This Fairtrade Fortnight, Exeter Fairtrade Steering Group is calling on the local community to ‘Choose the world you want’.

We are aiming to highlight the growing challenges that climate change brings to farmers and workers in the communities Fairtrade works with. The climate crisis is an immediate and ever-increasing threat. People in climate vulnerable countries are already seeing its impacts from droughts and crop disease to floods, heatwaves and shrinking harvests.

As we know, this year, Fairtrade Fortnight will feel very different. 2020 was a hard year for everyone, campaigning in our communities has been more difficult and will continue to be challenging in 2021. Exeter will join forces with Fairtrade Devon and the rest of the country from the 22 February to the 7 March 2021 to inspire and educate people around the urgent message of Fairtrade and climate change.  

Exeter has been campaigning for Fairtrade for over 15 years and we have learnt what a difference it makes around the world. Yet, not enough people are buying it and not enough farmers are benefiting from it. We need everyone in the community to get behind farmers and their families this Fortnight.

Virtual coffee morning

On Saturday 27 February join the Exeter Fairtrade Steering Group and Fairtrade Devon for a Virtual Coffee Morning on Zoom. It will run from 11.00am to 12.30pm and feature guest speaker Fleur Sparrow-Gormley from Fairtrade Devon. Fleur will talk about Bananas, St Vincent and Fairtrade. Visitors will be able to share a cup of Fairtrade coffee over zoom.

Book your place on our virtual coffee morning

Fairtrade Connections Arts Festival

Fairtrade Devon have also teamed up with Fairtrade Yorkshire and other regions and nations to organise an online community arts festival this year. The Fairtrade Connections Arts Festival features a dozen events that are free to attend over Zoom and everyone is welcome.

Visitors can:

• hear from acclaimed poets and photographers
• cook along with a Bake Off contestant
• learn how to make Fairtrade chocolate ruffles
• join in with a bhangra dance workshop
• Ghanaian musician Richard Wiafe has written three songs exclusively for the festival and will talk about his journey from farm hand on a Fairtrade banana farm to studying International Development at university – funded by the Fairtrade premium.

You can find the full listing of events and book your place at the Fairtrade Connections Arts Festival website.

Support Fairtrade at home

As part of Visit Exeter’s "Exetercation" series, Exeter Fairtrade Steering Group have also put together a series of activities and recipes that you can enjoy at home to support Fairtrade.

For more information please see the Visit Exeter website.

Share your experiences

If you’d like to share your baking or activities with us, then please tag us in your social media posts using

• @ExeterCityCouncil
• @ExeterLiveBette
• #ChooseFairtrade

More about Fairtrade Fortnight 2021

For more information about the campaign and how to get involved, visit the Fairtrade website.