An open and transparent nomination process was set up to elect new members of the Steering Committee according to the new Terms of Reference for the International Fair Trade Town Steering Committee (Steering Committee), approved on 18 October 2018. Please find them here.

The new Steering Committee will be inclusive and geographically-balanced. It will consist of five to nine members in total. Five of them will be national coordinators representing each a global region. 

As an outcome of the nomination process, the following members have been appointed:

For Africa and Middle East: Benoit Berger (Lebanon)
For Asia-Pacific and Oceania (incl. Australia and New Zealand): Maria Young Sin Lim (South Korea)
For Europe: Jatta Makkula (Finland)
For Latin America (including Mexico) & Caribbean: Merling Preza will serve on a temporary basis until the International Fair Trade Towns Conference of 18-20 October 2019. The regional campaign coordination will appoint there officially the regional representative for the new Steering Committee.
For USA & Canada: Billy Linstead Goldsmith (USA)

In addition, according to the new Terms of Reference, Valeria Rodríguez and Luis Heller will represent Fairtrade International and the World Fair Trade Organization, respectively. 

As also laid down in the Terms of Reference, the new Steering Committee shall have the ability to open a nomination process for the addition of up to two more (total of nine) additional members based on needs/expertise determined by the new Steering Committee. 

The mandate of the new Steering Committee will officially start at the meeting of national Fair Trade Towns coordinators that will take place on 18 October 2019 in Cardiff, Wales, UK.

To know more about the International Fair Trade Towns Campaign, click here.