The bigger picture: It's never too early to give children a global perspective. Young kids are interested in the world they live in, its inequalities and the steps they can take to make it better.

3Talking about issues such as poverty, community action and individual responsibility gives young people a bedrock for future citizenship. It is empowering for a small child to know that he or she has the potential to make a difference.

Rebecca Emery, Campaigns and Development Education Officer with Oxfam Ireland, travels the country speaking to groups about Fair Trade, and claims that children are the most receptive audiences. "Adults get a mental block about Fair Trade issues - they think there are a lot of complex economic factors at play and they shy away from tackling them. Children get the picture quickly - poor farmers stay poor if large companies don't pay fair prices. The children love the idea that by choosing fairly-traded products they are making a real difference to the lives of people in the developing world."

Keep it simple when talking to children, Emery advises. They need to know that the world is not fair, that millions of people have too much and millions more too little. Emery maintains that children with a sense of their civic rights and responsibilities grow up making informed choices and never taking their lifestyles for granted.

When children realise that the chocolate they enjoy is harvested by poor young children in the Third World who have never even tasted chocolate, they are usually keen to become agents for change.

"Children need to learn that they can be part of change without having to take extreme measures. Being a campaigner can be as simple as signing a petition, writing a letter or choosing one product over another on the supermarket shelf," says Emery.