NATIONAL FAIR TRADE STUDY - ROLLING OUT

KUSIKUY'S founder, Tamara Stenn is working with her Keene State College students and FairTradeUSA to conduct the first ever, large scale Fair Trade consumer study in the US.  Contact FairTradeUSA to see how you can participate!  Stay posted for results (this May).  

Fair Trade Consumer Study 2012

Guest Blogger:  Tamara Stenn, Professor at Keene State College

According to the United Nations, the US is the world’s largest consumer by far, spending over $10 billion and making up almost 30% of the world’s consumer market in 2009.  (Second to the US is Japan weighing in at just 8.5% of world consumption).  For Fair Trade consumption, the US is second to the UK, with almost $1.2 billion spent on Fair Trade goods in the US in 2009.  Per capita, the US has been a much less enthusiastic supporter of Fair Trade with people spending less than $2 a year on Fair Trade goods in 2006 (table 2).  This is more than nine times less than the Swiss who spend an average of $19 each on Fair Trade goods and more than half of what our counterparts in the UK are each investing into Fair Trade.

Some of the largest Fair Trade buyers in the world such as Green Mountain Coffee and Starbucks, are in the US.  US Fair Trade is prominently sold in national grocery stores such as Safeway, Sam’s Club, Trader Joes, Whole Foods Market, WalMart, Target, and thousands of specialty stores in our towns and cities.  Fair Trade is visible, available, but not wholeheartedly consumed, yet.
Why? Are the products still too hard to find?  Are the Fair Trade labels not known?  Is there confusion about what Fair Trade is?  Is there a lack of belief, trust, or understanding?  How are people learning about Fair Trade anyway?

Keene State College students and Fair TradeTowns USA are partnering together to conduct the first nation-wide study of Fair Trade consumption in the US.  We will be examining how age, gender, occupation, income, region lived and community size, all come into play when making decisions about Fair Trade.  We will also be examining how those decisions are being made – how people are learning about Fair Trade, what is the media influence, social networking, and what barriers exist to keep consumers from making Fair Trade purchases.

Hundreds of convenience sample surveys (16 questions and 15 minutes long) will be administered by Fair Trade Towns volunteers in towns and cities across the US during February and March 2012.  Keene State College Quantitative Literacy students studying Fair Trade will then analyze the results and share them in a researched report scheduled to be released in time for World Fair Trade Day in May 2012.

This is study is significant in that it provides a baseline measure in which to begin to understand the US Fair Trade consumer, their motivations, and challenges.  This will provide an important starting point for more specific, follow up studies.

This opportunity is a great way to gauge the impact of Fair Trade in your community.  If you are interested in getting started with this survey and administering it in your town, please contact Billy Linstead Goldsmith at wgoldsmith@fairtradeusa.org or Courtney Lang at clang@fairtradeusa.org.

Seeking Post Doc Funding for Fair Trade Study

I am embarking on some post doc research in Peru/Bolivia using ethnographic study and economic theory to measure the differences that country support and gender create in Fair Trade.  This will build on my doctoral research on the effect of Fair Trade on indigenous women in the Andes region.

The rules are the same globally, but different countries support Fair Trade producers in different ways I will do a comparative study of indigenous alpaca knitters in the same Andean region of Bolivia/Peru.  Peru invests more money than Bolivia does in rural economic development and the alpaca industry in particular.  As a result, Peru has a much more vibrant and productive alpaca clothing market than Bolivia does.  Does Fair Trade need to be more country/region specific in its rules? 

Also I want to study how families benefit differently (or not) if the principal Fair Trade member is a male or female.  I suspect that men spend their Fair Trade earnings more on capital investments (equipment, land, larger projects) and women spend their earnings more on the children.  I will do a comparative study of Bolivian Fair Trade families with moms working in crafts versus dads working in agriculture (chocolate, coffee). 

I'm looking for about $6,000 to cover travel and lodging expenses and to pay two helpers (in country).  The study is from May 2012 - July 2012.  I am seeking donations and/or suggestions of where I could go for such funding. 

I now have a publisher interested in the project which is good.

Please respond for more info. Thanks!

Tamara Stenn, DA
Keene State College
Adjunct Professor: Integrative Studies, Fair Trade, Management, Economics

"To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness." Howard Zinn

The Feminist Experience of Fair Trade

Comercio Justo and Justice: An examination of Fair Trade 
and its impact on indigenous women and the family. 

(Presented at the ALLIED SOCIAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATIONS
annual meeting in Chicago, IL, Jan. 7, 2012)

Fair Trade is a multi-billion dollar form of commerce developed in the 1960s by American and European organizations as a way to promote cultural and environmental sustainability and bring greater economic return to marginalized producers.  It is supported by producers who voluntarily embrace the guidelines of Fair Trade by working  together cooperatively, sharing resources, improving product quality, and providing transparency.  Fair Trade is also supported by consumers who embrace its socially responsible values by purchasing Fair Trade products. 

Most Fair Traders are male land owners, though women are also an important, and often overlooked, part of trade too.  Forty-five percent of the members of the USA Fair Trade Federation are women.  There are also hundreds of women members in Europe’s World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO).  There are women directly engaged in Fair Trade as producers and also women who are affected by their husbands’ participation in Fair Trade.  The livelihoods of the women impact the quality of life for the children, family, and community.  Social structures and culture set different rules for women than men, making women’s access and participation in Fair Trade much different.  The feminist experience of women in Fair Trade is defined and examined in this paper.

