Lesson video

Hello, there.

My name is Mrs. Dhami.

Thank you for joining me for your Design and Technology lesson today.

Now the big question for today is, how can Fairtrade support developing countries in their manufacture and materials processing? So we're going to explore this using chocolate and footballs.

So hard hats on.

Let's get cracking.

Our outcome for today is we will be able to explain the importance of Fairtrade in developing countries.

We have four keywords today.

Fairtrade.

Now, Fairtrade is a system that ensures farmers and workers receive fair prices, decent working conditions, and support for community development through trade.

We then have living income.

This is the amount of money that is needed for a household to have a decent standard of living.

We then have Fairtrade price, which is the minimum price that must be paid to producers like farmers for their goods when sold under Fairtrade standards.

And lastly, we have Fairtrade premium.

This is the investment for the community to help build stronger, healthier communities.

We have two learning cycles today: manufacture and materials processing, and then investigation.

So let's get started with manufacture and materials processing.

The circular economy can be defined as an economic system where products and materials are kept in circulation and do not become waste or become very minimal waste.

And you can see that by the circular economy diagram.

If we look at the waste stage, which is the bright yellow arrow, you can see that that arrow is a lot smaller than the rest of the stages, and that's because the circular economy is trying to reduce the amount of waste or eliminate it altogether.

Let's zoom into the manufacture and materials processing stage.

At the manufacturer and materials processing stage, decisions can be made to reduce the environmental impact, and that's what we're going to explore today.

At the manufacturer and materials processing stage, the processing of materials can use huge amounts of energy and produce carbon emissions.

So for example, processing iron ore into steel, processing crude oil into polymers.

Sustainable design decisions include using: renewable energy sources, recycled materials.

These decisions can be encouraged through government taxes on carbon emissions and grants or subsidies for the use of renewable sources of energy.

It's that bit of encouragement.

The use of chemicals can have a negative impact on the environment, destroying habitats and contaminating water.

For example, farming quite often uses fertilizers or pesticides.

Polymer manufacture quite often uses additives such as pigments for color or additives such as stabilizers for UV protection.

With increased value being placed on environmental issues, there is an increase in consumers opting for organic options in food without fertilizers, without pesticides and recycled options in clothing.

People want to feel like they are doing their part for the environment.

Time for a quick check in.

Identify the methods to reduce the environmental impact at the manufacture and materials processing stage of the circular economy.

Is it A, eliminating use of toxic chemicals? B, using renewable sources of energy? C, using crude oil? Or D, using recycled materials? Have a think, think back to what we've been learning today and come back to me when you've got an idea.

Well done if you've got A, B, and D.

So eliminating use of toxic chemicals, using renewable sources of energy, and using recycled materials are all methods to reduce the environmental impact at the manufacture and materials processing stage of the circular economy.

During manufacture, ethical impacts are also considered, so for example, child labor, exploitation, working conditions.

Now, you might remember this from a few years ago, there was an article on the news.

It basically said a factory in China denied using forced labor after a six-year-old girl found a message in a leading supermarket's charity Christmas card.

The supermarket stopped production at the factory where prisoners allegedly wrote the message, claiming that they were being forced to work.

Manufacturing and materials processing can have a negative impact on the environment and raise ethical concerns.

These effects are often harder to regulate in developing countries than in developed due to weaker environmental laws and enforcement.

Now, a question to you.

Which products have you noticed the Fairtrade logo on? Have a little think.

Have a little think about products that you might have seen perhaps in a supermarket.

Pause the video, come back to me ready for the next slide once you've had a think and a chat perhaps with the person next to you.

Alex says, "I have noticed the Fairtrade logo on a sticker on bananas." I wonder if lots of you also thought the same.

You might have also got coffee.

You might have got chocolate.

You might have got sugar.

There are tons more, but perhaps you might have got a few of these too.

Now, Fairtrade is an international system that seeks to address problems of the global trade system by supporting producers in developing countries.

In developing countries, a high proportion of the population are employed in the manufacturing and materials processing stage of the circular economy in primary industries such as mining, farming, and fishing.

