, Samir Abdelmalak, Gabriel Debbane, Jad Bitar and Joanne Karkour back in 2003 revealed a tremendous regional potential for food processing. Lebanon might lack the capacity or climate for cash crops, but its people have the experience in processing and preserving what’s available at hand. Further study revealed that the best way to market locally produced foods in Europe and North America was via a fair trade label. ‘Fair trade’ came to Lebanon not as a foreign ethos, but as a home-grown strategy to reinvigorate the countryside.

The purpose of the organisation is straightforward: help local producers using traditional Lebanese methods to find new markets and receive a fair salary for their efforts. ‘We don’t want to go out and teach people to make fig jam; we want to identify people who already know, and help them adapt it to the modern market’, said Berger. This means helping to control producers’ costs, telling producers how to alter their methods to meet some international standards, providing packaging and discovering buyers. FTL follows a product from the fields in Baalbek to store shelves in Europe.

A family producing jam in the south, for instance, faces several problems in trying to sell their product in the Beirut market. First is just finding a shop that’ll buy. Second is remuneration. According to Firas Hamdan, Merchandising Manager for TSC supermarkets, local producers receive payment between 45 and 60 days after delivery. For the small producer, the time that passes from the initial capital they put into creating the product – whether it’s jam, olive oil or pickles – to receiving their earnings is oftentimes prohibitive. And some retailers are unscrupulous: ‘We know stores,’ notes Randa El Chemali, Marketing Coordinator for FTL, ‘that wait until the product is sold to pay back the producer... People don’t have easy transport to Beirut; they can’t do the financial follow-up that’s necessary.’ Third, local products are more expensive, by 15-20% in TSC stores.

Since its inception in 2006, FTL has grown alongside the very Lebanese producers it has helped to support. It’s developed with all the trimmings of a homegrown movement – both the good and bad. ‘Little by little we acquired experience, for instance, on packaging,’ Berger stated. ‘Olive oil bottles with a plastic cap can’t be exported to Europe; the European partner just says “no, we can’t sell this.” Then there’s new regulations for tea bags – you can’t use staples.’ It took time just to acquire the international credibility necessary just to market products abroad as fair trade. ‘We’ve just become a member of the World Fair Trade Organization, which took us a long time. When we first emailed them, they asked, “who are you?’”

FTL sees opportunities not just internationally, but locally as well. ‘When people taste our pomegranate molasses, they say, “Oh! It’s just like my grandmother would make!’” says Benoit. TSC Signature Downtown already carries local products, Hamdan notes. When asked about their prospects, he was adamant: ‘There’s a taste and quality difference between the commercial and homemade. We’re all Lebanese. We’ve lived in a traditional culture. That’s why people will buy these products.

Article is online here.

FTL in the Hospitality News Middle East magazine!

"Horeca visitors will have the chance to meet Fair Trade Lebanon (FTL), a Lebanese NGO that commercializes a range of natural and ethical products sourced from local food-processing cooperatives. Its brand “Terroirs du Liban” is currently exported and distributed in France, Germany and Canada; FTL has the possibility to sell under private brands for potential importers. The range has 50 Lebanese and Mediterranean specialties (olive oil, condiments, molasses, syrups etc), all produced under high quality standards".
(end of quote)



See you at our Horeca stand number E 38 ! At Biel, from March 20th until the 23rd, 4 PM - 9 PM.

Our partnership with FairTrade International !

Samir Abdelmalak, president of FTL and Chiraz Skhiri FLO's Regional Coordinator for Middle East & North Africa

Press release by Fairtrade International (FLO)

28 February 2012

We are proud to announce a new partnership with Fair Trade Lebanon, which will work towards advancing Lebanese farming communities and spreading Fairtrade to new consumers and producers. It makes Lebanon the 64th producer country on the Fairtrade map.

Lebanon’s soil is rich in nutrients and is highly cultivatable. But poor farming practices have led to soil erosion and water pollution. The Lebanese Civil War and the conflict with Israel have taken their toll and poverty is rife.

A group of Lebanese set up Fair Trade Lebanon (FTL) in 2006 to translate the country’s agricultural potential into real income for small farmers and to tackle the consequences of the conflict. Thanks to Fair Trade Lebanon’s work, many cooperatives have already started selling their products abroad in fair trade outlets. From 2006 to 2010, FTL supported women co-ops in exporting goods worth US $600,000.

