This research project addresses three intersecting issues where it has been
acknowledged that there is too little empirical knowledge: the transmission
mechanisms linking global trade in agricultural products with poverty reduction; the
functioning and significance of rural labour markets in low-income countries; and the
labour market dimensions of Fairtrade certification. The Fairtrade, Employment and
Poverty Reduction in Ethiopia and Uganda (FTEPR) research team, based at SOAS,
University of London, set out to develop and apply innovative, careful research methods
in order to gather analytically useful, policy relevant evidence on these issues.
Thus, the core objective of the research was to improve knowledge of transmission
mechanisms between the lives of extremely poor rural people (especially women) and
international trade in agricultural commodities, focusing especially on the role of labour
markets as means of transmission. In particular, the purpose of the research was to
understand better the comparative benefits/disadvantages of different institutional
arrangements for agricultural production for poor rural people needing access to wage
employment. This applies specifically to the comparison – from this labour market and
poverty reduction perspective – between Fairtrade certification and production not
certified as Fairtrade. And the over-arching research question was whether a poor rural
person dependent on access to wage employment for their (and their family’s) survival
is better served by employment opportunities in areas where there is a Fairtrade
certified producer organization or in areas where there is none. Thus, the research set
out to support a response to the call by the June 2007 International Development
Committee report on Fair Trade and Development: “we believe there should be more
systematic analysis of the impact of Fair Trade on poverty and would urge DFID to
contribute to this process”.