In addition, many producers engaged in Fair Trade are from indigenous communities.  As the demands of globalization come with Fair Trade participation, there is an impact on the indigenous culture.  The Andean indigenous way of knowing, the Abya Yala, for example, is based on not just an exchange of goods, but also on reciprocity, shared knowledge, and a deep interconnectedness (Carcelen & Yepez, 2004). The degree to which one is able to work within their belief system, impacts their quality of life.

While my research confirms that Bolivian women’s Fair Trade participation has resulted in the same health, education, and monetary benefits the more frequently researched, Fair Trade coffee farmers reported in a 2009 study, there are other aspects of their quality of life, as defined by the women, which I also study (removed for anonymity, 2010).  The quality of life of indigenous women, to date, have not been examined in any fair trade literature.  These qualities, as defined by the women, include leadership, empowerment, acceptance and support from the community and family, opportunities, working conditions, freedom from violence, spirituality, and self expression.

I have been living and working with indigenous women in Bolivia for 15 years, as journalist, Fair Trade business owner.  In May and June 2010, I traveled to Bolivia as a doctoral researcher and ethnographer to study the effects of Fair Trade on these women.  Employing ethnographic research methods, I strove to capture the experiences as told and understood by the women in their own voices and context.  After two months of formal research, interviews, workshops, home-stays, and observation of over 66 indigenous women producers of high end alpaca knitwear for export, common themes and patterns began to emerge.  The results of this study are shared in the context of building a greater understanding of Fair Trade and its impact on indigenous women and the family.

The intellectual merit of this paper is to examine how Fair Trade outcomes advance our theoretical understanding of justice with a focus on Bolivia’s indigenous women engaged in Fair Trade production. Women question the justice of this commerce form.  Using the producers’ language, definitions and interpretation, this paper presents a perception of Fair Trade originating from their experiences.  This is analyzed in relation to the economic theories of justice developed by Amartya Sen.  Sen equates justice with capabilities, freedom, and development which offers many parallels to the Fair Trade guidelines established by western organizations.  The broader impact is to create a dialog around understanding Fair Trade which can lead to further development of just and equitable trade systems worldwide.

The Plight of Women

Women do not experience Fair Trade the same as men and they need it more because of their family responsibilities.  Women are sometimes paid as laborers though they are also working, unpaid, as homemakers, caregivers, and “providers of human life” (Floro & Meurs, 2009).   The International Labor Organization (ILO) labels women’s unpaid labor as “women’s double burden” defining it as a demand for both reproductive work and labor (Floro & Meurs, 2009).   Women are described as both “time-poor” and “money-poor.”  This means that when hours in paid and unpaid work are totaled, women have longer work weeks than men and less time for sleep or leisure (Fig. 1).  This impacts their time and flexibility for engaging in paid labor and decent work.

(Fig. 1) Cooking and cleaning, hours and minutes per day (UNDP, 2007)

The ILO defined decent work as employment which provides opportunity, fair income, security and social protection, and the freedom to organize (Floro & Meurs, 2009).  Globally, women are marginalized.  Since 1996, only 53% of all women participated in the global labor force while 80% of all men did.  These rates continued remain steady as of 2006 (Floro & Meurs, 2009).  In addition, it is not easy for women to find decent work.  Jobs have shifted from formal, legally regulated, large firms to smaller, informal firms and home work.  These jobs, while more accessible to women, are outside of the protection of labor laws and lack rights to social benefits such as health care and insurance.  Social, legal, and political institutions also play a large role in women’s access to decent work.  Traditional culture and patriarchy limit the appropriateness of women working as does fertility.  High fertility rates are directly related to a lack of women in the labor force (Floro & Meurs, 2009).  With new technologies, education, longer living, and political change, women’s opportunities to work have changed.  Jobs are still illusive though they are now more precarious than ever.  While new labor opportunities for women opened in global export processing zones (EPZ), these actually replaced the work of core, full-time (male) workers.  Some of these male workers were heads of households where the women lived.  Now the men are out of work and the less expensive, submissive women are in to take their places, at a lower wage, and a loss to the family security (Floro & Meurs, 2009).  Fair Trade intersects these scenarios by providing women safe, secure access to the wage economy.

The Indigenous Perspective 
(The rest of this paper was submitted to the Journal of Feminist Economics  for peer review and publication)

Fair Trade as a theory of justice

Comercio Justo and Justice: An examination of Fair Trade.

Presented at The Sixth Forum of the World Association for Political Economy (WAPE): 

Responses to Capitalist Crisis: Neoliberalism and Beyond

May 27 to May 29, 2011, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USA

This paper examines the theoretical basis of Fair Trade as justice.  Grounded largely in the works of Amartya Sen and supported by other philosophers and economists, it looks at the origins, motivations, and elements of Fair Trade.  I explore Fair Trade as a form of justice and seek to understand it as a transformational model of trade.  The intellectual merit of this paper is to examine how Fair Trade outcomes advance our theoretical understanding of justice.  The broader impact is to create a dialogue around understanding Fair Trade which can lead to further development of just and equitable trade systems worldwide.

Keywords: Fair trade, justice, globalization, humanistic economics

Amartya Sen in his Idea of Justice, proposed that justice needed to be understood in a broad sense and though institutions could play a part in it, it was greater than just the institution itself.  "Justice," Sen wrote, "is ultimately connected with the way people's lives go, and not merely with the nature of institutions surrounding them."  However, I argued that an institution could provide a model for justice and be a catalyst for the development of a more just and fair society.  One such example was the institution of Fair Trade. 

