Visibility of initiatives aligned with our Movement & powered by Fairphoners

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Dear all,

Through this topic I would like to present a proposal for all of us, the Fairphone Community.
I’m writing it, but I must say that it took shape in the meeting of Fairphoners in Barcelona on December the 17th. That day some of us, @ccamara , @laurent_guerguy , @David_Fernandez_Pina and me took part during the day in the Install Party of Setem presenting the Fairphone product and Movement to citizens walking in Catalunya Square, and after that we had a Fairphoners meeting at 19:00.

***The INITIAL PROPOSAL is the following:
To create a place/link in Fairphone Community website where any Fairphoner could share the iniciative/company in which he/she is involved “trying to offer an alternative product/service aligned with a more sustainable life and a more empowered society that cares for ALL”.

We understand that FAIRPHONE is involved in “that” in the telecom industry. But in the short experience I have shared with other Fairphoners I have found other interesting experiences in different sectors:

() @Marie1 (from Munich Fairphoners) is developing a company aligned with a more sustainable life and a more empowered society that cares for ALL in the INSURANCE sector.
() Laurent is working in a very interesting company, an online CROWDLENDING MARKETPLACE for meaningful investments https://www.ecrowdinvest.com/en/get-to-know-the-ECrowd-team
() Merce and Joan are developing in Spain a not-for-profit company, owned by users (cooperative company), that offers TELECOM SERVICES, www.eticom.coop . You can see also that all the mobiles they use in their website are fairphones;)
() Alfredo is part of www.somenergia.coop a company that provides ENERGY SERVICES, assuring that the source of the energy they use is renewable.

The fairphoners that met in Barcelona shared that we would love to know which alternatives in different sectors are being developed in our Fairphone community. Probably there are alternatives of products and services that we would “choose” as consumers, and maybe we don’t because we do not know about them. And we could also collaborate with them “spreading the word” of those alternatives among our contacts.

***EVOLUTION OF THE PROPOSAL…
When we were talking about this, one of us also added that he would appreciate to know also, which companies have taken the decision to buy “fairphones” for the workers of the company. That could also be a way to identify companies committed with the values behind Fairphone Movement.

When I first shared the proposal with @Stefan , he also added another interesting idea: A kind of “label/certification” that the initiatives could share on their webpages after requesting it from Fairphone. Something like:

Fairphone could also add their logos on a subpage of the website’s community section.

So, what do you think about the proposal?
And, if you find it interesting, how could we create a place managed by the community where we could include the information of these interesting alternatives?

I would love to work on this idea, and I think it could be also an interesting content to talk deeper in our EFCT17.

Thank you for your attention!

Iratxe

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It could simply be an online form like the one for organizing an event.

  • Upload a logo
  • tell us a link
  • choose the sector you are working in

After it has been reviewed by Fairphone or trusted community members, the logo could appear on the website:

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Thank you Stefan! I like how you always make things easy to solve!!

I think that the form to fulfill should also have a “contact person name” and “email”, in case someone wants to contact with the initiative/company to ask for information (or propose mutual collaborations).

What I understand with your proposal is that:
(1) first step would be to know what Fairphone thinks about this idea
(2) in case Fairphone team agrees with it, they would create the form in the website, right?
(3) people would fulfill the form, and when that happens, someone in Fairphone will receive that information, analyze it and
(4)in case they confirm the interest of the initiative, they publish the logo, the link, the sector and the contact person in a place in the website of Fairphone.

I find it ok,…I just supose that this way it is “more work” for Fairphone team. How could we ease this process to Fairphone team? Maybe they create the form in the website but different people from the community take responsibility of receiving the information of the people writing the form, and we analyze it and propose to Fairphone the links to add to the “network of initiatives aligned with our Movement”, so that Fairphone team has it easier to manage? (I would be glad to be one of those persons,…maybe someone(s) who understands french, german, dutch could also join?)

I also think that in each “community meetings” we could help to foster this network, by asking and identifying which initiatives we know in our region that are offering alternatives (aligned with our Movement) in different sectors. That would also help to nurture the “network”.

How do you see it @Douwe, @stefan?

We keep walking on it :wink:

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I agree it would mean some initial extra work for Fairphone. Given the lack of (wo)manpower at Fairphone we should consider pulling this off here on the forum. Maybe they can register a domain like poweredbyfairphone.org and let it forward to a forum thread, where we post the logos of the fair network.

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Sounds like an interesting idea, but also a little far from Fairphones goals.
In the end we are a brand and a company; we make phones and we sell those.

I don’t think that is a very ‘neutral’ point to start saying things about other brands. An independent party (like Blaue Engel) has a much better position to function as a guide for consciences consumers.

Also; as we see with Fairphone itself; it is really hard to find out for all our components how fair they are, where they come from, how they were made etc… now let alone to asses this for other companies… Explaining how and if a company is fair is a lot of work. Even is you agree on what is fair.

I think that a community guide to other cool brands is a nice thing to make.

By the way, I love the ‘Powered by’ banner!

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As I understand it, this is an effort to gather the companies that use Fairphones as company phones under one label (without saying anything about their credibility). Maybe we have different views on this, @Iratxe?

Thank you, @Douwe! :blush:

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I think Stefan has got it right: “Powered by Fairphone” would basically just be a logo that allows business customers of Fairphone to voluntarily, publicly and visibly identify themselves as such.

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It was not my intention to create a place where we “judge” who is fair and who is not.

As I see it, even Fairphone (as all of us) has a lot of work to improve in that path. What is clear is that Fairphone is “going beyond” the status quo, and proposing an alternative TOWARDS more fairness. And in that trial is growing awareness in the industry and in society. And now, people that care about sustainability and empowering ourselves in our daily decisions (actions/purchases) have an alternative in a “phone company” that we had not before.

So, the idea would be not “to judge” who is fair or not, but:
(1) “to give visibility” to all the initiatives in different sectors that are “going beyond” the status quo, and proposing interesting products/services in different sectors.

(2) and also “to allow” business that have decided to buy fairphones [quote=“urs_lesse, post:7, topic:24755”]
to voluntarily, publicly and visibly identify themselves as such.
[/quote]

I think both these aspects have connection with Fairphone Community and Fairphone Movement, as I understand it.

I think that Fairphone is more than that, and what joins us here is more than a “phone”. In the short experience I have had with fairphoners in Amsterdam and Barcelona, I see that we have much more in common than a phone.

As “purchase decisionmakers” (in our reflection in Barcelona) we found it worthy to have a place where we could know the different initiatives that fairphoners are developing in different sectors (as a source of inspiration and information for conscious purchase in different sectors).

For the fairphoners that publish the information of their company would also be worthy as an additional way to “attract clients” (looking for more conscious decisions, and/or who value the conscious purchase of a phone by the company).

For Fairphone as a company, I see it also worthy to give visibility of “what you are powering with your products”…not only " 111.755 customers (taken updated information of today) but also a lot of initiatives that are as well working TOWARDS more fairness both with their purchase decisions and/or their own activity (product/service).

Even Mother Earth would be winner of an initiative like this one if through this network more conscious purchases that take care of “environmental impact” are done!

If the problem for Fairphone is the lack of (wo)manpower, which I understand, we must think of an easier way to do it, so that we (community) take more responsibility on it.

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Sorry, I seem to have misread what you meant. Of course it is always nice to show the depth and width of the entire eco system of conscience producers. If the community is able to kick-start this: it would be awesome!

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I would like to see this as a wiki here in the forum.

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Hey @iratxe, this company from Austria did what I think you mean. They explained on their website why they chose the Fairphone 2.

http://www.mohi-tirol.at/index.php?menuid=45

Correct?

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I’m sorry @Douwe but I don’t understand german…I will try to see it later through google translate :wink: thanks

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I do. :wink:

Here is a quick translation:

[quote=“MOHI Tirol”]Since the end of 2016 MOHI Tirol is going on a new path regarding the procurement of company phones.

From now on MOHI employees will get the Fairphone, the mobile phone of the equally named company, which set their goal to respect social and environmental standards in the production as much as possible.

[some info about Fairphone]

When you introduce a fair and environmentally friendly phone you have to think about how to deal with the collection of existing mobile phones. It would contradict the goal to call environmentally and socially friendly, if we’d replace all old devices in one go with Fairphones and this way produce a pile of electronic waste. The existing devices must continue to be used for as long as possible - if needed a replacement battery is provided - and will only be replaced when they completely break down.[/quote]

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Thank you very much @stefan!!

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Hi @iratxe @Douwe @Stefan and everyone,
sorry for having been quiet for a while… I was thinking in a similar direction. From Michael / Munich fairphoners, I have heard about hubzilla as a technical solution. Did you think any further in this issue recently? Best

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Hi @Marie1,

Good to hear from you! I hope your initiative is going ahead, and with thriving movement (good for all of us if that happens).

I am not very expert in “technology” to provide the references of the initiatives that Fairphoners are developing in diverse sectors, trying to go beyond the status quo towards a fairer life, (in the trial) “trying to offer an alternative product/service aligned with a more sustainable life and a more empowered society that cares for ALL”.

But I will see your reference of https://hubzilla.org/hubzilla/ as an alternative to start to introduce the references I have identified until now. By the way, another one to add to the list that I knew in the last Fairphoners’ meeting in Basque Country comes through Ivan del Caz (with FP2). Together with his partner Javier Goikoetxea, they have created the company http://www.bikonsulting.com/: a consultancy company collaborating with companies and other organizations in the process of improving their peformance towards Economy for the Common Good.

@Stefan Do you have an idea of the best platform to start with this initiative? do you know hubzilla? or prefer another platform?

Big hug for all of you!

Iratxe

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I have the following in mind:

  1. Register a domain (e.g. poweredbyfp.org)
  2. Forward it to a forum post where we collect the logos.

:heavy_plus_sign: Very easy administration
:heavy_minus_sign: Not very customizable

Alternatively we could make a webpage and host it at the WeAreFairphone-Github account. That would be more work though…

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Hi, what about a label like “Friends of WeAreFairphone”? That wouldn’t necessarily need some involvement from Fairphone as a company and we could be hand it out more flexibly. What do you think (especially @iratxe, but other’s opinions are also highly appreciated)?

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Hi @Stefan!

First of all, sorry for answering so late.

To be honest, I find it a little strange,…are “friends of WeAreFairphone” ? does that mean that TheyAreNotFairphone but friends of WhoAreFairphone? I am not sure of that concept. Maybe we could talk deeper about this initiative during our stay in Amsterdam.

Thank you Stefan for “sustaining” proposals!!
Big hug to all of you,

Iratxe

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