Business and conflict
Assessing the potential of fair trade for poverty reduction and conflict prevention: a case study of Bolivian coffee producers
Fair Trade as a conflict prevention tool?
Authors:
S. Imhof; A. Lee
Publisher:
Swisspeace, 2007
This document debates whether Fair Trade has the potential to be used as a tool for poverty reduction and, whether it can have a positive impact on conflict prevention. It focuses on assessing Fair Trade’s impact on both Fair Trade producers and non-Fair Trade producers in Bolivia.
Key findings include:
- Fair Trade has the potential to reverse horizontal inequalities and therefore may have a positive impact on conflict prevention
- by providing competition at the level of the intermediaries, Fair Trade has the potential to reduce poverty
- by enabling capacity-building, Fair Trade has a poverty-reducing impact
- by having influenced trends in the non-Fair Trade market, Fair Trade may have indirectly reduced poverty
The authors conclude that this shows under certain circumstances, Fair Trade does have the potential to reduce poverty levels. While the positive effects on its members are relatively robust, the impact on non-Fair Trade farmers is less clear-cut. Overall, the results are not sufficient to recommend Fair Trade as a conflict prevention tool.
