The World Fair Trade Organization or WFTO for short changes all that. It is a global community focused on social enterprises that prioritises the welfare of the workers. It is a guarantee system, which attempts to create a new market for products that maintain Fair Trade Practices through its 10 Principles of Fair Trade. This ensures that members of WFTO prioritise the people, the planet and the product quality over the profits made. Being a guarantee system, it is based on the participation of these members to form trust, a social network and knowledge exchange. The WFTO relies on 10 core principles or goals, each of which is meant to be met through dialogue, transparency, and respect. This in turn promotes sustainable development. These principles entail opportunities for disadvantaged producers, fair and equitable payment, no child or forced labour, non-discrimination, gender equity, good working conditions, capacity building, promoting fair trade, respect for the environment, and accountability and transparency. By aligning to these principles, WFTO members and/or Fair-Trade Organisations (FTO) aim to create an equitable work environment that prioritises the welfare of the workers and the environment that the company works with. To know more, hop onto our WFTO page. You can also access these links: https://www.fairtrade.net/ https://lastforest.in/pages/fair-trade-1

As mass-marketing and consumption grows exponentially, the workers of the first and secondary sectors not only lose value but face insecurity and the alliance between Last Forest and the WFTO means to rid them of such financial insecurity. This is done by multiple methods. Firstly, producers are paid upfront for their contributions. This secures their financial output, no matter the success of the product, and a mutual loyalty grows between the company and the producers. Being a Fair Trade Oranganisation, Last Forest also grows their bond with producer and consumers. Through this process, even when understand and value of the marginal worker diminishes in the mass-market, their value remains or even increases with this alliance with the WFTO. Last Forest is also able to widen the customer base for any product sold.

A Fair Trade Organisation (FTO) is a locally focused guarantee system and products sold have a guarantee label. In the current market, where transparency and clarity is rare, customers are able to trust that the products are sourced and made ethically as well as genuinely have the value they claim. With this alliance, Last Forest is also able to spread awareness amongst customers, educating them on the process and tradition of a product sharing the understanding and value of the product.

In 2016, Last Forest Enterprises became a WFTO member. By becoming a member, WFTO certified Last Forest as a Fair Trade Organisation. Last Forest serves as a market platform for many groups from all over India. These small producers then have wider market access. While the non-profit institution, the Keystone Foundation, endeavours to make an impact on the market side, Last Forest is driven on a slightly different approach. It means to show everyone engaged in the value chain from producers to consumers that it is a profit-driven company but with a difference. The difference is, an atmosphere whose primary concern is ethics and value and development oriented where producers are shareholders. This structure enables producers to make decisions that benefit not just an individual but the whole community. By focusing on what they best do, they are able to control quality and the consumers learn to value the products more. The synergy between the two institutions and the producers work as a producer-led-enterprise that taps to India’s vast economy.