Alanus University receives Fairtrade University award again

Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences in Alfter near Bonn has once again been awarded Fairtrade University status.

TransFair e.V. has now awarded Alanus University this title for the second time in succession since 2018. Universities are recognized as Fairtrade Universities if they promote awareness and the commitment of university stakeholders to fair trade—combined with the implementation of specific projects on campus. In order to hold the title, a university must demonstrably meet five criteria that prove its commitment to fair trade. This includes the university making a joint commitment, by means of a university resolution, to promoting fair trade practices and establishing a steering group at the university. In addition, fairly traded products should be sold at events and used in catering services. The final criterion requires the university to actively conduct public relations work on the topic of fair trade.

In recent years, the steering group at Alanus University has already carried out numerous campaigns and events as part of the Fairtrade University initiative. In spring 2021, the public lecture series “Sustainability in Trade: a Question of Transparency” organized by the University of Bonn and Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences took place, in which Alanus University also participated. In September 2019, the Fairtrade group was represented at the Agriculture Festival in Bonn on Münsterplatz and presented the university as a Fairtrade University. As part of Fashion Revolution Week Bonn, which each year commemorates the collapse of the Rana Plaza textile factory in Bangladesh in 2013, the Fairtrade group spent a week reporting on the textile and clothing industry.

(Photo: Lina-Marie Nägler)