fairtrade survey results 2020 - university of st andrews€¦ · february 2020 fairtrade survey...

February 2020 Fairtrade Survey Results 2020 FUSG

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University of St Andrews

Fairtrade Survey Results 2020

Prepared by the Fairtrade University Steering Group (FUSG), 3rd February 2020

Contents 1. Survey Aim and Overview ................................................................................................................ 1

2. Points of Interest ............................................................................................................................. 2

2.1. Fairtrade as a priority ............................................................................................................... 2

2.2. Understandings of Fairtrade ..................................................................................................... 2

2.3. Events and promotion .............................................................................................................. 3

3. Actions ............................................................................................................................................ 5

4. Full Survey Report ............................................................................................................................ 5

1. Survey Aim and Overview

The aim of this survey was to research views on Fairtrade (particularly Fairtrade Fortnight) from a wide

range of staff and students in order to inform future Fairtrade work. Community members were able to

give their views under the ‘other’ function; however, staff and students were the main target audience.

The survey ran from the 9th to the 31st January 2020. 82 responses were achieved in total:

• 10 academic staff responses

• 13 Professional staff responses

• 39 Undergraduate student responses

• 16 Postgraduate student responses

• 4 Other responses

o 1 Support staff

o 1 ‘GC Business Cttee’

o 2 Local community members/residents

The survey achieves SMART target/toolkit action MN009 from the Fairtrade University Action Plan.


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2. Points of Interest

2.1. Fairtrade as a priority Q2 enquired about the importance of various ethical/environmental considerations when shopping. As

displayed in Chart 1, 19.4% of respondents considered Fairtrade ‘not important’, 49.3% ‘somewhat

important’, and 31.3% ‘very important’. In contrast, a higher percentage of respondents considered zero

waste, easily recycled, cruelty free and palm oil free ‘somewhat important’ and ‘very important’ than

Fairtrade. This suggests Fairtrade is lower on the consumer agenda than these considerations.

This is supported by free-text answers to questions 3.a.i. ‘I am interested in Fairtrade but not as much as

other topics e.g. gender equality and climate justice’ and 7 ‘I think Fairtrade is a bit outdated. Other

issues such as the climate crisis are more relevant now’, ‘I don't think Fairtrade is a priority when

shopping. Locally grown and organic is more of a priority for the environment’.

An action to address Fairtrade as a priority could be to raise awareness of the positive benefits of

Fairtrade via social media, physical advertising, and targeted events.

2.2. Understandings of Fairtrade The suggestions that Fairtrade is less important than other ethical considerations such as gender

equality, climate justice and the climate crisis displays a limited understanding of how Fairtrade


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intersects with and supports these issues. Indeed, responses show that limited understanding of

Fairtrade is a barrier to some respondents engaging with Fairtrade in St Andrews. For example, of the 30

respondents who were aware of Fairtrade Fortnight in pervious years but did not attend events, 13.8%

stated the events were not relevant to them, 20.7% indicated they were not interested in Fairtrade,

while 13.8% stated they do not know enough about Fairtrade.

An action to increase Fairtrade understanding and awareness in the future could be to host events

exploring how Fairtrade intersects with popular causes such as gender equality.

2.3. Events and promotion

2.3.1. Awareness and engagement with previous events

Q3 asked how about awareness of and engagement with Fairtrade Fortnight. Awareness of Fairtrade

Fortnight was also shown to be low, as 42.9% of respondents stated they had not been aware of the

Fortnight in previous years. Those who had not been aware of the Fortnight were asked how events

could be better publicized in an open text box (Q3.b). Responses indicated the following:

• Social media – particularly Facebook (10 responses)

• Blanket/unspecified emails (8 responses)

• Physical posters – in Schools, library toilets, and noticeboards (4 responses)

• Staff newsletter (2 responses)

• Collaborate with student groups (1 response)

Future actions to increase awareness of Fairtrade Fortnight include utilizing all the above methods.

Respondents who had been aware of the Fortnight but not previously attended were asked why they

had not engaged (Q3.a.). ‘Inconvenient time’ had the second-highest response rate to ‘other’; free-text

responses to ‘other’ indicated the following:

• Unaware if events were open to staff/local community (3 responses)

• Lunchtime events preferred (3 responses)

• Evening/post-work events preferred (2 responses)

• Not being in St Andrews (2 responses)

• Not having friends to go with (1 response)

• Finding out about events after they had been advertised (1 response)

Future actions to increase attendance during Fairtrade Fortnight include specifying staff/local

community can attend (or running community-specific events), and hosting events during a range of

timings including lunchtime and evenings.

2.3.2. Future events

Q4 asked respondents the types of Fairtrade Fortnight events they would be interested in attending. As

displayed in Chart 2, the three most popular event options are:

• Craft/food stalls

• Skillshares with Fairtrade products


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• Coffee mornings

The 10 respondents who selected ‘other’ had the opportunity to specify events in an open text box.

Responses indicated the following:

• Discount/promotion on Fairtrade products (3 responses)

• Student collaborations (2 responses)

• Pub night (2 responses)

• Debate (2 responses)

• Fairtrade research trip (1 response)

• Staff coffee morning (1 response)

Actions from Q4 include prioritizing Fairtrade stalls, skillshares and coffee mornings during Fairtrade

Fortnight and considering a Fairtrade product promotion.

The idea to collaborate with student societies is particularly interesting considering Q5, which asked

respondents the types of topics they are interested in outside of Fairtrade. Of the 4 examples given

(conscious consumption, environmental justice, social responsibility, equity and equality), ‘conscious

consumption’ and ‘equity and equality’ were the most popular (53 and 52 respondents, respectively).

There is potential to collaborate with student groups addressing these topics to widen the scope of

people engaging with Fairtrade.


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Actions from Q5 include hosting events which intersect issues of conscious consumption and equity and

equality with Fairtrade and researching student groups who would be interested in collaborations.

3. Actions

• Raise awareness of the positive benefits of Fairtrade via social media, physical advertising, and

targeted events.

• Host events exploring how Fairtrade intersects with popular causes such as gender equality.

• Utilize social media (particularly Facebook), blanket emails, posters, staff newsletter and student

groups to raise awareness of Fairtrade Fortnight events.

• Increase attendance to Fairtrade Fortnight events by specifying staff/local community can

attend (or running community-specific events).

• Increase attendance to Fairtrade Fortnight events by hosting events during a range of timings,

including lunchtime and evenings.

• Prioritize Fairtrade stalls, skillshares and coffee mornings during Fairtrade Fortnight

• Consider a Fairtrade product promotion during Fairtrade Fortnight.

• Host events which intersect issues of conscious consumption and equity and equality with

Fairtrade.

• Research student groups who might be interested in collaborations.

• Contact all participants who expressed an interest in helping to run the 2020 Fairtrade Fortnight

(contact details can be found on online survey account – hidden from report due to GDPR).

4. Full Survey Report

Below is an automatic survey report provided by JISC Online Surveys. For the raw excel survey data,

please contact [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


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Would you like to get involved with the Fairtrade University Steering Group? Get in touch!

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

fairtrade survey results 2020 - university of st andrews€¦ · february 2020 fairtrade survey...

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