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The Coffee Chain Game
‘I’d like to tell people in your
place that the drink they are enjoying is now the cause of
all our problems. We grow the crop with our sweat and sell
it for nothing.’
Lawrence Seguya (Ugandan coffee farmer)
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Coffee companies make huge profits, while the farmers
who grow the coffee make barely enough to live on. Oxfam has updated
its popular resource, The Coffee Chain Game, which illustrates
this unfair situation. The game is suitable for use in schools (from
age 13), and is relevant for several curriculum areas including
geography, Citizenship, PSE, economics and modern studies.
The Coffee Chain Game – new edition
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The
Coffee Chain Game is a role-play activity which helps
participants explore why the money made from coffee is so
unevenly distributed. Players take on the roles of participants
in the coffee chain – from growers to retailers –
and debate whether the amount of money they receive for their
work is fair. The final debrief enables them to reflect on
how the process works in the real world and how it could be
improved. |
The Coffee Chain Game was first published in 1994,
and has been thoroughly updated for this second edition, which features:
- up-to-date facts and figures based on recent research
and fieldwork
- more background information on the issues
- recommendations for action by governments, coffee
companies and consumers
- a new introductory activity
- new case studies
- more information on fair trade
- an extensive list of resources and sources of further
information.
Download sample pages from The Coffee Chain Game:
> Coffee
quiz (PDF 248kb)
> Ugandan
case studies (PDF 597kb)
Coffee – Fair Trade and farmers
One way of helping coffee farmers is for consumers
to buy Fair Trade coffee. We need a solution which will work for
all coffee farmers, of course, but buying Fair Trade products is
a way of making an immediate difference to some people’s lives.
Read our interviews to find out more.
> Interview with a farmer
who sells her coffee to a Fair Trade company
> Interview with a farmer
who sells his coffee to a company not certified by the Fairtrade
Foundation
Related pages
The Autumn 2004 edition of Global
Eye is about coffee. Suitable for ages 13+.
Just
Business, a site aimed mainly at teachers of business studies
and economics, has a page of coffee resources.
Make
Trade Fair - Oxfam's trade campaign website provides accessible
and up-to-date information about the coffee trade.
Coffee farmers barely make a living. Coffee companies
make record profits. There is something that can be done about this
unfair situation. For more information about Oxfam's coffee rescue
plan, click
here.
Make your voice heard - e-mail
the coffee companies.
The
Coffee Baron Game – Have YOU got what it takes to be a
major player in the coffee business? Test your skills in the Coffee
Baron game.
Coffee
Rescue Plan – The collapse of coffee prices calls for
immediate action. Oxfam is calling for a Coffee Rescue Plan to make
the coffee market work for the poor as well as the rich.
The
Fairtrade Foundation is the organisation which certifies goods
as having been fairly traded. See what a difference Fair Trade makes
to the lives of growers overseas - read interviews
with coffee growers and other Fair Trade producers.
Progreso
- Oxfam is teaming up with coffee roaster Matthew Algie to opening
a new chain of coffee shops, which will see only Fair Trade products.
The chain, called Progreso, opened its first shop in Covent Garden
in 2004.
| Reports
and downloadable resources |
Download a copy of Mugged:
Poverty in your coffee cup, Oxfam's influential report on the
coffee industry.
Download a copy of the Fairtrade Foundation's report
Spilling
the beans on the coffee trade.
The Fairtrade Foundation produces a number of useful
resources about Fair Trade, from action packs and flyers to facts
and figures. Click
here for a list.
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