Fair Trade operated as an oasis of justice in the tumultuous seas of free market, global capitalism.  At a time of growing inequality and unfairness, an institutional model of justice seemed unlikely, yet one existed and was growing strong.  Sen agreed that though “often overlooked or marginalized in the dominant traditions of contemporary Western discourse…ideas of justice, fairness, responsibility, duty, goodness and rightness have been pursued in many parts of the world” (2009, p. xiv).  Fair Trade was an example of an institutional model which pursued economic and social justice and environmental sustainability in many unseen and marginalized parts of the world.  

To date, there has not been much Western literature written about Fair Trade as justice.  This paper applies Sen’s concepts of justice to the rationale for the practice of Fair Trade.  The intellectual merit of this paper is to deepen the understanding of justice as defined by Sen and to debate the emergence of Fair Trade as a model of justice.  The broader impact is to create a dialog around Fair Trade which leads to the development of even more just and equitable trade systems worldwide.

DEFINING FAIR TRADE

Sen proposed a theory of justice which advanced and promoted global justice through the recognition of our shared humanity and interconnectedness.  It echoed many of the objectives and beliefs shared by institutions and individuals, such as myself, working in Fair Trade.  Fair Trade was a form of commerce developed in 1946 and refined in the 1960s and again in the 1980s by American and European institutions as a way to promote cultural and environmental sustainability and bring greater economic return to marginalized producers.  It was supported by producers who voluntarily embraced the guidelines of Fair Trade by working together cooperatively, sharing resources, improving product quality, and providing transparency.  Fair Trade was also supported by consumers who embraced its socially responsible values and/or product qualities by choosing to purchase Fair Trade goods. 

Rawls saw institutions as being supported by people within the context of their societies, if people believed that the institutions were just and fair and others were supporting them, then they would too (1993).  It was this long term development of trust and confidence through a cooperative arrangement which gave an institution its strength.  Sen agreed with Rawl’s interpretation of institutions but cautioned against too much focus being put on people’s good behavior.   He felt that truly just institutions would encompass all, not just the well behaved.

Several Fair Trade institutions provided the infrastructure for the Fair Trade industry.  These included the USA based Fair Trade Federation (FTF) which served artisan producers with locations in the US and Canada, and the European based, World Fair Trade Federation (WFTO) which represented producer groups from all around the world and had foreign field offices set up in different countries.  Fair Trade institutions also provided support and materials to educate consumers about Fair Trade.  FairTradeUSA and FairTradeUK promoted Fair Trade in European and USA communities through their successful fair Trade Towns and Schools programs.  The Fair Labeling Organizations, FLO (also known as FairTrade International), created standards for 17 Fair Trade Certified product categories: bananas, cocoa, coffee, cotton, flowers, fresh fruit, honey, juices, nuts and oilseeds, rice, spices and herbs, sports balls, sugar, tea, wine, manufactured clothing, and composite food products.  FLO worked with 20 national initiatives and two producer networks to spread Fair Trade Principles and distribute Fair Trade Certified products.  FairTrade USA, formerly worked with FLO but now licenses Fair Trade Certified products for the US market under its own name (Fair Trade Federation, 2009).  Fair Trade producer groups and distributors applied and paid membership fees to join these institutions.  The institutions then used these fees to promote Fair Trade to consumers and internally support members though the development of sales opportunities, business and technical assistance, trade show attendance, networking, and Fair Trade advocacy.

The primary focus of Fair Trade was to improve the lives of the most disadvantaged people in developing countries through market access (Nicholls & Opal, 2006).  It was a broad, expansive, long term vision which incorporated not just producers but communities and consumers as well.  In Fair Trade, trade was the means by which the end, the improvement of lives, was achieved.  The various institutions working in regulating Fair Trade had specific guidelines that participants followed to ensure full fairness or justice.  These varied from one institution to the next but all include aspects of transparency, fair wages, technical assistance, access to credit, long-term trade relationships, and environmental sustainability.

“Institutional change and policy reform,” wrote Sen on the forward to a 2002 Oxfam trade report, “can radically alter the prevailing levels of inequality and poverty, without wrecking the global economy.”  Oxfam was an international confederation of 15 organizations working together to find solutions to poverty and injustice.  They were very active in the development of producer projects for Fair Trade sales (Oxfam, 2012).

EXPERIENCING JUSTICE....

******* (This is just an excerpt from the first few pages - the full 20 page journal article is undergoing peer review for publication) *******

Authoring White Papers

As an acacemic working in Fair Trade, I have been writing academic papers presenting much detail on different aspects of Fair Trade in reation to its effect on the quality of life of women, the degree of justice it brings to producers, the economic valididty of such a model of trade, and the many ways in which it can be interpreted and understood and which way may be is fairer or more just.

This is important work in deepening the understanding and possibilities of Fair Trade, especially in these times of change and reconfiguration within the Fair Trade industry.

I have been touching upon issues such as power, justice, poverty, capabilities, human development, management, feminism, economic development, social justice, indigenous knowledge, intercultural management. 

And writing for academic journals in the fields of Feminist Economics, Management, Business Ethics, Human Development, Economic Development, and Social Economics.

