University of Derby Fairtrade Committee outcomes 2022-24

Leadership and strategy

Campaigning and influencing

Over the last year, we have grown our impact in terms of Campaigning and Influencing through:

For the first time, we put on a Fairtrade Fortnight event at the University’s Markeaton Site, where many of the University’s more technical courses are based. Our event had the advantage of novelty, since there are very few campaigns or promotions of any kind at this site. It was thus not too challenging to attract steady interest in the stall. The University’s commitment to Fairtrade was reinforced by the Fairtrade offer in the nearby coffee shop.

However, our major breakthrough this year has been in identifying students willing and able to lead campaigning and influencing work either alongside staff committee members, or independently.

Student HA ran the Fairtrade stall at Freshers’ Fair, and successfully encouraged scores of new students to complete a survey about ethical consumption. We see this as evidence that the “student talking to students” approach increased the impact of our Freshers’ campaign, in attracting more students, who spent more time at the stall, enjoying the Fairtrade chocolate samples, and then engaging with a series of stimulating questions about their own position on Fairtrade and ethical consumerism. One new student, SS, attracted by the stall, expressed a desire to set up a Fairtrade Society. She is currently working through the necessary procedures with the Union of Students. SS and HA subsequently ran two Fairtrade stalls at University Sustainability Fairs, attracting further interest both in Fairtrade and in the new Society. Once set up, the Society will have a hugely positive effect on our Campaigning and Influencing work, and increase its impact, as students reach out to fellow students with key Fairtrade messages.

Procurement, retail and catering

Research and curriculum

Innovation

Our most innovative activity this year has been to make Fairtrade part of the programme for the University’s Sustainability Champions, a new network launched by committee member Liz Thompson. The network has 67 staff members from a variety of departments across the University, including both academic and professional staff. They are tasked with completing actions throughout the year relating to different sustainability themes to achieve awards for their team/department.

One of the themes has been Fairtrade and has included a task to ensure the tea, coffee, and sugar they use locally is Fairtrade. The Fairtrade Committee has also put on a Fairtrade workshop for the Sustainability Champions to raise awareness of why choosing Fairtrade is important and the impact it can have on communities and people’s lives. 21 people attended this workshop and it was also recorded for those unable to attend.

Impact

Over the last two years, building on learning from previous years, we aimed at more impactful work:

Our new year of work will focus on how we can be even more committed to Fairtrade and how we can get more students involved: