COFTA members, by being registered Fair Trade Organizations, or organizations working along Fair Trade principles, are able to benefit from the support and assistance of many organizations that provide services to Fair Trade Organizations and organizations that choose to work within the guidelines of Fair Trade, such as capacity development, finance and market access support.

COFTA's strategic plan is designed to develop and grow Fair Trade in Africa, to provide continuous support to members and meet identified needs, to ensure continuous and effective communication among members and promote greater access to needed information and lastly to support members in successfully accessing broader markets. COFTA has a four tiered strategic focus that includes:

Membership Development & Services

The COFTA Secretariat office in Nairobi - KENYA acts as a resource facility for coordination, resource mobilizing, information dissemination and monitoring for members across Africa, and liaises with stakeholders both within and outside of the continent.

COFTA's communication strategy includes maintaining a bi-lingual website, with a member's section that provides access to specialized information needed by member organizations. COFTA also circulates a newsletter that keeps members up to date on the activities of network members in different parts of the continent.

COFTA has also developed a Capacity Building program that provides Business Skills Training and Product Development workshops to members to assist them to improve their business. Africa has great potential and resources for craft and food products production. However, many producers lack capacity to produce quality products and professionally engage in competitive global markets. COFTA is working to develop a stronger program that will provide more specialized training based on assessed needs.

Membership Expansion & Coalition Building

COFTA is involved in sstrengthening African contribution and membership in the fair trade movement by mobilisation and recruitment of new members. COFTA also works and engages other producer networks in the continent, in an aim to strengthen and unite the voice of African producers and combining resources towards greater impact of efforts.

Fair Trade Advocacy & Campaign

COFTA is working through the use of workshops and seminars, joint delegations to concerned parties, alliances with other regional chapters of IFAT and partners and the media to provide a voice for producers on specific or general concerns.

COFTA is also working to represent the voice of African producers, while also providing a forum for our members to express their views on issues that affect their lives and communities. In the future, COFTA plans towards serving as a source of information on trade policies and other international agreements and discussions that have an impact on our members. Through partner organizations and research we plan to make information that is useful to members available to them.

Market Access

COFTA's market access function is conducted through product development training, market information dissemination, joint website, joint participation in regional and international fairs, organising annual regional trade fairs/exhibitions, consolidation of orders and co-ordination of team buyer visits. COFTA has done a lot to support its members to access greater markets but there is still a lot more that can be done.