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This ground-breaking Forum will bring together farmer and artisan groups, NGOs, certification organizations, businesses and government and multilateral agency representatives over the next year to explore key policy and market challenges and to identify successful strategies for expanding the Fair Trade system in the Americas.

The Forum workshops are designed to be highly participatory. The Forum will provide a preliminary opportunity for identifying longer-term strategies for enhanced cooperation and collaboration across the Americas.While the focus of these workshops will be on Latin America, issues discussed are expected to be of immediate relevance to the global Fair Trade system as well.

9 am - 9:15 am: Introduction to the days objectives, organizers, sponsors and participants

Exploring Fair Trade Policy and Programs in Producer Countries (9:15 - 11:15 am): This workshop will explore "production side" obstacles to expanding the benefits of Fair Trade to producers as well as corresponding policy tools and programs for addressing such obstacles. Participants in this workshop will assess the need and/or feasibility of policies such as:

• Building organizational capacity of small producers.
• Alleviating costs associated with Fair Trade certification.
• Increasing quality of Fair Trade products.
• Improving access to credit for small producers involved in Fair Trade.

Sponsor: Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade ( DFAIT)

Exploring Fair Trade Policy and Programs in Consuming Countries (11:30 am - 1:30 pm): This workshop will explore obstacles to expanding distribution, awareness and consumption of Fair Trade as well as corresponding policy tools and programs for addressing such obstacles. Participants in this workshop will assess the need and/or feasibility of policies such as:

• Fair Trade preferential government procurement policies.
• Fair Trade based development policies and programs.
• Financing Fair Trade certification costs.
• Financing consumer education and impact research on Fair Trade.
• Relationship between WTO policy and Fair Trade support.

Sponsor: Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade ( DFAIT)

Moderator: Equiterre

Fair Trade Marketing and Education (2:30 pm - 4:15 pm.): This workshop will share materials and approaches to successful consumer education and marketing campaigns from the Americas and Europe. Participants will exchange lessons learned relative to different audiences, products, and regions of the world. Specifically we will consider the goals of past campaigns, elements of success, and tactics for making future efforts stronger.

Sponsor: Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade ( DFAIT)

Moderator: Fair Trade Resource Network

Closing Session : Exploring Opportunities for Collaboration (4:30 p.m.-7 p.m.): This session will begin with a summary of the previous workshops and will continue with an open a discussion regarding the impact of Fair Trade might be expanded through improved multi-stakeholder dialogue and collaboration at the global and regional levels. Participants will have an opportunity consider, in particular, the potential, need and possible process for developing a "Fair Trade Strategy" for the Americas region.

Sponsor: Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade ( DFAIT)