Fairtrade International and its members have long been involved in research activities to better understand the structures and environments they are operating in, to identify the causal mechanisms in the Fairtrade Theory of Change 1 results chain, and to assess Fairtrade’s impact.
Much of this research has been commissioned and published on the Fairtrade International website. 2 However, Fairtrade increasingly looks to also collaborate with academic institutions to more effectively link to academic networks and areas of expertise. With this goal in mind, Fairtrade launched a renewed offer for Fairtrade–researcher collaboration at the 2023 Fair Trade International Symposium (FTIS) in Leeds. This article summarizes a
The Fairtrade academic collaboration model Elisabeth Schneider, Arisbe Mendoza and Jesse Hastings presentation on Fairtrade’s renewed offer made at that symposium. The presentation can be found in Figure 1 below or on the Fairtrade website. 3
Fairtrade International’s academic offer presented in this article builds on an earlier reflective article grounded in a collaborative learning project (Tallontire et al., 2020), further research collaboration experiences made at Fairtrade to date and also draws from lessons learned in researcher–practitioner collaborations outside the Fairtrade scope.
The article is divided into three sections:
What are the relevant research topics that Fairtrade is interested in, and how they are identified,
What a successful collaboration between Fairtrade and researchers would entail, and
What can a research collaboration with Fairtrade offer academics.
What Are the Research Topics Fairtrade is Interested In and How Are They Identified
To guide research efforts in the Fairtrade system and direct resources efficiently, Fairtrade International oversees a Research for Learning Agenda for the Fairtrade system. 4
The Fairtrade Research for Learning Agenda sets out the research topics and provides practical examples for research questions that are of relevance to the entire Fairtrade system. Fairtrade has maintained and updated this Research for Learning Agenda for more than six years. It is a public resource and can be accessed via the Fairtrade International website. 5
The purpose of the Research for Learning Agenda is twofold:
It provides internal guidance and increase clarity for the Fairtrade system: Regularly reflecting on the most important topics for the Fairtrade system is a valuable exercise in itself, as it helps the Fairtrade system to engage in internal dialogue, stay up to date with timely research demands and guide research efforts and resources to topics that have the highest relevance for the entire system.
It provides external guidance and facilitates communication vis-à-vis partners: Having a Research Agenda helps Fairtrade members to guide researchers (and possibly also commercial partners) who are interested in working with Fairtrade on a research topic in the relevant direction. Further, it strengthens clear communication to the general public.
To ensure that the Research for Learning Agenda reflects the current needs and demands, Fairtrade International consults with colleagues within the Fairtrade system working in research and learning (operationalized by their participation in the Impact Community of Practice 6 ) in order to integrate the different members’ perspectives in one system-wide Research Agenda. This is done in a systematic way and on a regular basis.
Against the background of the purpose of the Fairtrade Research for Learning Agenda, and in line with Fairtrade International’s constitutional principles of equity and fairness 7 , Fairtrade International strives for a broad basis of inputs and a collaborative process for maintaining and updating the Research for Learning Agenda.
To this end, the Research for Learning Agenda considers the following inputs as set out in Table 1:
Considered inputs and collection instruments for updating the Fairtrade Research for Learning Agenda
| Considered input | Instrument for collecting input |
|---|---|
| System needs/demands | Impact Community of Practice (Survey/Rating) |
| Research gaps of the Fairtrade ToC Change Pathways | Evidence and Gap Mapping (Study) |
| Fairtrade Strategy | Fairtrade Strategy (Strategy Document) |
The input ‘system needs/demands’ is primarily related to demands for information and insights on Fairtrade’s impact. This demand comes largely from National Fairtrade Organizations, who want to respond to specific commercial partners’ requests or to a perceived demonstrative or communication need for a particular market, It also can come from Fairtrade staff or work clusters in particular areas (i.e., pricing, climate change, youth and gender, etc.) who want evidence on Fairtrade’s impact to inform the design or implementation of particular interventions.
The inputs ‘research gaps on the Fairtrade ToC’ and ‘Fairtrade Strategy’ refer to needs emanating from needing to strengthen proof of Fairtrade’s change pathways, or to feed into strategy discussions and decisions with research evidence.
In order to stay relevant in light of new global developments or market demands, the Research for Learning Agenda has been reviewed every one to two years. 8 However, some of the considered input sources are only updated every five years. Hence, each update incorporates the current system needs and demands of that year, and in addition includes a more thorough update once inputs from a systematic evidence and gap mapping or a strategy review are available. The last update to the Research for Learning Agenda happened in Q4 2023.
