Fairtrade Foundation embarks on ‘first of its kind’ partnership with Waitrose
The Fairtrade Foundation has embarked on a new partnership with Waitrose in which the two organisations will collaborate to share best practice and their experience regarding sustainable supply chain models.
The announcement was made in the lead-up to the annual Fairtrade Fortnight campaign which runs from 23 February to 8 March.
For Waitrose, it means that the work of the Waitrose Foundation will be recognised and validated by the Fairtrade Foundation – the first time the organisation will verify a third-party scheme.
The Fairtrade Foundation will also provide guidance to the Waitrose Foundation as it expands the trading model into countries and regions where it does not currently operate, but where Fairtrade has experience.
Mark Price, managing director of Waitrose, said: “We’re celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Waitrose Foundation this year and it’s a great accolade to have Fairtrade Foundation support our work.
“By combining Fairtrade’s expertise in this area with our retail operation, we believe we will be able to deliver greater benefits to the producers and suppliers with whom we both work and together demonstrate the future of fair trading.”
Waitrose said it thinks the strengthened partnership with Fairtrade will be popular with its customers. A recent customer survey found that 84% of shoppers attribute the FAIRTRADE Mark with high product integrity and 83% believe it demonstrates trustworthy provenance.
Michael Gidney, chief executive of the Fairtrade Foundation, added: “It is encouraging to see that retailers with vision are exploring new and innovative ways of working with the Fairtrade Foundation in order to benefit producers in developing countries and embedding these practices into a ‘business as usual’ approach.
“Research shows that the British public want retailers to do the right thing by their suppliers, so we look forward to this journey with Waitrose and hope that it may set a precedent that other companies will wish to emulate.”