The following are a series of introductions to journal articles which have recently been presented at national and regional Economic Conferences and are currently undergoing peer review for publication in several academic journals.  I welcome comments and feedback.

I will continue to post new articles and papers here as well. 

I am currently preparing for my next round of research in the Andes region to examine the difference in how Fair Trade is experienced by families and whether or not there is a difference if the primary person working in Fair Trade is a man or woman.  I will also be examining the difference that government plays as I compare Fair Trade Andean women in Bolivia to those in Peru - working in the same industry and from the same ethnic group.  The results of this research will be published in future papers and will be a part of an interdisciplinary textbook I am writing on Fair Trade, Justice, and Feminism.

Thank you for visiting.  I hope you find this blog useful and interesting.

Help keep the “Fair” in Fair Trade

           I recently finished a five-college tour with indigenous leader, Emilia Laime, talking about her participation in Fair Trade and the challenges of living in Bolivia, one of South America’s economically poorest countries (though spiritually rich).  Fair Trade is a form of social and economic justice supported by Fair Trade instructions which provide the infrastructure for producer members and consumers to engage in a more just and fair trade.  Fair Trade guarantees a fair wage, good working conditions, and environmental and community protection on all levels of production.  It appeals to consumers’ rational need to help others and competes in the same free market as conventional, non-fair trade goods. 

Laime, a Fair Trade producer, cried over the climate change induced drought, a permanent condition caused by the melting of Bolivia’s global glaciers, the struggles for recognition by indigenous women, and the woes of poverty in a country with an infant mortality rate almost seven times higher than that of the US.  And she sold product.  Luscious, hand knit, Fair Trade, alpaca a sweaters that only could be purchased by North Americans and Europeans.  The sweaters were too expensive for the knitters themselves to buy.  The Bolivian women knit in acrylic for their children and export the native raised, high quality, alpaca to the richer markets in the US and Europe.  Bolivians have recently have been doing the same with their quinoa, a hearty, native grain which contains a complete protein.  New Fair Trade quinoa export demands have raised the price of quinoa so high that it can no longer be purchased in the local markets.  This, like the ethanol demand for corn, can lead to food security issues.  Fair Trade does not recognize food security.

Export sales, however, are a lifeline for many impoverished producers, and women who have little opportunity or access to the wage market.  A doctoral research study I conducted in Bolivia in 2010, found that Laime and other women liker her working in Fair Trade reported important earnings for their family, financial stability, skills development, and increased self esteem from their Fair Trade participation.  Fair Trade provided them with a first step into the wage economy and gave women the skills and experience to be successful in other businesses as well.

Since 1996 I have been working in Fair Trade as a business owner (www.kusikuy.com), academic, doctoral researcher, and consultant.  I have helped to found Fair Trade Towns (including Brattleboro, VT) and Universities (Keene State College is well on its way) and educate thousands on the meaning and benefits of Fair Trade.  I advocate for the producers who are often the ones left out of the conversation.  They could be considered "invisible" except they are so easily seen. Their faces are prominently displayed with their goods.  However they are mute.   There is no mechanism for producers to directly participate in US Fair Trade institutions, even though it's their sweat and labor which make the products that are sold to comfortable consumers, under the auspices of these institutions.  Many Fair Trade websites are peppered with images of unwashed farmers in their work clothes who organizations claim to "help" and "support."  Why do the farmers need to be portrayed like this?  Can’t they be given time to wash up and dress nicely for a photo that gives them the dignity and respect they deserve?   Would anyone want to be photographed in their dirty work clothes and then have that image used to represent them and their company?

FairTradeUSA (FTUSA) is the largest Fair Trade certifier in the US and dominates the US’s $2.3 billion Fair Trade market.  They are all about making Fair Trade accessible and have recently unveiled plans to launch an aggressive FT4U campaign, which includes the scaling down of their certification standards to accommodate producers whom did not meet the previously established standards; mainly large coffee plantation owners.  This has caused an uproar in the Fair Trade industry, and resulted in FTUSA severing ties from the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO)  and the Fair Labeling Organization (FLO) which they were formally an umbrella organization of.  FTUSA even had the audacity to recently send out a fund raising request to help these farmers.  Perhaps it is in anticipation of all of the FT farmers they will be putting out of business. 

There is currently a glut of Fair trade coffee on the market and has been for years.  Every single Fair Trade coffee farmer I have personally spoken with in the past two years, from Nicaragua, Peru, Bolivia, Honduras, Ecuador, and the Dominica Republic, reported the same thing.  They cannot sell all of their Fair Trade coffee.  There is not enough market for it. Anywhere from 20-40% of their Fair Trade coffee harvests are being dumped on the conventional market as conventional coffee, because there is not enough market for their Fair Trade production.  Yet FTUSA says they must expand their certification to include plantations in order to grow the FT market.  Grow it where?  It is already oversaturated.   Adding plantation coffee will just knock out the already struggling cooperatives who need more market access not more competition.

Each of the coffee farmers I spoke with felt disempowered and mistrustful of the Fair Trade system.  Even the women producers I have been working with for 15 years questioned the fairness of Fair Trade.  This is because the Fair Trade industry demands transparency and obedience from Fair Trade producers but provides none back.  There is no transparency provided to the producers about product mark ups, sales, the treatment of retail store staff, the roles and salaries of intermediaries and wholesalers, yet Fair Trade producers need to make all of that and more visible to buyers and consumers.  They need to post earnings to community funds, keep elaborate records, and are forced to work together cooperatively, wither they want to or not. 

