Centre for Civil Society (Social Policy) and Trading Visions public debate
Date: Tuesday 24 February 2009
Time: 6.30-8pm
Venue: Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House
Speakers: Pauline Tiffen, Rajah Banerjee, Kate Sebag, Katie Stafford and Dyborn Chinonga
Chair: Dr Armine Ishkanian
The idea of fair trade has become increasingly popular amongst consumers and some producers. But who does fair-trade really benefit? The producers? The consumers? The Farmers? These are some of the issues that the panel will debate.
Pauline Tiffen is an Independent consultant and founder of two Fairtrade companies, Cafédirect and Divine Chocolate. She is also a founding member of the International Federation for Alternative Trade and the Small Farmers' Co-operative Society.
Rajah Banerjee is a tea plantation owner from the Fairtrade certified Makaibari Tea Estate in Darjeeling, India. His pioneering work has been to convert the Makaibari estate to organic permaculture.
Kate Sebag is the co-founder of Tropical Wholefoods. She has worked in Uganda developing fair trade fruit drying, and she has worked extensively in the development of Tropical Wholefoods mainstream food marketing effort.
Katie Stafford is a sustainability consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, focussing on sustainable business strategy, fair business practices, sustainable raw material sourcing and communication to stakeholders such as the media.
Dyborn Charlie Chibonga is CEO of the National Smallholder Farmers' Association of Malawi, which represents over 100,000 small scale farmers. He also serves on the board of the International Nut Cooperative which is selling Fairtrade nuts under its own UK brand, Liberation.
Podcast
A podcast of this event is available to download from the LSE public lectures and events podcasts channel.
Media queries: please contact the Press Office if you would like to reserve a press seat or have a media query about this event, email pressoffice@lse.ac.uk