Monday 7th: last day…this is how we did it

The organizers decided to ask the participants to define all the topics that they would like to tackle regarding the establishment of the network.

Each one at a time started to suggest large subjects…’the expectations from an Arab network” , “its status and internal organization” “the development of national networks and their relation with the Arab one” and so on…

We then dispatched ourselves into smaller groups, each group addressing one of the previous specific topics. Ideas and suggestions were out on paper and later represented to the whole crowd.

From FTL, we suggested the discussion about the motivations behind such a network and its first-steps agenda. I personally animated the discussion in the smaller group and was able to collect a bunch of suggestions.

With Mr. Mona El-Sayed from Fair Trade Egypt and Dr. Moussa Rabadi from the FTDC*, we encouraged the establishment of a provisional agenda with deadlines to be followed.

For instance:

-Participating in international Fair Trade forums under the same umbrella

-Defining an Arab Fair Trade Day that we would celebrate each year

-Creating a sort of Arab Shop in touristic areas in our countries

-Developing a unified Product (with bits from all handicrafts)

-and more

The outcome of this forum will certainly appear in the set up of a steering committee that will meet again in a month or two in order to define and finalize a strategic plan for year 2010.

*Fair Trade Development Center (Palestine)