Are you interested in International Development, Global Citizenship and Fair Trade?

We educate and enable people in the North East of Scotland to take action to create a fairer world and we need trustees!

About us

We are part of a vibrant, confident, voluntary sector. Apart from our overarching value of global justice, we are committed to transparency, diversity and inclusion.

Founded over 30 years ago as the Third World Centre, running the first solely Fairtrade retail outlet in the Kirk of St Nicholas, our activities grew as we led the Aberdeen Fairtrade City campaign, achieving Fair Trade status for the city in 2004. Alongside this work we established the Montgomery Development Education Centre (MDEC), offering training, support and resources for global citizenship education.

Currently we are:

• working with schools and teachers to promote and support global citizenship education, through our education section, the Montgomery Development Education Centre
• a leading member of the Aberdeen Fairtrade Steering Group, raising awareness of fair trade and initiating related activities
• a key member of the International Development Education Association of Scotland (IDEAS)
• a member of Scotland’s International Development Alliance
• facilitating initiatives in the Aberdeen community such as One World Week each autumn

In all of this work, we focus on the Global Goals for Sustainable Development, which aim to end extreme poverty, fight inequality & injustice and fix climate change by 2030.

We receive funding from the Scottish Government and DfID/British Council for our education work and have four part-time salaried staff, supported by other staff and volunteers.

We welcome interest from potential new trustees – anyone with commitment and enthusiasm for creating a fairer world, but particularly at the present time those with some experience in governance/legal compliance or in Human Resources and/or an interest in future chairing responsibilities.

Our Trustees manage the work of AFW, which is a SCIO. Currently we have nine trustees, but really do need more! We hold Board meetings every six weeks or so (on a weekday, usually 5pm – 7pm).

Opportunities for volunteers: Even if you can’t commit to becoming a trustee, we appreciate many forms of volunteer help in our activities. We have projects in the office and off-campus that always welcome outside help.