Imagine this from a US perspective.  The US depends heavily on export sales.  But now there is a new export standard for US products.  To participate in this lucrative market, each US company would need to be certified by having a foreign buyer or assessor arrive and demand that all sales, price setting, salaries, earnings and investments, be made transparent.  They would dictate how earnings are spent and what prices should be. To work like this would be demoralizing, demeaning, and would cause tremendous strife amongst employees too. 

Now FTUSA has further insulted farmers by proposing to give work to the same competition, the haciendas and large coffee plantations, that Fair Trade was set up to protect farmers from in the first place.  Frankly, we in the industry are shocked. appalled and horrified at what FTUSA is proposing to do.  The “we” includes the United Students for Fair Trade, Equal Exchange – the largest and one of the first Fair Trade coffee cooperatives and importers in the US, the Fair Trade Federation, the World Fair Trade Organization, and FairTradeUK.  I personally do not know anyone in the Fair Trade industry who is in support of what FTUSA is doing.  Even their own farmers and cooperatives  are speaking out against them. 

It is also unfair for the consumer.  Already bombarded by greenwashing, the false association of a company with positive social and environmental causes, the last thing a consumer needs is to doubt the fairness of Fair Trade itself.   What Fair Trade needs is right now is more fairness, not less.

Fair Trade needs to be exactly that, fair trade.  If anything it needs to be fairer that it already is, with equal representation of producers in Fair Trade institutions and more room for producer input and power.  The World Fair Trade Organization is already doing this and has recently changed their board to be made up of equal numbers of members and producers. 

FTUSA has done a tremendous job developing and promoting Fair Trade in the US. They have helped to build an interesting idea into a multi-billion dollar industry.  They have helped to support schools, communities and citizen groups in understanding and accessing Fair Trade.  They have brought in producers, created contests, provided resources, and hosted conferences and speaker series.  Fair Trade would not be the commonly known term it is in the US today if it were not for the unrelenting and forward thinking of work of FTUSA.  The idea of further expanding Fair Trade needs to be a decision made together.  Though FTUSA has provided mechanisms for participation on their web site through the development of a tri-lingual forum.  I encourage all to visit and participate in these tools: http://fairtradeusa.org/certification/standards . 

These tools, however, do not seem to go far enough in ensuring that all voices are heard, given power and deemed important in this critical time of change.  The difficult part is the feeling of urgency.  It is believed that once Fair Trade standards are lowered to accept plantation production, it will be very hard to reverse the damage.  FTUSA has given people until December 30th to provide feedback on their proposed opening of Fair trade. There is also an electronic forum and an e-mail address (standards@fairtradeusa.org) to respond to.  All can be found towards the bottom of their web page.  How Fair do you think Fair Trade should be?  Lets occupy Fair Trade and let our voices be heard.  After all, it is only fair that all should know what is really happening and what we are all thinking.  And we only have a short time to do so.

Tamara Stenn of KUSIKUY Dicusses Fair Trade and High Quality Products

Written by Robin Wilding                                    October 31, 2011

From: http://www.fashion-schools.org/articles/tamara-stenn-kusikuy-dicusses-fair-trade-and-high-quality-products 

Most fashion designers' passion leads them to a job in the fashion industry; Tamara Stenn's passion however led her to Bolivia. By way of the Peace Corps Tamara was sent to South America, where she fell in love with the country, and a pack of alpaca knitters she met in the Bolivian Andes. Upon returning home she earned a Masters degree in Intercultural Management, and latched onto a fair-trade ideology. This combination of Andean love and a fair-trade focused education melded and became her career.
She quickly started a fierce fashion line of knitwear called KUSIKUY (which means 'make yourself happy' in Quecha, a 5,000-year-old Andean language).  Tamara currently runs KUSIKUY, a business consisting of customer service staff, in-counter coordinators, 100 Bolivian knitters and numerous Alpaca herders in South America. The team is very proud of their in-country partners, KUSIKUY “knitters are some of the highest paid knitters in the country,” says Claudia Valdez, KUSIKUY in-country coordinator.  “We treat the knitters well. We give them training, financing, and anything else they need to succeed. In return they produce the finest knits I have ever seen.”

While this business model may seem a little too idealistic, this entrepreneurial, fair-trade venture is succeeding based on its high-quality products, extremely dedicated staff and by capitalizing on the current building trend in America of buying fair trade products.
For our readers looking to break into the ethical fashion industry Tamara is committed to spreading the entrepreneurial spirit and for this reason KUSIKUY  actively hires interns (on-site or virtual). They even compensate them with a 5% commission on sales of their designs (and a free sample of their design after it goes to production for their portfolio).

