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Photo: Lenzie Fairtrade Group, example of new Fairtrade Communities Award certificate

UK – Fairtrade Towns to Fairtrade Communities Award

2025-11-25

UK – Fairtrade Towns to Fairtrade Communities Award

The International Fair Trade Towns Campaign Report in 2025 did not report on any initiatives within the UK classified as ‘towns’. Rather there was the introduction of the term ‘communities’. This summary explains the Fairtrade Foundation’s rationale for re-classifying initiatives. In 2023, the Fairtrade Foundation announced the introduction of their Fairtrade Communities Award to replace the Fairtrade Towns Award. This followed a period of review, reflection and dialogue with Fairtrade campaigners and others by the Fairtrade Foundation.
 
With Garstang announced as the first Fairtrade Town in 2000, more than 650 Fairtrade Towns, Cities, Villages, Islands, Boroughs, Counties and Zones throughout the UK had achieved status by 2023. One of the key findings of the above-mentioned review was that Fairtrade Town groups were losing members due to an ageing demographic, along with a reluctance from new campaigners to join formal groups. In fact, in their presentation ‘Taking Fairtrade Campaigning Forward in the UK’, the Fairtrade Foundation reported that “Only 20% of our total supporter base want to volunteer or campaign locally as part of a community group. Those interested in linking up, local offline campaigning, are a minority…”

Photo: Lenzie Fairtrade Group, example of new Fairtrade Communities Award certificate

From Fairtrade Towns to Communities
The Fairtrade Towns Award did not enable individuals involved in Fair Trade campaigning to have their actions and activities recognised, as they were not part of a formally constituted group. In addition, feedback suggested that younger campaigners were not interested in committing to joining local groups but could engage with Fair Trade campaigning through social media, online petitions and other digital campaign initiatives.The new Fairtrade Communities Award enables a group of 3 or more individuals to register as a Fairtrade Community. In the Fairtrade Foundation’s Fairtrade Campaign Action Guide, it is stated: "Once you have gathered your fellow campaigners, you can commit to being a Fairtrade Community by filling in our online Commitment form, telling us what you’ve already been up to and what you’ve got planned. Fairtrade Communities can also earn special digital badges for their local activities by logging on to our online Community Space and telling us about what they are doing in specific 'Action Areas'."

These Action Areas are designed to support and direct Fairtrade Community campaigning and include:

    • Action area 1: Boosting Fairtrade
    • Action area 2: Connecting Fairtrade
    • Action area 3: Fair Trade Changemakers
    • Action area 4: Fairtrade Ambassadors
    • Action area 5: Fairtrade Influencers
More information about these Action Areas can be found in the Fairtrade Campaign Action Guide. To become or renew status as a Fairtrade Community, the applicants should report on past Fairtrade activities and on future plans. This is a less onerous process than that in place for renewing or achieving status under the Fairtrade Towns Award. This guide also suggests ways in which an individual might engage with Fairtrade campaigning by signing petitions. It is clear that this is a popular action for individuals to take whether they are part of a community or not i.e. the current petition from the Fairtrade Foundation has received over 20,000 signatures.
 
The Fairtrade Communities Award is just one of the awards coordinated by the Fairtrade Foundation. There are also Fairtrade Places of Worship, Fairtrade Schools, and Fairtrade Universities and Colleges awards. During the International Fair Trade Towns Conference in Edinburgh at the end of August this year, the Fair Trade Towns Campaign Report outlined the following from the UK - total 1,271 initiatives:
  • - Places of Worship – 517
  • - Schools – 506
  • - Universities and Colleges – 40
  • - Communities – 208
  • - Towns – no longer classified as such
These figures only account for initiatives awarded in partnership with the Fairtrade Foundation. The number of initiatives out with the Fairtrade Foundation awards have not been included. It is suggested that the process of collecting such information is more difficult but that, for example, in Fair Trade Nations such as Scotland, this data may be available. This is because Fair Trade campaigning in Scotland does not only equate to working within the Fairtrade Foundations awards. However, as mentioned, when the initiative is not formally tracked and awarded, keeping track is more of a challenge.
Conclusion
 
In summary, the Fairtrade Foundation reviewed the Fairtrade Towns Award in light of campaigner feedback regarding difficulties in recruiting new campaigners / members to join a formal group as per the former iteration of the Award for towns, cities etc. Although not mentioned explicitly, it may also be the case that Fairtrade Communities is a better umbrella term for Fairtrade Towns, Cities, Villages, Islands, Boroughs, Counties and Zones. The switch to the Fairtrade Communities Award addressed the recruitment issue by enabling only three people to be classified as a community. The community has a more open scope in terms of reporting past and future campaigning activity, and the five Action Areas provide guidance to communities in terms of the kind of activity they might engage in.The 2025 Fair Trade Towns Campaign Report noted the lack of any data about Fairtrade Towns initiatives and included the new measure of Fairtrade Communities initiatives. The Fairtrade Foundation’s initiatives with communities, schools, places of worship and universities and colleges can be seen here.It is recommended that the term ‘Fairtrade initiatives’ is defined in the next International Fair Trade Towns Report and that consideration is given to inclusion of other initiatives depending on the country context. These other initiatives should also be defined to enable reporting.

 

Catherine Newman, Scottish Fair Trade, November 2025