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The Sustainable Fair Trade Management System
Pachacuti is the first Fair Trade organisation in the world to complete the pilot for the new World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO) certification process. The pilot label was launched in November 2009 and Pachacuti became the first international Fair Trade organisation to be able to put ‘Certified Fair Trade and Sustainable’ on all of our product range .
An audit was carried out by accredited EU auditors, both in the UK and in South America, and Pachacuti has been certified against The Sustainable Fair Trade Management System (SFTMS)
The certification is for the organisation as an entirety, rather than taking a product by product approach. It involves a strong environmental management component, as well as a focus on the overall management of the certified organisation including administration, labour issues, production systems and quality control. It will certify that an organisation has a proven set of practices, procedures and processes which demonstrate social, economic and environmental responsibility.
The Sustainable Fair Trade Management System seeks to provide a certification system for Fair Trade organisations and their supply chains which complements FLO, the existing product-based labelling approach. FLO's Fairtrade Certification system was designed for commodities and many Fair Trade Organisations such as Pachacuti find that their products are not catered for by the Fairtrade mark. Pachacuti’s principal raw materials, paja toquilla for making Panama hats and alpaca for clothing and accessories, are not currently certifiable under FLO.
This will be the first Fair Trade certification which looks at an integrated supply chain, rather than just certifying the commodity i.e. cotton. In terms of garment production, most of the added value is in the design and production of the garment or accessory and it is therefore essential that there is a reputable label which guarantees that design, weaving, sewing, knitting, dyeing and finishing all adhere to high Fair Trade and environmental standards.
Over the past 18 months, Pachacuti has carried out an ongoing assessment of its producer groups in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. This has provided a structured and objective way of looking at each organisation and their Fair Trade business relationship with Pachacuti, identifying weaknesses and opportunities for improvement within each organisation. The process gave a greater voice to the workers who were able to give feedback about pay, health and safety, skills development and the general conditions of their work. This allowed Pachacuti to have real information to assess and develop how their fair trade activities can improve the quality of the producers' lives.
Together with each producer group, Pachacuti creates an annual action plan which allows producers to direct how Fair Trade will benefit them the most. For example, one embroidery group all complained of poor eyesight. Over the past year, Pachacuti has paid for eye tests, glasses and eye operations for all workers who required them.
Pachacuti has issued a Fair Trade Report for 2008-9 which gives details of fair trade and environmental work and this is available to be downloaded from their website. Pachacuti has also been audited against EMAS EU Environmental regulations, ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 and was found to be in full compliance with these standards. Pachacuti is one of only 64 EMAS accredited organisations in the UK.
Our producer groups are really excited to be part of the first Fair Trade organisation in the world to be certified. We are confident that this process will bring lasting benefit to all of our producers through a structured approach to social, welfare, economic and environmental improvements. We are proud to have been a part of a pilot for such an important development in Fair Trade certification which we will believe will help to improve conditions for marginalised producers around the world as the World Fair Trade Organisation rolls out this certification internationally.