Always one to share the wealth (of knowledge and otherwise) Tamara jumped at the chance to share her company's success story with our aspiring entrepreneurial fashionista readers:
What inspired you to get into the fair trade or ethical fashion industry?
The wonderful, amazingly skilled knitters I met while living as a Peace Corps volunteer in Bolivia and the fabulous qualities of the rare, local alpaca yarn. The skills and the materials were so perfect together - it was eco-couture fashion waiting to happen.
What type of education did it take to get you where you are today?
Lots of reading, meetings, visits, observation, knitting classes, and listening. I'm the company owner and job coordinator.  My knitters knew how to knit and the high end materials (European-quality alpaca) were there.  I knew marketing, communications, management and Spanish.  I needed to learn knitwear, fashion design, and the fashion industry.  I did that through reading WWD, knitting magazines, attending industry shows, visiting with buyers and designers, talking with customers, and befriending US knitting shops.
How has your career path progressed over the years?
Wonderfully! I do all I love to do.  I love working with designers, the creativity of their work.  We work with clients from all over the world, but mostly from NYC.  I'm from NY myself and love the NYC market and being so close to downtown Manhattan (we're located in Vermont - 3 hours away from NYC).  The knitters have pieces that have been sold in Barneys.  They are very proud of their work, and enjoy knitting new designs for the fashion designers.
What is your favorite part of working in the ethical fashion business?
All of it.  But mostly that moment when the first sample is made.  It's so transformative to see the sketch, colors, stitch samples, all come together in a final product.  It's exciting.  Our sampling is very accurate and usually the first sample is the final product.  So when that first sample is done, it's exciting seeing a finished design.  It is also a sigh of relief when we complete an order and have it delivered on time, the knitters paid, and everyone feeling satisfied in their work.  It's a year long endeavor - with sampling starting in October/November, the runway shows in January/February, orders arriving in April/May, and delivery in August/September.  The women I work with are indigenous Quechua and Aymara Bolivians we always have a celebration at the end of the year to thank Pachamama (the Andean earth mother) for work well done!
What advice would you give to aspiring fashionistas?
Pay attention to detail, know your materials (i.e. alpaca has lovely drape and is a durable, lightweight yarn–so design for that), stay organized (having labels and buttons ready early saves assembly time and costs in the end).
What schools does your company generally recruit new hires from?
We produce for designers, we do not hire designers.
Do you think there is an overall increasing or decreasing need for people in the fashion industry? 
There is an increasing need for eco-fashionistas, people who will take the extra time to more meaningfully source their production and learn the skills of the people they producing with.  Our knitters know over 30 different hand knitting stitches - though we are rarely asked to use them.
What designer(s) or brand(s) influenced you the most as an artist?  
Carolyn Preibe from ULURU was one of the the first fashion designers we worked with.  She is fantastic in understanding alpaca and designing pieces specifically for that fiber.  Bolivian designer, Beatrice Canedo Patino - "the queen of alpaca" - has also been a wonderful inspiration for us.
Which skills do you consider to be most critical for a career in fashion?  
Being open minded, paying attention to detail, staying on top of a job - responding quickly to questions and being able to make decisions.
What is the hardest part for you about working in the industry?
The fickleness of it.  Well produce beautiful alpaca knits for a customer one year and then the next year they are onto organic cotton, or chunky wool.  We specialize in alpaca and do not knit cotton or wool (no access to quality materials) so we do not work with them again, or for a longer while.
What perks do you receive working in the fashion industry?  
I always have wonderful sweaters and I love traveling to Bolivia and spending time with the knitters. We go every year. 
What do you foresee for the future of ethical fashion?
I just see it getting bigger and bigger. We are all humans and have an innate need to respect and care for each other.  With social media, the world is smaller.  We now know much more about who we work with.  It is hard for our spirits to knowingly work with people in exploitative conditions, and to be a part of that exploitation.  Fair Trade, gives designers a new option.  They can work with people in an ethical environment and know the workers are respected and well cared for.  The products are also more carefully made with love and gratitude.
Check out more interviews at The Fashion-Schools.org Interview Series.

Fair Trade Designers. 
This is a great interview of KUSIKUY director Tamara, speaking about opportunities for deisgners to build their Fair Trade portfolios.  http://www.fashion-schools.org/articles/tamara-stenn-kusikuy-dicusses-fair-trade-and-high-quality-products

FAIR TRADE KEENE STATE COLLEGE

‎2nd Annual Fair Faire - Almost $2,000 of Fair Trade goods sold in less than 4 hours.  Way to go KSC! And who ever said that college students don't support Fair Trade? KSC does!  

Tamara Stenn, KUSIKUY founder and director, is also a professor of Integrative Quantitative Literacy: Measuring Fair Trade and is the faculty adviser of the Keene State College (New Hampshire, USA) Fair Trade Club.  The campus is quickly working towards being declared the first Fair Trade college in New Hampshire.

We don't have to be victims of the 1% - taking the economy into our own hands, using creative collaboration, we can achieve a quality of life that is not monetary driven but rather community supported...
My latest article about Freecycle - appeared here: http://www.commonsnews.org/site/site04/story.php?articleno=4322&page=1

It is presented here below too:

I was moving in with my boyfriend, and we needed more space for my office and two children. His dark, dusty attic was piled high with old baby cribs, moth-eaten blankets, outdated law books, and squirrel-infested tchotchkes.
The attic was a dirty, scary mess. But it was space. I decided to renovate it, and I called a waste disposal company to arrange for a Dumpster to be brought in. It would cost more than $1,000, they told me before they refused the service.
I was flabbergasted: a company saying “no” to a paid job? They were firm. I needed to post my items on Freecycle first, then I could pay them to collect anything that was still left.
Freecycle is a free, nonprofit network of email lists started in 2003 by Arizona’s Deron Beal. Members of the list can receive offers of donations by email.
One needs to have something to offer to give away to join, but once in, members can request items they are seeking and, of course, accept others’ offers.
Instead of hoping to find, or get rid of, an item curbside, now people can swap from the ease of their own home. Plus items would not be ruined as they sat outside waiting for a new home.
I was dubious. Who would ever want what was in the attic? And what exactly was in the attic anyway?
I went upstairs with a clipboard and began making a list and posted it on Freecycle.
The cribs and mattresses went first; there was actually a line of people wanting them. Other things started going, too: an old-fashioned telephone with a broken wire, a dot-matrix printer, chipped pottery and crocks, boxes of old, dusty books.
I was amazed.
After just two weeks, I was down to the old, squirrel-eaten roll of threadbare rugs. “No one would ever want these,” I thought.
But I was wrong. A gentleman cheerfully arrived at my home and dragged the massive rolls of soiled carpet down from my third-floor attic into his truck.
My curiosity got the best of me. I had to ask what he planned to do with them. I pointed out that they were soiled and in poor shape. (I had noted this in the Freecycle posting, too.)
The gentleman laughed and explained that he was a hunter, and rugs like these were perfect for insulating his hunting cabin in the winter.

