The aim of Fairtrade Fortnight, which started on Monday with the support of personalities such as Lenny Henry and Vic Reeves is to raise awareness of fair trade and to encourage people to buy Fairtrade products.

Tea and coffee are the produce usually associated with Fairtrade; other common produce includes fresh fruit, juice, chocolate, biscuits, cocoa, sugar, honey and wine.

Alivera Kiiza, a 29-year-old from Tanzania, is a member of Karagwe District Co-operative Union, one of three Tanzanian suppliers to Cafédirect. Kiiza became the first woman manager in the co-operative, which has traditionally been a male domain. She managed to convince her co-op to allow women to plant coffee trees and to become full members.

Although women had always done a lot of the work in tending to the coffee, the plants were often owned by men. Now, not only are people getting a fair price for their coffee, but profits are being ploughed into community projects and schools in the area.

These achievements, among other things, led to Kiiza's being one of eight women from the developing world who attended the G8 summit in Scotland last year to explain how they are combating poverty in their communities.

Kiiza, who came to Ireland to launch Fairtrade Fortnight, is now travelling around the country, to attend events in Dublin, Cork, Belfast, Galway, Limerick, Maynooth, Mullingar, Thurles, Westport and Wexford. Keep an eye out for her and for other Fairtrade initiatives going on in your area. For more information, see www.fairtrade.ie.