It´s getting fair at DialogPunkt Kleve

This week, the focus of our Dialogue Point Kleve, which we are organising in cooperation with the city of Kleve from 6 to 28 June 2024, is on the sustainable community.

Kleve has held the title of “Fairtrade Town” for seven years. And Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences (HSRW) has been a certified Fairtrade-University since 2017. “The DialogPunkt Kleve offers a good opportunity to communicate this commitment to the outside world and spread the idea of fair trade and awareness of it to the general public,” says Pascale van Koeverden, responsible for sustainability in the Climate Protection, Environment and Sustainability department at the city of Kleve. By buying or consuming fair trade products, everyone can contribute to a sustainable and fair community.

The Mayor drinks Fairtrade coffee

But what do Faitrade Town, Fairtrade University and Fairtrade in general mean? Fairtrade is a sustainable social certification system for fairly traded goods from Africa, Asia and Latin America. If certain social, ecological and economic criteria are met in their production, they are labelled with the Fairtrade seal. Pascale explains: “In a nutshell, the term Fairtrade means ethical trade.” In Germany, Fairtrade is represented by the “Fairtrade Deutschland eV” initiative. As a Fairtrade Town or Fairtrade University, towns, such as the town of Kleve, and universities, such as the HSRW, are committed to using fairly traded products at events or meetings, for example, as well as organising events on the topic. Both the city of Kleve and the HSRW have set up their own steering groups to coordinate the activities. Pascale, who is also a member of the steering group for Fairtrade-Town Kleve, gives a brief insight into its structure: “Various groups of people and institutions take part in the steering group, which is also a prerequisite for being certified as a Fairtrade-Town: for example, traders, restaurateurs, political parties and the One World Shop, to name just a few.”

Fairtrade explained with the wheel of fortune

On the afternoon of 12 June, members of the steering group Fairtrade-Town Kleve gave a spin at the DialogPunkt Kleve. In their luggage: a colourful wheel of fortune and fair products such as chocolate, jelly babies, tea and honey. Interested visitors and passers-by were invited to spin the wheel of fortune. This was a fun way to discover the sustainability goals that Fairtrade is committed to with its activities. All 17 sustainability goals are on the wheel of fortune, but only goals one to five, eight, twelve and thirteen promised a prize, since these are the sustainability goals that Fairtrade is also helping to achieve. Specifically: No poverty, No hunger, Good health and well-being, Quality education, Gender equality, Decent work and economic growth, Sustainable consumption and production, Climate action. And this brings us full circle to Sustainable Community Week: No Poverty, Zero Hunger, Good Health and Well-being, Quality Education and Gender Equality are socio-political issues and take centre stage this week.

The link between Fairtrade and climate protection is also highlighted at the DialogPunkt. Large-format posters from the “Climate and Fairtrade” exhibition have been put up for this purpose. Interested parties can discover more about “Climate and Fairtrade” during the DialogPunkt’s opening hours until 28 June 2024.

Further information

You can find more information about DialogPunkt Kleve here. An overview of all events can be found here.