* * *

Now, I was on the list. Dozens of freecycle announcements filled my mailbox daily. People were giving away furniture, pets, tools, clothes, toys, camping gear. It was wonderful.
My children got the cutest furry ferrets, I got houseplants, we stocked up on arts and crafts supplies for the winter, and we continued to clean out the house.
The best part about offering products for sale on Freecycle is that, as part of the Freecycle rules, the takers will come to your place and haul it out themselves. That has been a great help to me when items are bulky and heavy, like those awful rugs.
The takers have turned out to be wonderful local people. They have always been so grateful and thankful, though I felt more grateful for them taking the items off my hands and not making me haul them to the dump.
A young lady came and took some old metal sign posts that we had unearthed in an excavation and gave me a glass of freshly picked dahlias. It has been great fun visiting people who had items for pickup, too. We made friends with a houseful of birds when picking up some picture frames.

* * *

Beal estimates that 30 to 40 tons of products are traded daily on Freecycle. He started the organization when his Tuscon, Ariz. trash recycling company began receiving non-recyclable, but useable, products from the businesses he was serving.
Rather than hauling the old computers and office furniture to the landfill, Beal began calling around the community looking for homes for the unwanted goods. He then began emailing friends.
The email messages were forwarded around the community, and thus began Freecycle. “I just sent the information out to my friends and 10 to 15 nonprofits and said, ‘Spread the word,’” he told Christian Science Monitor writer Tim King. “You get free stuff, and you get to give away the junk in your garage.”
Within two years, Freecycle grew to be a global network of more than 900,000 members. There are Freecycle communities in Germany, Japan, and Australia. In the United States, Portland, Oregon, and Austin, Texas, have the highest number of members.
Today, the Freecycle website claims, “the Freecycle concept has spread to over 85 countries, where there are thousands of local groups representing millions of members.” As a result, the organization and its local chapters are keeping more than 500 tons of product a day out of landfills.
These products, they say, amount to “five times the height of Mount Everest in the past year alone, when stacked in garbage trucks.”
Freecycle’s mission is to “build a worldwide gifting movement that reduces waste, saves precious resources and eases the burden on our landfills while enabling our members to benefit from the strength of a larger community.”
Operating on a budget of just than $200,000 a year, it seems Freecycle is doing just that. I know my attic, wallet, and heart have benefitted from Freecycle and the wonderful people I have met through using the service.
The Windham Solid Waste Management District has also benefitted, as it was saved from a Dumpster full of “good stuff” that I almost dumped on them.
For more information about Freecycle or to join Brattleboro Freecycle, visit the website.

Build Clean, Caring Communities with Freecycle

I was moving in with my boyfriend and we needed more space for my office and two children.  His dark, dusty attic was piled high with old baby cribs, moth eaten blankets, outdated law books, and squirrel infested chatckas.  It was a dirty, scary mess.  But it was space.  I decided to renovate it  into usable space and called the waste disposal company, Goodenough Rubbish Removal, to arrange for a dumpster to be brought in.  It would cost over $1,000 they told me and then refused the service.  I was flabbergasted, a company saying “no” to a paid job?  They were firm.  I needed to post my items on freecycle first, then I could pay them to collect anything that was still left.

Freecycle (freecycle.org) is a free listserve and non profit started in 2003 by Arizona’s Deron Beal.  It is joined through google groups.  One needs to have something to offer to give away in order to join but once they are in they can request items they are seeking and of course take others’ offers as well.  Instead of hoping to find, or get rid of, an item curbside, now people could swap from the ease of their own home.  Plus items would not be getting ruined as they sat outside waiting for a new home.

I was dubious.  Who would ever want what was in the attic and what exactly was in the attic anyway?  I went upstairs with a clipboard and began making a list and posted it online.  The cribs and mattresses went first, there was actually a line of people wanting them.  Other things started going too, an old fashioned telephone with a broken wire, a dot matrix printer, chipped pottery and crocks, boxes of old, dusty books.  I was amazed. 

After just two weeks, I was down to the old squirrel-eaten roll of threadbare rugs.  No one would ever want these I thought.  But I was wrong.  A gentleman cheerfully arrived at my home and dragged the massive rolls of soiled carpet down from my third floor attic into his truck.  My curiosity got the best of me, I had to ask what he planned to do with them.  I pointed out that they were soiled and in poor shape (I had noted this in the freecycle posting too).  The gentleman laughed and explained that he was a hunter and rugs like these were perfect for insulating his hunting cabin in the winter.