Through the new partnership, Lebanese small producer groups are becoming Fairtrade certified, meaning they can sell their products with the FAIRTRADE Mark and access more international markets. The partnership will also provide the farmers with more coordinated support and training.

“Les Coteaux d’Heliopolis” became Fairtrade certified last December. The cooperative of grape-growers has 250 members from 11 villages and provides seasonal employment opportunities to over 400 families in the North Bekaa region. During the civil war many farmers in the region started growing cannabis and drug-trafficking was rife. Even when the government banned these crops farmers had no viable alternative, leading to a mass exodus. By founding the cooperative, farmers have switched to wine grapes and have started returning to the land and earning a living again.

Over the past two years Fairtrade International’s Regional Coordinator of Middle East and North Africa, Chiraz Skhiri, has visited Lebanon several times and worked closely with FTL to help producers understand Fairtrade and get certified.

“I am thrilled about this partnership,” said Chiraz. “We’ve been working towards this moment for years and it is going to open a lot of doors in the region. Fair Trade Lebanon is doing such good work; it is great that we can work together to improve the lives of farmers in Lebanon, and to promote Fairtrade to local consumers.”

FTL and Fairtrade International are working to help other groups get Fairtrade certified including farmers of herbs & spices, apricots, cherries, pomegranates, almonds and olive oil. We are also planning activities to raise consumer awareness of Fairtrade in Lebanon, such as the Fairtrade Breakfast for World Fair Trade Day on 12 May in Beirut.

The full press release is online on FLO's website here.

Job Offer: Account Executive at FTL

Job description:

Account Executive, group FTL-FTTL

Organization: Fair Trade and Tourism Lebanon s.a.l.

Contract type: Employee (Lebanese law)

Period: Indeterminate

Start: Immediate / 3 months of trial

Timing: 9:00AM until 5:00PM, from Monday till Friday included. Possibility to have missions on weekends, trips, and presence at stands in exhibitions.

Location: Beirut (Hazmieh) – many local trips –client visits

Profile needed: Bachelor + 5 years minimum experience in the field of trade or sales, MBA preferably

Languages required: Arabic, French and English

Salary: Fixed 1.000 $US monthly net at start up (possible promotion according to qualifications and experience) + social security and transport + commissions on sales

Description:

Fair Trade Lebanon is the first and main actor of Fair Trade in Lebanon (www.fairtradelebanon.org). FTL supports a network of fifteen small-scale agricultural food-processing cooperatives in the aim of setting up for them sales channels while meeting the international standards of Fair Trade and Organic certification. FTL also promotes Fair Trade in the media and various groups in Lebanon (schools, universities, consumers). To date, FTL has developed around 50 references sold in Lebanon, France, Germany and Canada. The organization seeks to expand its Lebanese sales network.

Referent:

Marketing coordinator

Tasks:

• Identification of companies for corporate gift packages: Fair Trade gift proposal for large companies (banks, insurance, law firms, ministries…)

• Sales to hospitality industry: taking daily appointments, sample proposals, price negotiation for wholesale quantities to restaurants, hotels, catering…

• Personalized customer follow-up: Sales report for each customer, frequency of orders, consumers’ reviews, and monitoring of product positioning…

• Development of the current network of customers: retail points of sales of FTL

• Inserting the range in major distribution channels: Bou Khalil, Monoprix, Carrefour (City Center)…

• Development of the private sales: networks of personalized sales, sales at premises, database for clients and home deliveries…

Specific requirements:

The candidate must have excellent communication, negotiation and presentation skills; he or she has preferably had the same position for a period of 3 years. This job requires high availability for local travel; the candidate must be holder of the Lebanese driving license and use his own vehicle. All his / her transport expenses will be reimbursed based on mileage allowances to be determined depending on the vehicle driven.

Contact : r.elchemali@fairtradelebanon.org



Have a blessed new year 2012!

Season's Greetings from WFTO!

A great thank you from Fair Trade Lebanon to all the WFTO management, members, friends and patners worldwide! May you have the warmest greetings!

Are you ready for Christmas?

Join us at the AFKART Christmas exhibition held in BIEL (Hall 3) from December 16th until the 22nd for some real festive spirit, gift packages and plenty of tastings!

A bientot, see you there!

Au marche de Noël !