Introduction
This is a proposal trying to establish exchange of fair goods, produced mainly by local coops and people involved in FairCoop Local Nodes (LN). Aims in creating a 3-level dynamics:
1) Between (bio)regions, inside a country
2) Between countries, inside a continent
3) Between continents
Apart from the vertical levels, in geographical sense, there could be side proposals and methods that can interact horizontally e.g. a solidarity campaign to empower more specific coop/region/people.
Also, it will try to involve all different tools that FairCoop has available till now, like FairMarket and CommonRoutes, as also provide valuable practical feedback to enhance their use and customize their operation in order to handle this exchange plan better
Conventions
1) Some LNs need to have central role (e.g. Milan for central Europe or Barcelona for Spain) in logistics and storage of goods. People and places that will be needed will be payed by FairCoop or have their income covered by the actual exchanges (percentage of price)
2) Transportation means must be set according to the size and distance of the route. For example:
a) From Lat. America to Europe, big cargo companies have to be used, so the size and frequency of such exchanges has to be settled accordingly (e.g. twice a year, with at least one full container). Logistics will be arranged between the 2 Central LNs in these 2 continents (e.g. Milan (IT) for Europe and Ubatuba (BR) for Lat. America).
b) Inside Europe we could have 3 main routes (as described below) where truck services will be used for transportation between certain Complementary LNs. These exchanges could be settled as Collective Purchases in FM and activated when a certain amount of orders, through out that route, is reached.
c) From a Complementary LNs to others nearby, we could use vans or other vehicles registered in CommonRoutes application. The logistics part will be dealt locally through the central LN in charge of the bio-region.
Example Routes inside Europe
Central Local Node (for managing logistics and storage): Milan (IT)
Complementary LNs (responsible for their bio-regions/country): Athens (GR), Novi Sad (SR), Zurich (CH), Amsterdam (NL), Occitanie (FR), Barcelona (ES), Madrid (ES)
Route 1 – Balkans
Heraklion (GR) - Athens (GR) - Thessaloniki (GR) - Novi Sad (SR)
http://bit.ly/2FHzuFI
Route 2 – Central Europe
Milan (IT) – Zurich (CH) – Amsterdam (NL)
http://bit.ly/2FLVAa8
Route 3 – Mediterranean
Novi Sad (SR) – Milan (IT) – Occitanie (FR) – Barcelona (ES) – Madrid (ES)
http://bit.ly/2FHJIG1
* Note that all routes and LNs that are used here are just reference examples.
First steps
1) Build a logistic team at the Central LN of each continent. We may start with a European as it is the continent which has many other LNs developed.
2) Enhance FairMarket to adopt a Local Node ‘logic’, so it would be easier to set Collective purchases along a certain route that involves specific LNs.
3) Develop CommonRoutes app and start networking with people that travel. Engage Nomad LN.
4) Develop the first collective purchases from coops and merchants that have enough quantity of goods to provide, organised by Complementary LNs, so we receive real feedback and enhance our procedure.
