We have a vision: a world in which all producers can enjoy secure and sustainable livelihoods, fulfill their potential and decide on their future.

Our mission is to connect disadvantaged farmers and workers with consumers, promote fairer trading conditions and empower farmers and workers to combat poverty, strengthen their position and take more control over their lives.

From our earliest days we have called on companies to acknowledge their social and environmental - not just their economic – impacts.  We’ve challenged companies to be accountable for their actions and more and more companies are responding.  That’s an extraordinary change and something that simply wouldn’t have happened without the Fairtrade campaign.

Many companies are now investing significant amounts of money in sustainability schemes designed to make life better for farmers. That’s a huge opportunity and one we will capitalise on through maximising the number of businesses that adhere to our standards, and are certified.

Increasingly, some companies also want to take direct control over how their investments are spent, which leads them to adopt their own development programmes, rather than third-party standards and certification.

Done right the benefits for a company investing in its own scheme are that it can set its own standards, choose its own means of verification, follow its own processes and, usually, save money. It can also potentially attract public funding as the government is increasingly committed to channelling aid money through the private sector.