Taking local campaigns forward
Tools to understand power and evaluate change
FTAO webinar – 6th of April 2020

Roberta Discetti – Dr. Matthew Anderson – Adam Gardner

Webinar purpose-to present the research “Campaign spaces for sustainable
development. A power analysis of the Fairtrade Town Campaign
in the UK”;

-to present “power analysis” as a tool to evaluate progress, risks
and future opportunities of the Fair Trade Towns (FTT) campaign
on a local/national/international level.

Webinar Structure

1. Research context presentation
2. Tools to understand power and analyse campaigns

3. Group discussion
4. Wrap up and conclusions

Research context:
Academic and practitioner partnership

Campaign spaces for sustainable development
A power analysis of the Fairtrade Town Campaign in the UK

Research questions:• What are the areas of contribution of Fair Trade Towns
to sustainable development and SDGs?
• Can Fair Trade Towns account for a systemic approachto sustainable development?

Localising the Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs) through Fair Trade - toolkit“But individual efforts by people, firms orassociations will never be enough. Public
policies are needed to create the rightincentives for markets to deliver growth anddevelopment for all, while preserving theplanet. The success of the Fair Trade Town
Campaign, launched 15 years ago inGarstang, United Kingdom, is a primeexample of how local governments cancreate such incentives for sustainabledevelopment. This publication is timely andwelcomed. It serves as a practical tool forcities and towns to learn from the experienceof other local authorities in contributing to the2030 Agenda via Fair Trade.”
Joakim Reiter, Former Deputy SecretaryGeneral, UNCTAD
Source: FTAO (2016)

While all SDGs are, to some extent, relevant for Fair Trade,
Fair Trade has a particular role in promoting the following ones:

Source: FTAO (2016)

Thematic review of Fairtrade Foundation
campaign material (2015-2018)

Power Cube Analysis (Gaventa, 2006):
Levels, Spaces and Forms of power

Source: Gaventa (2006)

A) Spaces of power:
Claiming spaces for campaigns?

“We meet four times a year for an hour and a half or twohours. That's about as much commitment as we can getfrom people. And in that short time, there's a lot ofpractical issues to get sorted out: applying for
funding, planning Fairtrade Fortnight, planningrenewals for Fairtrade Town status, and that takes up
almost all our time.”(North West NCC Representative)A) Spaces of power:
Claiming spaces for campaigns?

“We definitely see ourselves as being part of a bigger
picture, not just campaigning on Fair Trade. […] The linkwith the environmental movement has been huge to
our campaign, and definitely a part of our success”(South West NCC Representative)B) Levels of power:
Bridging local, national and global levels?

“I'm not aware of actual farmers who are part of the local
sort of fair trade groups. […] Although individual groups
around the county probably have personal links withfarmers in their areas, perhaps on a sort of friendshipbasis, I don't think we get a great deal of input fromthe farming community on the whole”(North England NCC Representative).

B) Levels of power:
Bridging local, national and global levels?

“We try to focus on the farmers, the producers, on themessage that Fair Trade is getting across and if anyone
starts talking about Brexit or something like that, wewould tend to try to close that conversation down very
quickly, because we can't influence it, not through Fair
Trade.”(London NCC Representative)C) Forms of power:
Making power visible?

“Asking the question: where does this stuff comefrom? Because if you start answering the question,
where did this stuff come from? How do people that
produce it live and where do they live and produce?
Somewhere along that line you're not going to like ananswer if it's an exploitative relationship.”(West Midlands NCC Representative)

Conclusions:
An extended view of sustainable cities
The potential for FTTs to participate in the construction of more
equitable economies and resilient societies also links to abroader future agenda around the role of sustainable cities
and communities (SDG 11).
Within the current UN framework, sustainable cities are defined
mainly in relation to process driven targets and technicalimprovements of the services cities are able to offer (UNSTATS,2017).
Cities are therefore considered mainly as places of production
and consumption, and their ability to foster social change
through community cohesion and political participation iscurrently overlooked in the conceptualization of a “sustainablecity” (UN Habitat, 2016).

What is the world that we wish to see?

“Ultimately, power analysis isn’t an end in itself, but a tool to leveragechange. Yet as we know, tools can be used for many purposes, bothprogressive and regressive. The powercube and other tools can bevaluable starting points, in which we can ground our work for change.
But equally important, we must complement the powercube analysis
with this final question: what is the world that we wish to see?
What is our vision of the norms, values, and institutions which
we hope to achieve through challenging existing power
relations? With this compass, we are more likely to be able not only
to analyse power, but to use such analysis to contribute to a morejust and sustainable world.”
John Gaventa (May 2019) Applying Power Analysis: Using the ‘Powercube’ to explore forms, levels and spaces

Questions …

Action Aid:
Networked toolbox

Cardiff Fair Trade Towns Conference (2019)Spacesof power

Formsof power

Levelsof powerChapatti
DiagramPeelingthe onion

3Ps PowerCircles

Future Research Plans:
Fair Trade Towns Action ResearchGuiding questions
How to formalise collaboration with sister movements in invited spaces?
What strategies to challenge visible power are available?
How to overcome the barriers to participation, including local minorities?
What consumption practices are seen “natural”, unchangeable, andtherefore unquestioned (i.e. overconsumption) and how they can bechallenged?

Thank you

Roberta Discetti - Dr. Matthew Anderson - Adam Gardner