A coffee producer with the fairtrade Soppexxa Coffee Cooperative in Jinotega, Nicaragua, is to visit the University next week as part of national Fairtrade Fortnight.

The University is privileged to be the only workplace in Bristol that Marta Daniela Gonzáles Espino will be visiting during Fairtrade Fortnight. She will be talking to staff at the Institute for Learning and Research Technology (ILRT), the Information Processes and Systems Programme Office and the Education Support Unit about how fairtrade works and the impact it has had on her, her family, her community and the product she supplies.

The event is being organised by Sarah Agarwal, a Project Manager in ILRT and a volunteer with the Bristol Fairtrade Network, which will supply samples of fairtrade products at the event on Monday 3 March.

Other events, organised by the Students’ Union Fairtrade Society to celebrate Fairtrade Fortnight, include the following:

Monday, 3 March, 7 pm, Multifaith Chaplaincy
Taxidermy: how the global rich are stuffing the poor
A talk, delivered on a campaigning level, introducing and investigating tax justice, the new cutting edge of development work. The talk is being led by Jenny Brown, Senior Policy Adviser for Christian Aid, one of the UK’s leading international development agencies.

Friday, 7 March, 8 pm, 4th Floor Training Suite, Students’ Union
Wine and food tasting session
A chance to see the range of Fairtrade food products available.

Both events are open to students and staff and are free.

A full programme of events for Fairtrade Fortnight in Bristol can be downloaded from the Bristol Fairtrade Network website.

The University strives to be a Fairtrade University and has pledged to work with the Fairtrade Foundation to formalise that status. The University’s fairtrade policy is available online.