So why is this a disadvantage? Have a little think.

Discuss with the person next to you.

Come back to me when you've got an idea.

Okay, let's draw us together and see whether we've got matching answers.

So why is this a disadvantage? Raw materials like cocoa, coffee, and bananas are low-value commodities, traded cheaply within the global market.

Oversupply, for example, as a result of erratic weather means the price can fall.

Value is added by processing these raw commodities, but this often occurs in developed countries rather than the developing countries.

The amount of money that is needed for a household to have a decent standard of living is called the living income.

Now, the living income covers the following.

We have housing, food, water, education, healthcare, transport, and clothing.

That's an awful lot that needs to be covered with the living income.

Now, the living income in developing countries is less than two pound a day.

Now I know I could not survive on two pound a day for the whole of my family.

That is not enough living income for my family.

Yet despite this, despite it being less than two pound a day, the average daily income of a cocoa farmer in Cote d'Ivoire in West Africa is less than half at 74 pence per day.

Wow.

The United Nations Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has the right to work, the right to be paid for that work, and the right to an adequate standard of living.

But we all know that doesn't always happen, and that's where Fairtrade comes into play.

Fairtrade provides two main things.

First of all, the Fairtrade Price provides a minimum price, which helps cover the cost of production and gives financial stability.

And secondly, the Fairtrade Premium, which helps build stronger, healthier communities.

And we'll look at those in a bit more detail over the following slides.

Time for a quick check-in.

What does the term living wage mean? Is it A, the minimum amount a worker can legally be paid in a country? B, salary high enough to afford luxuries and travel? C, the amount of money a person needs to afford a decent standard of living? Or D, the average income in a developed country? Have a little think, come back to me when you've got a good idea.

Well done if you got C.

The term living wage is the amount of money a person needs to afford a decent standard of living.

Let's take a look at Fairtrade price.

Now, Fairtrade price is the minimum price that buyers must pay producers for their goods, such as coffee or bananas.

It covers the cost of sustainable production, even when market prices fall.

And it acts as a safety net for farmers and protects them from extreme price drops, which might have happened with an oversupply.

Let's take a look at Fairtrade premium.

Now, Fairtrade premium is an extra sum of money paid on top of the Fairtrade price.

It goes into a communal fund or cooperative for farmers or workers to invest in projects they choose, such as education, healthcare, clean water, or improving their farms. The community decides democratically how to use the premium, and it can also educate farmers with environmentally friendly farming practices, such as use of chemicals in farming so to help the circular economy.

Aisha says, "How big is the Fairtrade movement?" That's a great question, Aisha.

Well, about 12% of chocolate bought in the UK is Fairtrade and one in three bananas sold carries the Fairtrade mark.

The UK is one of the world's leading Fairtrade markets, with over 4,800 products carrying the Fairtrade mark.

There are worldwide producer networks of Fairtrade farmers in South America, the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and the Pacific with over 300 different commodities.

Onto task A.

Part one, I'd like you to match the terms to the definitions.

So we have three terms, Fairtrade price, Fairtrade, premium, and living income.

And then we have three definitions.

First definition, investment for the community to help build stronger healthier communities.

Definition two, minimum price that must be paid to producers like farmers for their goods when sold under Fairtrade standards.

And lastly, third definition, the amount of money that is needed for a household to have a decent standard of living.

Have a think, start matching them up.

Come back to me when you've got an idea.

Hopefully you worked out Fairtrade premium is the investment for the community to build stronger, healthier communities.

Fairtrade price, the minimum price that must be paid to producers like farmers for their goods when sold under Fairtrade standards.

And lastly, living income, which is the amount of money that is needed for a household to have a decent standard of living.

Well done if you got those correct.

The diagram shows the circular economy.

So for part two, I'd like you to label the missing stages in the circular economy.

Part three, identify three ways that environmental impact can be reduced at this stage.

And lastly, part four, the Fairtrade logo can be found on many bananas.

