World Social Forum 2007 took place in Nairobi

The World Social Forum (WSF) has taken place between 20 and 25 January 2007 in Nairobi, Kenya. More than 40 thousand people attanded the event. Appr. 800 workshops were organised on important issues. IFAT, the International Fair Trade Association, hosted fair trade related workshops focusing on Africa-related issues such as advantages and challenges of African organisations entering the fairtrade network or African certificates of fair trade products. Brazilian experiences arose during the Solidarity Economy workshop. Fair trade supporting NGOs, wholesalers, university researchers, fair trade producers had the chance to meet and change ideas, experiences and to build out networking links among all stakeholders.

The African chapter of IFAT - COFTA, the Cooperation for Fair Trade in Africa, run an information stand where the visitors were able to get information about fair trade and the work of IFAT, COFTA and KEFAT (Kenya Federation for Alternative Trade). The FTO (Fair Trade Organisation) Mark marked the tent. Fair trade producers had the chance to introduce themselves and their products. View some photos at: http://www.trialog.or.at/docs/photo....

After the World Social Forum, Gyorgyi Ujszaszi from the Hungarian NGO Vedegylet/Protect the Future visited groups in Nairobi which produce fair trade products for the European market. She also visited the town of Tabaka. This place is famous for soap stone handicrafts. The whole process from mining through carving to packaging was introduced and documented by photos. These experiences and photos will be used in lectures, leaflets and brochures in Hungary in future. As Gyorgyi puts it: „Personal contacts are increasing the activity of the fair trade movement all over the world.“

For more information on the World Social Forum, please go to: http://www.worldsocialforum.org

Find a report on the Fair Trade Workshops in Naorobi on the IFAT website at: http://www.ifat.org/index.php?optio...

For more information on the Hungarian Fair Trade acitvities, please contact Gyorgyi Ujszaszi,Vedegylet, Hungary

Information provided by Gyorgyi Ujszaszi, Vedegylet, Hungary