An overview of the current top eight research topics in the Fairtrade system is set out in Table 2. A longer list of 18 topics can be accessed via the Fairtrade International website. 9
Top eight research topics of Fairtrade International’s current Research for Learning Agenda (as of Q1/2024)
| Climate Change | The Impact of Unfair Trading Practices | Effects of Legislations | Living Income |
| Digitalization for traceability and transparency | Impact of Minimum Price and Premium on Farmers | The Next Generation of Farmers | Agroecology |
In addition to prioritizing research topics, the Research for Learning Agenda also highlights a selection of specific research questions of interest to the Fairtrade system. It should be noted that these are formulated from a practitioner’s perspective and may hence differ from the type of research questions that would be formulated in the scope of academic research. Fairtrade International understands different rationales of practitioners versus academics and wants the illustrative research questions in its Research Agenda to be understood as providing initial guidance for further conversation.
Illustrative research questions for some of the above topics could be:
Which adaptation measures by smallholder farmers are most effective to address challenges posed by climate change?
Does the Fairtrade Minimum Price have an impact on (farmers’/workers’) resilience? And if so, how does its effectiveness compare to other resilience-building measures?
What is the impact of the Fairtrade Minimum Price on the willingness to adopt farming innovations among smallholder farmers?
Under which combination of factors do we see youth either continuing or moving away from farming?
What a Research Collaboration between Fairtrade and Academics would Entail
On the basis of Fairtrade International’s past research collaboration experiences and lessons learned among other researcher–practitioner collaborations from outside Fairtrade (Di Benedetto, Lindgreen, Storgaard & Højbjerg Clarke, 2019; Dodsworth & Cheeseman, 2018; Funk, Gross, Leininger & von Schiller, 2019; McGiffin, 2021), Fairtrade International offers an academic collaboration model with the following building blocks.
Joint identification of research questions of mutual interest
Fairtrade International believes that a mutual research interest is the critical foundation for a successful collaboration. In a context where different organizational cultures, incentives and core principles come together and— let’s be frank— potentially collide, a genuinely shared research interest can provide common ground to return to. As mentioned, Fairtrade International puts this into practice by identifying and publishing its key research topics through its Research for Learning Agenda. In addition, the Fairtrade International academic collaboration offer, presented at FTIS 2023, clearly articulates that Fairtrade International is interested in addressing publishable research questions with state-of-the-art methods, such as rigorous impact evaluations, econometric analyses, modelling approaches, time series analyses, qualitative comparative analyses or social network analyses.
At this stage, Fairtrade International also works with potential partners to determine the type of collaborative model that will work, given the outcome and timeframe relevant to the particular research topic or question. For example, collaborative frameworks include the transactional relationship vs. transformative collaboration (Winterford, 2017) model, or the Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) model in contrast to the Doing, Using and Interacting (DUI) mode of knowledge creation (Halász, 2022). Simply put, we ask ourselves: Do we want to follow a ‘creator and user of knowledge’-type of relationship or do we want to pursue a co-creational process of knowledge creation? No model is always superior, and both are obviously only two ends of a continuum of possible collaborative models, which come with their distinct set of pros and cons. What should, however, stand at the end of this scoping phase is the mutual understanding that each partner is genuinely committed to making this work and beneficial for each party involved, even if collaboration can still look different from each party’s perspective (Hughes, Davis, Robinson & McKay, 2020).
Medium to long-term partnerships
Another relevant aspect of Fairtrade International’s academic collaboration offer is the view that a research-practitioner collaboration should cover a medium to long-term period of time (in contrast to short-lived consultancy agreements of often less than one year). Being interested in medium- to long-term partnerships also means that Fairtrade International envisions academic collaborations to address more complex research topics, which will likely be found at PhD level and beyond.
While goodwill and collaboration are great principles, Fairtrade International encourages that these be poured into a legally recognized agreement. Different forms of formal legal agreements have been applied in past collaborations. Formal agreements can take the form of Memorandums of Understandings signed by the involved parties, data- sharing agreements and different types of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) or publication agreements. The form of agreement that is the most suitable setup for the type of collaboration needs to be determined on a case-by-case basis and in consultation with the academics’ and Fairtrade International’s Legal unit. Having a legally recognized agreement ensures that collaboration is grounded in organizational (as opposed to individual) risks and that issues such as Intellectual Property, non-disclosure, data access, publishing rights, legal liability, research ethics, and deliverables are clearly laid out and agreed. Developing this legal agreement can indeed be time-consuming and bureaucratic; however, despite this, experience has shown its value.
In addition, Fairtrade International’s Global Impact Unit has developed tried and tested policies that can further guide the research process. These entail for instance a research ethics policy, 10 a social protection policy (including an internal, standardized process to follow up on social protection triggers 11 ) as well as consent to release templates (forms where Fairtrade farmers/workers or producer organizations consent to the use or release of particular sensitive data relating to themselves or their organizations).
Possibility to develop joint research proposals and long-term thematic research clusters
As part of the offer for researcher–practitioner collaborations, Fairtrade International is also looking into the possibility of building up thematic research clusters and then working together with one or multiple partners interested in the same topic over a longer period of time.