Explain how Fairtrade can be used to improve the lives of banana farmers.

Good luck, come back to me when you've got some great answers.

Part two, hopefully you identified that the raw materials and then the manufacturing and materials processing stages were missing from the circular economy diagram.

Part three, I asked you to identify three ways that the environmental impact can be reduced at the manufacture and materials processing stage.

You might have identified using renewable energy, using recycled materials, and perhaps the eradication of toxic chemical use.

Part four, I asked you to explain how Fairtrade helps to improve the lives of banana farmers.

So your answers could include, Fairtrade helps improve the lives of banana farmers by ensuring they receive a Fairtrade price for their bananas.

This minimum price covers the cost of growing their crops sustainably and protects them when market prices fall.

On top of this, farmers receive a Fairtrade premium, which is extra money that they can use to invest in their community, such as building schools, improving healthcare, or buying better farming equipment.

These benefits help farmers move towards earning a living income, which means they can afford basic needs like food, housing, and education for their families.

Fairtrade supports banana farmers having a better quality of life and a more secure future.

Onto learning cycle two, Investigation.

In the UK alone, the chocolate business is worth over four billion pounds.

Cocoa beans are grown in regions close to the equator, such as West Africa.

The manufacturing and materials processing of cocoa beans takes a huge amount of time and effort.

So let's explore this together.

Firstly, the cocoa beans grow inside pods on trees and you can see a few pods in that picture.

The pods are then collected by hand and opened.

The cocoa beans are removed from the pod again by hand.

Banana leaves are collected and laid out flat on the ground.

The cocoa beans are then spread onto the banana leaves.

They're then covered with more banana leaves and they're left to dry in the sun.

The beans ferment in the sun and start to dry out.

Now, all of this happens before the cocoa beans are even turned into chocolate.

Changes in the weather, such as extreme temperatures or fluctuating water levels, can negatively impact both the quality and quantity of cocoa beans produced.

Farmers cannot control these conditions, but depend on the crop for their income.

The price of cocoa has plummeted, meaning that the average daily income of a cocoa farmer in Cote d'Ivoire is 74 pence per day.

This is less than half of what is required to achieve a living income.

And if that's not bad enough, women cocoa often earn even less at around 23 pence per day.

What a huge difference.

Fairtrade is working towards a living income for the farmers of Cote d'Ivoire.

The Fairtrade premium has enabled cocoa farmers in Cote d'Ivoire to be able to invest in clean water pumps, reducing the time and distance to collect fresh water, business training for farmers and producers, and storage warehouses so that produce can be stored safely away from the elements and away from creatures.

What a great investment the Fairtrade premium has done for Cote d'Ivoire.

Choosing to buy Fairtrade chocolate helps give farmers a fair deal.

Fairtrade works to make sure farmers get a fair share and are at the heart of the chocolate supply chain rather than just the people at the bottom.

Time for a quick check-in.

The living income in West Africa is less than something a day.

The average daily income of a cocoa farmer in Cote d'Ivoire is something per day.

Two different figures there.

Have a little think, perhaps talk to the person next to you.

Come back to me when you've got two different figures.

Well done if you've got two pound and 74 pence.

So the living income in West Africa is less than two pound a day.

The average daily income of a cocoa farmer in Cote d'Ivoire is 74 pence per day.

And if you remember, even less if you're a woman.

Fairtrade is not limited to farmers, but also supports manufacturers of a multitude of products.

There are over 4,800 products that carry the Fairtrade mark in the UK, including gold, believe it or not, flowers, and footballs.

Now, sticking with the football theme, 60 million footballs are made in Sialkot in Pakistan in a World Cup year and are shipped all over the world.

The population of Pakistan is over 180 million people and 20% of them have a living income of less than 94 pence a day.

Wow.

The manufacturer of footballs is labor intensive.

It starts with hexagons and pentagons being die cut from polyurethane.

Multiple hexagons and pentagons are die cut.

One football is made up of 20 hexagons and 12 pentagons altogether.

The patterns/colors are then screen printed individually onto each one of the pentagons or hexagons.

