7. History Making: How fair trade has made a difference to grape farmers in South Africa.

In this lesson the class learns about the impact of fair trade on South African grape farmers.
Resources Needed: South Africa profile, EAC Producer group profile. Learning Objective: To explore the impact of fair trade on grape farmers in South Africa Learning Outcome: To understand that fair trade changes peoples lives and can transform communities. Starter: Challenge students to think of as many reasons why fair trade is needed as possible in 5 minutes. Feedback to the class and identify what they think are the most important. Main Activity: Explain that many of the families of the grape farmers on the islands in the Orange River were relocated there during apartheid. Look at the country profile and producer group profile with the class and ask them to identify some of the challenges faced by farmers in South Africa. Ask students to work in pairs to think of how fair trade has overcome these challenges. In pairs they look at the EAC producer stories. What benefits have fair trade brought to Elizabeth and Dons lives? Students write a description from the point of view of a grape farmer in the Orange River on how fair trade has made a difference to their lives, and the lives of their communities; describing what their lives were like before fair trade, and how they have changed since EAC have been granted fair trade certification. Plenary: Ask students to build a plenary pyramid. On the bottom row write 3 words which are important to fair trade, on the middle row write 2 words that have made an impression during the lesson and one thing on the top row which they will do/ a question to ask about fair trade and the content of the lesson.

Click here to download the accompanying resources in Welsh: South Africa Country Profile, EAC Producer Group Profile.