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Just Change Volunteer Group Induction Pack

What is a Just Change volunteer group?

JC volunteer groups bring together people who are interested in ‘fair trade’,
who are inspired by the potential of Just Change to develop a new
framework for trade justice, and who want to promote this by supporting
Just Change UK and the Just Change concept.

How many people do you need to start a group?

You need a core group of 2 or 3 people to get started and to manage the sales
and promotional activities of the group. Ideally the core group will build
up a larger network of volunteers to help do the work. In this way people
can get more or less involved depending on their interest and capacity. So
the team may vary in size and in the sort of area it tries to cover.

Forming a new Volunteer Group

  • Find 3 or 4 more people in your area who are interested in Just Change and/or
    fairtrade and social justice. You may want to advertise at local
    community venues, through the local free press or contact similar groups
    who might be able to support or advise you.

  • You can visit www.justchangeuk.org
    to find out more about Just Change and develop your understanding of the
    programme through the information available on line.

  • Take time to discuss and agree what you want to achieve, and what
    realistically you can achieve. Develop your own shared vision in line
    with Just Change.

  • Contact a group near you to let them know you are interested in setting up your
    own group.

  • The Manchester group will send you a volunteer group application form, a
    copy of Manchester constitution and action plan to help you get started.
    Email Lucy Gash at gaysh@yahoo.com.

  • Agree the roles and responsibilities of group members Draft a
    simple constitution – this is important if you need to open a bank account
    to hold money from sales of tea.

  • You should may be able to get support from
    your local CVS or other local organisations who support volunteer or
    community groups (See contact details below)

  • Once established and linked into JCUK, we will send you a JC starter pack,
    including useful resources, posters, leaflets etc.

  • Set up a group bank account within 3 months of your first financial transaction.

Roles and Responsibilities of a Just Change volunteer group

  • To value and work towards implementing the Just Change concept, based upon strong
    social ethics. You may also want to consider your environmental impact,
    for example by recycling and reducing emissions when delivering tea.

  • To work within the terms of your own Constitution (aims, objectives, and
    activities)

  • To be mutually accountable to Just Change members in the UK and India

  • To be supportive of Just Change volunteer groups and Just Change retailers

  • A group must stay in contact with retailers and provide them with their orders in
    a timely way.

  • Groups should have one nominated person to be responsible for managing trading
    activity, including orders and income from community groups and retailers

  • Each JC group will operate as a retailer in their own right

Core group members hold the group together and provide support to other
volunteers. You might like to give specific roles to people in your group to
help you share tasks, such as treasurer and secretary. Things we have found
useful to think about when forming groups include:

  • Ensuring that information to volunteers, JCUK and JC India is honest, timely and
    accurate

  • Discussing the Just Change concept and sharing your understanding. There are no right
    and wrong answers, as we are trying to create an idea and system together!

  • Agreeing defined tasks which complement people’s availability and skills.

  • Being flexible in terms of what you ask volunteers to do and the time you expect
    them to put in. No-one should feel overloaded by being part of Just
    Change.

  • Managing a JC bank account and all JC funds

  • Having a health and safety policy for when you are making tea to sell at events

Just Change Volunteers should: (to be agreed with volunteers at the
Induction session)

  • Be committed to the Just Change concept support its aims (e.g. avoid selling
    tea to unethical retailers)

  • Be sensitive to the needs of the people you are working with and inclusive of
    those that want to join.

  • Be honest about the time they can give to support Just Change activities

  • Attend meetings and keep up to date.

  • Share responsibility for making the group bigger and increasing sales of tea.

Maintaining a Group and Managing Meetings

If you would like ideas about how to support volunteers and develop JC activities,
contact another volunteer group close to you. For
general information and advice about working with volunteers, your local
council may provide information and support services for voluntary
organisations. Also see useful contacts at the end.

Just Change as a tool for community development in the UK

Just Change aims to link local communities in a direct trading relationship. So one of
the tasks for volunteers is to connect with communities that share similar
problems and explore how they might benefit from being part of the JC
network. At the most basic level this might simply involve getting good
quality, fairly traded tea at affordable prices. But, like
Marsh Farm, some
communities might want to become more active. In this situation the support
of a volunteer group can be crucial. Through involvement in Just Change, a
group can build its awareness, capacity and skills, and also increase its
economic well-being.

For example a community group may buy the tea in bulk from you or another JC
distributor. They may sell the tea themselves within their neighbourhood.
They may decide to make caddies to add value to the tea and sell it at local
community events. When end-of-year surpluses are distributed, the group
itself can decide how to use the income for the benefit of local people.

If you are interested in working with community groups, we can send you the Tea in the
Pot pack.

Guiding principles

Just Change is not simply about trying to sell as much tea as possible. It’s
about spreading the concept of a socially just form of trading which links
consumers and producers in a mutually beneficial exchange.

In order to reinforce the JC approach, volunteers should:

  • Only trade with ethical retailers – this can be difficult to ascertain but some
    things you could consider are:
  • What happens to their profits? Do they reinvest it in the business or local
    community (social enterprise) or does it go to share holders?
  • Do they stock fair-trade or other ethically-traded goods?
  • Do they have an ethical policy? An environmental/sustainability policy?
  • The Co-op bank have a check-list they use when organisations ask to set up an account
    with them, so when you set up your account keep a copy of this as a guide!
  • Think about what benefits your trading or partnership relationships will bring:
    • to India
    • to Just Change UK
    • to local people in your area

    In an ideal situation you will be able to see that all 3 will benefit!

  • Interactions with the local community should aim to empower them – so
    rather than doing something ‘to’ them, ‘for them’ or even ‘with them’,
    give them the skills to do things for themselves (often this will begin by
    doing things with them e.g. training, support with finding funding,
    establishing systems etc but the end goal should always be empowerment).
  • Link communities – Just Change isn’t about people in the west helping those in
    the global south, or vice versa. It’s about linking communities and
    fostering global citizenship.
  • Does the way you are working challenge the current trading system or conform to it?
  • Sustainability: sustainable development considers economic, social and
    environmental impacts, taking into account the fact that the way we lead
    our lives now will impact on future generations. Ensure that you take
    practical steps to ensure that the activities of the group have a small
    eco-footprint.

Useful organisations to contact:

Look out for your local university – the Students’ Union may have relevant societies
(People and Planet, Make Trade Fair etc). Also if they deliver a course on
international development, you could organise a seminar for students.