The shapes are then ready for assembly.

Now, you probably think they're all gonna be made by machines, but no.

High-quality footballs are hand-stitched inside out to make them perfect.

It's very, very labor intensive.

Sewing footballs by hand is skilled work and up to five footballs can be sewn in one day.

I always thought there was a lot more than that made per day.

But no, it's very skilled.

Lower quality footballs use machines or are thermally bonded, but not the high-quality ones.

The bladder and air valve are inserted.

Then comes the final hand stitching.

Next comes the quality control of the size and weight.

And if they don't make quality control, they go back to the beginning.

After the quality control of the size and weight comes the quality control of the bounce, and they're actually tested to check that they bounce to a correct height.

The footballs are then once they pass that, if they don't, they'll go back, back to be made from the start, but if they pass that, the footballs are then deflated so that they can be packaged ready for distribution.

What a lot of steps to a simple, what we thought was a simple football.

In 1996, the World Cup was held in England.

In the same year, Sialkot hit the headlines.

It was reported that 7,000 children were working 11-hour days, including children as young as five, just to manufacture footballs.

Although we may pay sport brands high prices, this money does not make it to the stitchers, forcing them to make their children work too so that they can afford food and healthcare.

This means that some children will not go to school.

In 1997, an agreement was signed to stop the high rates of child labor in the manufacturer of footballs in Pakistan by not allowing home stitching and forcing the people to go into the workplace to complete the manufacture and the stitching.

Fairtrade is working towards a living income so that children don't need to work and children can go to school, eliminating child labor, good working conditions such as lighting and toilet access, and also providing the Fairtrade premium.

So what did Sialkot workers decide to spend their Fairtrade premium on? They decided to have and spend it on access to clean water, buses to bring workers to factories, education, including books and school bags, and improved healthcare, including eye clinics, which, of course, is important when stitching such fine stitching for the manufacturer of footballs.

Time for a quick check-in.

Approximately how many products carry the Fairtrade mark in the UK? Is it A, 2,800? B, 3,800? C, 4,800? Or D, 5,800? Have a think.

Come back to me when you've got an answer.

Well done if you've got C.

Approximately 4,800 products carry the Fairtrade mark in the UK.

Onto task B.

Part one, I'd like you to compare the lives of two workers, one on a Fairtrade cocoa farm, and one on a non-Fairtrade cocoa farm.

You could consider A, income, B, community opportunities, and C, access to education and healthcare.

Have a good think.

Have a good go.

Come back to me when you've got some great ideas.

Let's take a little look at our answers.

Your answers could include a worker on a Fairtrade cocoa farm is more likely to earn a fair and stable income, which helps them afford basic needs like food, clean water, healthcare, and education for their children.

They also benefit from safer working conditions.

On top of their wages, they receive a Fairtrade premium, which is often used to improve the whole community.

For example, building schools or wells.

In contrast, a worker on a non-Fairtrade cocoa farm may earn very low wages that don't cover basic living costs.

They are more likely to work long hours in poor conditions with little or no protection.

There's usually no extra money for community improvements and they have less say in how the farm is managed.

Overall, Fairtrade helps improve both the quality of life and future opportunities for cocoa farmers and their families.

This brings us to the end of our lesson today.

Let's summarize what we have found out.

Manufacturing and materials processing can have a negative impact on the environment and are often harder to regulate in developing countries.

Fairtrade is a system that ensures farmers and workers receive fair prices, decent working conditions, and support for sustainable community development through trade.

A living income is the amount of money that is needed for a household to have a decent standard of living.

Fairtrade price is a minimum price that must be paid to producers like farmers for their goods when sold under Fairtrade standards.

Fairtrade premium is investment for the whole community to help build stronger, healthier communities.

Well done with all of your hard work today.

Please look out for the Fairtrade logo next time you are in a shop and just remember the impact that Fairtrade can have on developing countries.

Thank you for all of your hard work, and I hope to see you in another lesson soon.

Take good care.

Bye-bye-bye.