Host Annmarie Hylton opens the Project Good Podcast’s May focus on fair trade, noting widespread global economic anxiety and trade’s historic injustices, then interviews Dr. Arisbe Mendoza, Director of Global Impact Advocacy and Partnerships at Fairtrade International. Mendoza shares how growing up amid inequality in Mexico and later living in Brazil shaped her work, and explains fair trade’s origins from 1940s alternative trade through the first label in 1988 and the founding of Fairtrade International in 1997, with independent auditing by FLOCERT. She outlines how standards protect producers via minimum price floors, premiums democratically invested in communities, and audits covering both producers and traders, while noting products must also be sold under fair trade conditions. The conversation covers certification for cooperatives and labor organizations, producer-network support, a women-led Indonesian coffee co-op using premiums for agroforestry and community health, alignment with SDGs, challenges from EU due-diligence rules like deforestation requirements, and ways consumers can help by buying Fairtrade-labeled products and participating in Fair Trade Month.

00:00 Welcome to Project Good
01:58 Meet Dr Mendoza
04:02 Her Story and Roots
07:05 Trade Policy and Prices
08:24 Fair Trade Origins
13:59 Standards and Protections
18:39 Certification and Audits
23:47 How the Premium Works
25:46 Indonesia Women Coffee Co-op
33:46 Fair Trade and the SDGs
40:03 Deforestation Rules and Advocacy
47:07 What Consumers Can Do
49:23 Why Fair Trade Matters
52:52 Closing and Resources

Guest Bio

Dr. Arisbe Mendoza is the Director of Global Impact, Advocacy and Partnerships at Fairtrade International. In her role she leads global advocacy, partnerships & program implementation, and impact teams driving alignment and global initiatives to deliver meaningful improvements for over 2 million Fairtrade producers across 70 countries. Her focus is on building strong collaborations, leveraging data and insights to inform strategy, enhancing fair sustainability compliance across the supply chain, and scaling effective programs that deliver impact to producers.

During her earlier career she focused on research, spending over 10 years leading projects on biodiversity, climate change, and socio-economic vulnerability, primarily in Brazil and Mexico and published 20 peer-reviewed articles in journals such as Ecological Economics and Food Chain.