Fairtrade’s continued success, combating atrocities in Uganda and dealing with HIV using social media

Fairtrade to the fore

Despite a gloomy global economic outlook, consumers are increasingly putting their money where their hearts are, according to a new survey of 17,000 consumers in 24 countries for Fairtrade International, led by research consultancy GlobeScan.

Of those surveyed, 59% felt their purchases had the power to make a real, on-the-ground difference. And shoppers are putting their money where their mouths are, with $5.9bn spent on Fairtrade certified products in 2010 (an increase of 28% since 2008). 

Countries that saw the greatest rises in Fairtrade purchases include the Czech Republic, with an impressive near-400% boost since 2008, South Africa (315%) and Australia and New Zealand (250%). In the UK, Fairtrade’s largest market, consumers bought 47% more Fairtrade products over the two years.

On the whole Fairtrade’s reputation is holding strong - according to the report, it’s the most widely recognised ethical label worldwide, with recognition up six percentage points to 65% in the study’s 15 main tracking countries.

Two-thirds of shoppers associate the Fairtrade mark with helping farmers and workers in poor countries escape poverty, and if a product that shoppers normally bought started carrying the Fairtrade label, 79% said it would boost their overall opinion of the brand.

Tracking the crisis

US non-profit groups Invisible Children and Resolve have created a real-time online and mobile mapping system to document and expose the unremitting atrocities committed by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), the Ugandan militia responsible for Africa’s longest-running armed conflict.

The LRA Crisis Tracker uses information gathered from Invisible Children’s early warning radio network – a modest yet critical system that uses radios mounted on shacks to alert those living in even the most remote regions of LRA activity – as well as from UN agencies, local NGOs and news organisations. The system plots the LRA’s activities on the Crisis Tracker map and details whether there are civilian injuries, deaths, abductions, displacements or looting.

Additionally, the site features a breaking-news feed and timeline of weekly LRA activity, as well as fortnightly and quarterly downloadable reports that analyse LRA data patterns, all of which are publically available. Thus far, the LRA Crisis Tracker has accumulated two years’ worth of data.

“Technology is a game-changer in the battle to bring justice to war criminals,” says Invisible Children’s chief executive, Ben Keesey. “It levels the playing field by empowering the individual, and Invisible Children and Resolve will continue to pursue these technological developments towards greater civilian protection and lasting peace.”

UNAids crowdsourced campaign

Nearly 3,000 young people aged 15-24 are infected with HIV daily, and millions already afflicted lack treatment. The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/Aids (UNAids) has launched a two-month online campaign, CrowdOutAids, to combat that reality using crowdsourcing to develop a new UNAids strategy on youth and HIV.

CrowdOutAids uses a complex system of virtual checks and balances to ensure as many young people as possible worldwide can contribute, using social media channels including Facebook, Twitter, Renren (in China) and blogs.

Crowdsourcing allows us to reach a much broader constituency though an open and transparent process that allows for democratic participation, all of which are very much in line with the rights of young people to participate in decision-making processes that affect them,” says Mikaela Hildebrand, manager of the CrowdOutAids project.

The campaign has eight regional open forums (including Middle East and North Africa, Latin America, and Asia/Pacific) for young people to connect and discuss new HIV outreach strategies. Each forum has a designated community mobiliser who writes weekly summary reports, which are posted on the CrowdOutAids blog for review by each forum, with the goal of building a list of the community’s key priorities.

These issues will then be circulated to a wider audience via a survey, which will help CrowdOutAids whittle down the community’s top priorities, and be featured in the final campaign strategy document. Lastly, CrowdOutAids will use these defined community priorities to launch a web-based app, so participants can share actionable ideas.

As this online crowdsourcing strategy is a UN first, the campaign team continuously reviews their tactics and adjusts accordingly, while taking into account participant feedback. The goal, however, remains lofty.

“We hope to have an outcome document that has been produced by young people for young people, with a clear agenda and a ‘how to’ for UNAids to work with young people in the next few years towards the key goals in the political declaration on HIV/Aids adopted by UN member states,” Hildebrand says. “This includes, but is not limited to, halving new HIV transmission and ensuring 15 million people living with HIV in need of treatment, including young people, have access to it by 2015.”

 



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