Fairtrade is active in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Producers in each continent face different hurdles in marketing their products and the Producer Business Unit (PBU) aims to offer support to producers wherever they may be.

Within the PBU there are four Regional Managers, responsible for all developments within that area. Working with them are 7 Regional Coordinators who have specific country responsibility within that continent.

Africa has two Regional Managers, one responsible for Southern Africa, and one covering the North, East and West.

All staff within the PBU also have product responsibility.

With the help of Liaison Officers, the PBU is developing much better communication with producer groups. The PBU offers the following directly to producers

• An introduction to Fairtrade and what it offers to interested applicants.
• Follow up on certification decisions.

In return, the PBU gains

• An understanding of supply potential in the region.
• An understanding of specific constraints within a sector or region.

Liaison Officers

Liaison Officers are a key resource for FLO. They are currently funded by a number of external donors. There are currently 14 full time Liaison Officers and in 2007 there will be around 20.

The work of the Liaison Officers is extremely important to everyone in the Faitrade world. The Liaison Officers’ time is managed by the PBU and there is a particular focus on the following:

• Systematically researching new products/suppliers/origins.
• Introducing new suppliers into the system.
• Being involved in follow up work after certification decisions.
• Assessing the business requirements of all producer groups
• Networking to facilitate technical and business assistance.
• To assist in collecting pricing information.

Liaison Development

Throughout the world Fairtrade has many faces and sends many messages. The PBU is currently standardising the message we present to producers with a series of co-ordinated training manuals for field workers to use. The following manuals are being prepared:

• What is Fairtrade?
• What are Fairtrade Standards?
• Fairtrade Benefits
• Trading Relations (reporting requirements).

The Head of the Liaison Development Department will be the focal point for coordinating the development of training and information material. Once written, the manuals will be available to all stakeholders for any training opportunities you may have.

Based on a needs assessment, a further set of thematic manuals is envisaged over the coming years. Possible themes would be marketing, other certification schemes, organic conversion, quality management etc.