Regarding grant applications, the Fairtrade academic collaboration model presented at the symposium in 2023 anticipates that research proposals and grant applications would be led by the academic partner but supported by Fairtrade International. Past experience of resource mobilization at Fairtrade International can feed into this process as can a growing database of suitable research grants and potential collaborators.
Professional collaboration, grounded in research integrity
Fairtrade International strives for collaborations grounded in research integrity and ethics, informed by the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity. 12 Outgrowing from this, it explicitly supports academic independence. Indeed, this is a significant reason for Fairtrade to enter into an academic collaboration: to see and learn from relevant, high-quality research, which is not under suspicion of being biased (as can sometimes be the case for commissioned research, even if it follows high scientific standards). At the same time it is also obvious that Fairtrade International is not a research organization, but a non-profit organization with the goal to empower small-scale farmers and workers. This means that Fairtrade International has an obligation to cause no harm. In concrete terms this typically means that data cannot be published in a disaggregated way, as this can impede the research participants’ anonymity. It also cannot be published in a way that puts individual farmers/workers or cooperatives in the spotlight and their livelihoods at risk. 13
This is controlled through (the aforementioned) NDAs and publication agreements. Taking one example of a recent academic collaboration governed by an NDA, under which Fairtrade data had been shared: Fairtrade International had a right to pre-review publications and flag any disaggregated data as well as findings that were factually incorrect, confidential, or for which publication could bring harm towards individuals or Fairtrade organizations. Under this typical NDA, Fairtrade International was consulted on the findings and provided feedback pre-publishing but did not have any veto rights. Fairtrade International was able to provide relevant practical knowledge and contextual information to the researcher, while mitigating risks and at the same time academic independence was maintained.
Professional collaboration grounded in research integrity also means that each partner contributes to the research by putting to use the relative strengths and skills of the respective partner. Fairtrade’s practical expertise and extensive on-the-ground network can be particularly useful during data access, data collection or data validation phases of the research. Academic researchers are usually more well suited to bring most cutting-edge research methodologies to bear as well as being more keyed into theoretical frameworks and grant-making networks.
Fairtrade International agrees that a researcher–practitioner collaboration can only work if it benefits all parties involved (Dodsworth & Cheeseman, 2019; Hayman, 2012; McGiffin, 2021). Fairtrade International supports this by explicitly stating its interest in high-quality research methods, academically relevant questions and academic independence, in an understanding that this paves the way for publishable articles and academic recognition.
Benefits for farmers and workers and research
The academic collaboration model strongly builds on the understanding that engaging in research and learning from scientific evidence is one, but not the only, important pillar for reviewing Fairtrade’s strategies, policies and instruments. The goal for Fairtrade to enter into a researcher–practitioner collaboration is directly connected to Fairtrade’s Theory of Change: to produce robust findings on Fairtrade’s impact, its functioning and the interconnections with its operating environment in order to learn and further improve Fairtrade’s work for the benefit of farmers and workers. Fairtrade International also believes that published, robust research findings have the potential to invigorate the academic, political and public discourse around relevant topics such as trade paradigms, globalization and North–South relationships.
What a Research Collaboration with Fairtrade Can Offer to Academics
Fairtrade International’s academic collaboration model provides the following six benefits for researchers collaborating with the Fairtrade system.
Access to key Fairtrade stakeholders: A research collaboration with Fairtrade offers potential access to key stakeholders across Fairtrade, across countries, products, and themes, from the field to the boardroom.
Access to Fairtrade monitoring data: The Fairtrade system already collects a wealth of data across different topics— data relevant to key performance indicators, producer satisfaction, Premium use and more, which can complement primary data collection.
Access to previous research: Fairtrade has been very active in generating research to learn more about the impact and mechanisms of its work. Previous research about Fairtrade is collected in a public library as well as an additional internal research repository upon which any future research can build.
Greater visibility: Partnering with Fairtrade creates visibility for your research and connects you to the world of voluntary sustainability standard schemes.
Joint research proposal development: Fairtrade is systematically collecting information and growing a database of suitable research grant opportunities. With continuing sustainability challenges and upcoming legislation, funding opportunities for sustainability research are likely to increase.
More real-world research impact: Robust and independent knowledge on what works and what does not is key for evidence-informed decision making. Research with Fairtrade creates practical value for real people.
Conclusion
With this renewed academic collaboration offer Fairtrade International wants to be ambitious and at the same time realistic. While Fairtrade International is aware of the fact that academic collaborations can also be seen as critical (McGiffin, 2021) and will inevitably come with challenges, the Fairtrade system does see academic collaborations as one important avenue forward and is committed to making it work for all parties involved.
Fairtrade International encourages academics to reach out to Fairtrade International with questions, comments and ideas around researcher– practitioner collaborations via academicpartnerships@fairtrade.net.