Fairtrade Fortnight 2009
19 February 2009
Students and staff at LJMU are again very heavily involved in organising events and activities for Fairtrade Fortnight, both within and outside the University.
The Fortnight begins on Monday, 23 February, and ends on Sunday, 8 March. The theme this year is 'Make it Happen - Choose Fairtrade'.
The Chaplaincy will be at the Haigh Building on Tuesday 24 February from 11am - 2pm and will be distributing Fairtrade tea and coffee sachets to students and staff during that period.
Bob Doherty, Senior Lecturer in Social Enterprise & Corporate Responsibility in the Liverpool Business School, has arranged a visit from a Fairtrade producer. Bernard Ranaweera, the President of the Small Organic Farmers’ Association, Sri Lanka, is to speak to the MA Social Enterprise Group on the evening of Wednesday 25 February. Later that evening, Bernard will be at FACT speaking about his Fairtrade organisation. There will be the showing of ‘Black Gold’, a film about the fight against trade injustice. The event begins at 7pm and tickets cost £3. These need to be bought from the FACT box office at 88 Wood Street, Liverpool, L1 4DQ, or by calling the Booking Line on 0871 704 2063. There will be free tea, coffee and chocolate bars available.
On Thursday morning, Bernard will talk about the impact of Fairtrade on his cooperative to undergraduates on the International Business Ethics module. The session will be filmed by the Graduate Development Centre team for the WoW website. Bernard will be meeting LSU staff and officers and is then being interviewed here by Radio Merseyside before undertaking a number of high profile visits around Merseyside during the rest of the day.
Fairtrade football matches for staff and students are being planned during the fortnight.
Events in the city and beyond include a banana flash mob on Tuesday 3 March in Liverpool’s Clayton Square and the Fairtrade Foundation’s ‘Go Bananas for Fairtrade’ event from noon on Friday, 6 March, to noon on Saturday, 7 March, see http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/gobananas/
LJMU and the Liverpool Students’ Union jointly achieved the status of a Fairtrade university at the end of January 2006. Since then, Fairtrade products have been widely promoted. Fairtrade Fortnight offers another reminder to all staff and students to keep choosing Fairtrade and ethically traded goods whenever possible.
