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5/1/13

Cocoa and Fair Trade Just Gets Better!



Chocolate, tea, sugar should all taste sweet at our table of nine billion people. We can make this true by endorsing  better treatment of women and small scale farmers. We had a significant victory with our first campaign under Behind the Brands. All three chocolate companies, Nestle, Mars and Mondalez, have agreed to develop better upstream practices for women cocoa farmers. All three major food and beverage companies agreed to sign the UN Women Empowerment Principles, which commits to assessing impacts across supply chain in all countries. Each company will publish concrete action plans to address issues by April 1, 2014. Using their corporate influence, they promise to advocate and network in order to abide by and promote the principles.
This is a time to celebrate our victory! We thank every single person who Tweeted, updated Facebook statuses, signed the petition, and got people involved. Special thanks to volunteers making our visibility events possible!  Whether it was in Daley Plaza on International Women’s Day or outside Mondalez property!

Join the Chicago Oxfam Action Corps to keep the momentum going. On May 7th and 8th Chicago Fair Trade will host its annual World Fair Trade Days in Daley Plaza. Over twenty fair trade vendors will be displaying products that are truly sweet. You can learn more about fair trade directly from cocoa farmers. Divine Chocolate invited two amazing individuals from Ghana to share their story. They will be present both days to discuss their combined 40 years of cocoa production experience that shows fair trade is delicious. 

Divine cocoa farmers will be guests at two events in the evening. On Monday May 6th, Northwestern University will host program Kuapa Kokoo: Produce perspectives on Cooperative Development in Ghana. The NU Center for Global Development and Afrilogue is excited to present from 7pm – 8:30pm in the Evanston Campus. On Tuesday May 7th, Oxfam America and Chicago Fair Trade will present Sweet Justice: Lessons in Food Justice from Cocoa Farmers. Both Ghanian cocoa farmers and co-founder of Food Tank will present. The registration is free and all are welcome.


We are incredibly excited to host these events to promote justice in the food system! Volunteer with us at these events and support fair trade and Oxfam!

  • Chicago Fair Trade Days
    • May 7th and May 8th
    • Shifts from 9 am – 6pm
    • Table for Oxfam America on GROW, Behind the Brands, and gain signatures for Food Aid Reform
  • Sweet Justice Event
    • May 7th
    • Shifts from 6 pm – 9 pm
    • Help greet, set-up food, table and network at the presentation at Chicago Temple.


Contact us at Chicago.oxfamactioncorps@gmail.com for more information and to volunteer.

-Megan Nakra

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Hmmm I like the cocoa trade! Do you have any sign companies in Chicago working on advertising for it? I have not seen a thing about it expect on the internet.

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