Notes from the field - coffee coops in Bolivia

Notes I am working now with the Andean women who are in the Fair Trade coffee industry here in Bolivia.  It is very interesting.  Everyone is very well versed in the FT4All debacle and are completely against what FTUSA is doing.  They feel they are distinct as small farmers and need to be treated with respect to that and not lumped into a general group of "coffee growers".  They are showing and using the small farmer logo made by EE (I believe) and saying that that is the logo they work under now. 

It is interesting talking to the women because they are completely underrepresented in all coffee cooperative and associations.  New laws in Bolivia now give women more access to land and basic rights, but the coffee co-ops and associations have not changed their structures so women (and the teenage children) can enter in directly as members and assume positions of leadership.   The women have many good ideas for diversifying their production, developing national Fair Trade markets, opening upscale coffee shops, etc. that the men do not support, or recognize so they are not realized.

The good thing is that Fair Trade guidelines have created a place for women to at least be recognized as producers.  The challenge now is to get them recognized as leaders and given a place of power and decision making.  It is important to note the largest co-ops do have some women present in the director level, but they are not given equal consideration as the men and are not always present or informed when decisions are being made.  There are also emerging new associations of women producers which i will be visiting and studying.

Today I'm off to the coffee colonies in he Bolvian Yungas where I will spend a week living with and meeting directly with the coffee wives and doing ethnographic studies to capture their experiences under Fair Trade.  I'll share these with you when I have them analyzed ready (probably Sept.) and it can be a nice case study of women and fair trade coffee in Bolivia.  It can also help us to understand how FT can better help women and children (teenagers) in areas of leadership, sustainability, and self determination.

This study is different from my previous study of women in handicrafts in that the financial aspect of the FT coffee is well understood and clearly documented, sales are accessible and stable, and the development of product has been strongly supported by many outside sources.  It is a unified and strongly supported effort both internally (ministry of rural development) and externally (FT organizations, embassy programs, NGOs, etc.).