You may remember about 2 months ago the MADE in Europe staff engaged in a fierce, knuckle baring, blood and guts battle to see who could be the Most Ethical of Them All.

Okay, maybe not quite.

We had a small scale and sedate staff competition running throughout the month of Ramadan. This holy month of abstinence and change seemed the perfect time to instil some good habits into our daily routines. Staff members pledged to give up the excesses which are typical of London lifestyles, and which so often contribute to global development problems - from wasting food, to using plastic water bottles, to guzzling gas. The hope was that MADE in Europe could live up to its motto, ‘Allah does not change the condition of a people until they change themselves’ -  perhaps by changing our own conditions, we could encourage others to do the same.

The competition became pretty heated at first, with accusations flying around of people breaking pledges – “Saif’s been eating fried chicken!” – “That’s nothing, Sadia threw away a whole pot of rice last night!” But that was probably just the hunger pangs getting the better of us. Soon enough we settled down into a healthy routine of encouraging each other’s good intentions.

It was a tough struggle for some – Sarah, MADE’s Director of Operations, who pledged to stop using her car for local journeys, declared that “I should definitely not be the winner of this competition!” She explained how trying to change this one habit had a knock-on effect on her lifestyle habits – “What I found difficult was that you need to plan ahead better so that you leave more time to get to places – I’m used to leaving last minute!” But, she admitted that she has started using her car much less now than before Ramadan, and hopes to continue this habit. Others found it easier. Campaigns Manager Oussama, who pledged not to buy bottled water and to only purchase fairtrade tea, coffee, and bananas, managed to keep pledge throughout the whole of Ramadan, saying that it“made me realise that with a bit of effort, we can all make small changes to our lives that will have a better impact on our world”. Marzia, PA to the CEO said that not only had she stopped having long, water-wasting showers, but that she was encouraging others to stop doing so to!

The result? Happily, there was more than one winner, and even those who didn’t keep their pledge every day should still be commended for making the intention and trying hard to meet it!

Just because Ramadan is over, doesn’t mean the pledges have to stop. We at MADE are going to keep trying to meet our pledges, and maybe make some new ones as the year goes on. So tell us: what can you pledge to change?