The "Fair Trade Workshop" is an international discussion group of Fair Trade actors or people interested in the question of fair trade, consumer responsibility and responsible tourism. Since 1999, it intends to encourage the reflection on fair trade and its strategies through the organisation of forums and meetings, and its electronic forum.

It proposes to stakeholders of Fair Trade from different parts of the world and provides a platform for experience sharing, exchange of ideas and information, contacts, as well as the elaboration of proposals and common strategies for the development and the changing of scale of the Fair Trade movement, while affirming the position of Fair Trade as a leverage for social transformation. in socio-economy of solidarity.

The Workshop has edited a Proposal Booklet at the end 2001 in French, and later in Spanish and English. The Italian and Portuguese versions are under press. This Proposal Booklet has been circulated in several hundreds copies through networks of organizations of producers, Fair Trade, and Social Forums. It was also one of the bases of the writing of a guide on Fair Trade for producers groups, published by the GRESP (Peru) with the support of UK Oxfam.

Consolidated by this process of reflection and exchange, the "Fair Trade Workshop" now considers the question of the strategies to develop to implement the proposals drawn up in 2000-2001. It has started to establish links with the major Fair Trade networks (EFTA, FLO, IFAT, NEWS) through Social Forums and international meetings, and with investigation centres and other organizations. It nevertheless is striving for a more balanced continental and socio-professional participation, encouraging the participation of African and Asian players, and of producers and women.

In 2004, the workshop will continue circulating the Proposals Booklet, encouraging the reactions and commentaries of qualified people. The link of Fair Trade with the important issues of our time and with other practices of people's economy has always been a major preoccupation of the workshop, which has initiated debates on the issue of local development and food sovereignty within the movement. This cross-cutting dimension will continue to be developed, through links with issues related to people's economy, agriculture, food and community.

The workshop facilitation team currently gathers 8 people of 4 continents, committed to the Fair Trade movement, research and corporate social responsibility.