The winners of the first Brussels Be Fair Awards have been announced. This 2022 competition rewards public services established in the BCR that raise awareness and promote the consumption of fair trade and sustainable products in the Brussels Region. The municipality of Jette and the City of Brussels were presented with an Award by Pascal Smet.
The competition is part of the “Make Brussels a Fair Trade Region” campaign, in which the Brussels-Capital Region has been involved for just over a year. The Brussels Be Fair Awards 2022 competition is making a significant contribution to this dynamic by rewarding public players who do their part to achieve these different criteria. The winners were announced at an awards ceremony at the Brussels Parliament on 12 May 2022. Two trophies were awarded by a jury created specially for the occasion:
Best Fair Buyer 2022, to the municipality of Jette, as the BCR public service offering the greatest variety and quantity of fair trade products to its employees and users in 2021. The jury wanted to highlight the wide range of fair trade products offered by the municipality of Jette, as well as the cross-disciplinarity and involvement of the various municipal departments, led by an efficient Steering Committee and clear objectives.
Best Fair Speaker 2022, to the City of Brussels, as the BCR public service that has carried out the most – and the most varied – actions and therefore achieved the greatest impact in 2021 in terms of raising awareness and promoting fair trade among its employees, users and, indirectly, other citizens. The jury particularly appreciated the wide range of awareness-raising initiatives organised by the City of Brussels, including conferences, breakfasts, evening debates, documentaries, calls for projects open to associations working in fair trade, involvement of municipal employees and services, etc.
The jury was keen to congratulate and thank the other candidates, who were not selected this year, for their commitment, particularly in the area of purchasing fair trade products and, above all, certified coffee. It strongly encouraged them to try again in the next edition of the competition in 2023.
The Awards were presented to the winners by Pascal Smet, Brussels Secretary of State for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade, who congratulated all the regional players on their efforts and stressed the importance of fair trade, which combines ethical, social and environmental concerns.
Pison Kukundakwe, a representative of Ankole Coffee Producers Cooperative Union Limited in Uganda, was also present at the ceremony and highlighted the importance of ecological aspects in the Fairtrade system:
“The Fairtrade system has really had a profound impact on our coffee growers. Most people, although familiar with the Fairtrade Premium and Minimum Price, forget that Fairtrade standards include environmental criteria. Respecting these criteria and using the premium to invest in climate change adaptation make coffee growers more resilient. Choosing Fairtrade-certified coffee therefore has a positive impact on farmers’ incomes, their protection and their confidence in the markets. This also has a positive impact on their ability to cope with the consequences of climate change“.
