Welcome! Thank you for your interest in COFTA. Read on to find out how you can join COFTA.

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To become part of the network and to work towards Fair Trade Organization registration, an organization will need to:

• Fill in an application which can be down loaded from the downloading section
• Sign our Fair Trade standards (Code of Practice)
• Send us your annual report and other in-depth material about your organization as well as sample marketing material

As an applicant organization, one must be able to provide all of the following:

• At least two year's trading history and accompanying accounts
• At least two year's legal standing
• A mission statement
• Contact details of three referees who have already agreed to provide a reference for you. We need to receive at least one reference from an existing IFAT member from your own country.

The latter is very important, as having willing referees who reply promptly to us speeds up the process of application substantially.

If your organization does not meet the above criteria, you can become a part of the Regional network where you will have a period (maximum of 2 years) in which the organization will learn more about Fair Trade and work towards meeting the full requirements. For more information on this, contact: membership@cofta.org

Downloads:
1. IFAT Code of Practice
2. Addendum to Application Form for Provisional Membership of IFAT / COFTA

Registration Process

Once an organization's registration forms forms, supporting documents and references are received, a registration committee will makes a decision. If the decision is favourable, the first step will be acceptance into the movement as a probationary member, until the organization has effectively gone through and completed the monitoring process. Contact through the monitoring officer will be made with regards to membership fees, and the monitoring process that includes: Self Assessment, Peer Review and External Verification. This process may take up to 2 years.

On completion of the Monitoring Process, organizations receive authority to us the Fair Trade Organisation (FTO) Mark. All members are obliged to go through the monitoring process every 2-3 years.

The process may seem long, however it has been designed as a guarantee to Fair Trade consumers that we are indeed a network of Fair Trade producers working to make a difference and contributing towards poverty alleviation and development. It also assists us to protect our reputation and as such protect our markets. For organizations looking to join COFTA, IFAT, or become Fair Trade Organization, this goal must be at the core of their businesses.

We, Fair Trade Organisations are united in our fight against poverty and for fairer World trading rules. We work together, determined to overcome the injustice that threatens the very future of our planet. We are taking this message and our FTO Mark around the world to tell everyone, everywhere, that we truly believe that Fair Trade can help alleviate poverty in Africa.

Be with us! Speak out for Trade Justice! Support Fair Trade!