Tacit knowledge and volunteers' empowerment in the fair trade sector

This paper presents the outcome of a fieldwork carried out in France, Italy, Malta and Spain, with the aim of providing evidence about the main features characterizing fair trade organizations and the individuals (in particular volunteers) involved in them. The case studies have been selected taking into consideration both the areas where Fair Trade has deeper roots (as in some French, Italian and Spanish regions) and is more developed, and the areas where the sector is younger, more politically oriented (like Malta and South of Italy). It turns out that Fair Trade mainly attracts women and young people, but by different degrees, leading towards a classification of potential volunteers. However, there are some skills that emerge across all the groups, such as relational tem-working skills.