At the beginning of this year, UniLaSalle received good news: the school has been awarded the University of Fair Trade label - a coffee bean. This is the first step in a labeling process that enshrines and encourages an ambitious dynamic on all campuses in favor of fair trade.
This label is progressive. Three levels of labeling characterize it. The initiative to apply for the label comes from student members of Solidariterre, an association on the Beauvais campus.
Student involvement at the center of the dynamic
Depending on the campus, different student associations are more specifically involved in raising awareness and mobilizing around sustainable development issues:
- SolidariTerre in Beauvais, which is behind the mobilization for the label, of which the association Fair[e] pour un monde équitable is a partner.
- Humanit'EME in Rennes has been selling fair trade products since September 2020 and plans to organize conferences and awareness-raising workshops for students thanks to a partnership being formalized with the Bretagne CENS association.
- Make it Green in Rouen wants to organize sales of fair trade products and is actively seeking a local partner committed to these issues.
A long-term evolutionary approach
UniLaSalle's goal is to engage students year after year and get the missing coffee beans.
To do so, the School and its Management are committed to achieving these objectives:
- To adopt, by 2021/2022, a "Responsible Purchasing" Master Plan which will include a "Promotion and development of Fair Trade" component.
- Increasing awareness of fair trade issues among UniLaSalle students and employees
- Develop the offer of "fair trade" products proposed to UniLaSalle students and employees (coffee breaks, distributors...)
- Develop partnerships with associations and organizations in favor of fair trade.
- Valorize, by obtaining the label, the procedures in progress within higher education institutions.
Each campus acts according to its partners and its territory.
On the Beauvais campus
- Development of sales of fair trade products
- Organization of awareness-raising games/workshops on these issues
- At the open house, visitors are offered fair trade coffee and tea.
- Offering students and employees products from solidarity or sustainable sectors.
- Organization of a Locavore market twice a year: sale of local products by the producers.
- The university restaurant is open 7/7 days, morning, noon and evening. It offers local products and remunerates farmers and craftsmen at the right price.
On the Rennes campus
- Implementation in the 1st half of 2021 of new coffee machines with fair trade, organic and roasted coffee in Brittany of the Lobodis brand.
- Product sales organization by Humanit'EME. Summary of the latest actions on their Instagram account
- Organization of (online) conferences and workshops. Integration of a session on fair trade in the framework of the module
- Introduction to sustainable development for 1st year engineers
- Willingness on the part of Humanit'EME to engage in a dialogue with the university restaurant of the Ker Lann Campus on these issues.
On the Rouen campus
- Organization of product sales by the Student Office and the association Make It Green
- Raising awareness on fair trade issues through workshops, debates...
- During the open days, fair trade beverages are offered at the open house.
- Organization of a locavore market (Make It Green), sale of local products (AMAP > Association pour le maintien d'une agriculture paysanne, Panier Miam)
- Implementation of a session dedicated to fair trade as part of a DDRS (sustainable development and social responsibility) option in the 2nd year of engineering.