Now I was on the list.  Daily, dozens of freecycle announcements filled my mailbox.  People were giving away furniture, pets, tools, clothes, toys, camping gear...  It was wonderful.  My children got the cutest furry ferrets, I got houseplants, we stocked up on arts and crafts supplies for the winter, and continued to clean out the house.  The best part about offering products for sale on freecycle, was that the takers would come to your place and haul it out themselves.  It is part of the Freecycle rules.  And it was a great help to me when items were bulky and heavy, like those awful rugs.

The takers turned out to be wonderful local people.  They were always so grateful and thankful though I felt more grateful for them taking the items off my hands and not making me haul them to the dump.  A young lady came and took some old metal sign posts we had unearthed in an excavation and gave me a glass of freshly picked dahlias.  It was great fun visiting people who had items for pick up too.  We made friends with a houseful of birds when picking up some picture frames. 

Beal estimates that 30-40 tons of products are traded daily on freecycle.  He started freecycle when his Tuscon, Arizona trash recycling company began receiving non-recyclable, but useable products from the businesses he was serving.  Rather than hauling the old computers and office furniture to the landfill, Beal began calling around the community looking for homes for the unwanted goods.  He then began e-mailing friends .  The e-mail messages were forwarded around the community and thus began freecycle.  "I just sent the information out to my friends and 10 to 15 nonprofits and said, 'Spread the word,'" he told Christian Science Monitor writer Tim King. "You get free stuff, and you get to give away the junk in your garage."

Within two years, Freecycle grew to be a global network of more than 900,000 members. There are Freecycle communities in Germany, Japan, and Australia.  In the United States Portland, Oregon, and Austin, Texas, have the highest number of members.   Today, the Freecycle webstie claims, “the Freecycle concept has spread to over 85 countries, where there are thousands of local groups representing millions of members.”  As a result, freecycle is keeping over 500 tons of product a day out of landfills. This, they say, amounts to, “five times the height of Mt. Everest in the past year alone, when stacked in garbage trucks.”

Freecycle’s mission is to, “build a worldwide gifting movement that reduces waste, saves precious resources & eases the burden on our landfills while enabling our members to benefit from the strength of a larger community."  Operating on a budget of just than $200,000 a year, it seems freecycle is doing just that.  I know my attic, wallet and heart has benefitted from Freecycle and the wonderful people (larger community) I met through it.  The Windham Solid Waste Management District also benefitted as they were saved from a dumpster full of “good stuff” that I almost accidently dumped on them.  For more information about Freecycle or to join our local yahoo group please go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/brattleborofreecycle/

Economic Models of Fair Trade

Here’s some economic models of Fair Trade from my thesis.  I would be happy to continue to make models based on different Fair Trade arguments and understanding.  If someone would like to suggest a few or talk about this more, I would be happy to work on it.  I work so much in Fair Trade, sometimes it is hard for me to imagine how much someone might know (or not) – and where to start with a model... Send me suggestions and we'll see what happens.

Supply (S) Opportunities Deprivation             (F1)                                 Freedom (F)                                     Capabilities

Figure 1. A Model of the Capabilities Approach

Explanation:  This is a model I made based on the work of Amartya Sen (image did not come across clearly). It should show how Opportunities and Capabilities relate to Freedom.  Sen equates freedom with justice.  In Fair Trade, producers are able to realize more Capabilities through skills and management training.  They are able to grow their Opportunities through Fair Trade’s market access and sales.  This leads to an expansion of Freedom, and ultimately justice.  Thus Fair Trade grows justice.  Ideally this is how the Fair Trade model is set up to work.  But it does not always happen this way.

If something happens and skills are developed but not the Fair Trade markets (i.e. there is a glut of Fair Trade coffee, or US/European customers are experiencing negative economic growth and not buying as much as they usually do, or a country is at war), then a producer has grown their Capabilities without realizing Opportunity.  They now enter into a place I labeled “Deprivation.”  Deprivation is a place where people realize that they are being denied their basic freedoms due to circumstances often beyond their control.   It is important to note that people know when they are in Deprivation.  They are aware that things are not working out for them in a fair and just way.

The same scenario holds true for a producer who may have market access (Opportunity) but not the skills or capacity needed for that market (i.e. they can not produce enough garments quickly enough for a western client who is buying in bulk for a large chain of stores, or the rains came early and they can not dry the coffee quickly enough to make the container ship date).  They have the Opportunity but their Capabilities have not grown accordingly.  The producer in this scenario would experience increased Opportunity but not increased Capabilities.  They too would enter into Deprivation. 

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Figure 2. Costs for knitting an adult KUSIKUY sweater.

From KUSIKUY Clothing Co., LLC, 2011.  Adapted with permission.

Fair Trade enables prices to be determined by the producers and supported by Fair Trade buyers.  The KUSIKUY Fair Trade knitters (my company, www.kusikuy.com) price their production in accordance to the model seen above.  This is the pricing structure they created.  It translates to double minimum wage for producers, and an important opportunity for farm women to enter into the wage market.  Fair Trade tends to serve the most underpriviledged of the developign world, in my case (KUSIKUY) it is the indigenous farm woman (Fig. 2).

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Figure 3. Costs of a Fair Trade sweater sold retail in the US.

From T. Stenn, 2011.  Adapted with permission.

However (as we discussed at the conference), the retail side of Fair Trade is not at as evenly structured or transparent (Fig. 3).   Most goods in the US are sold at “keystone” which means a 100% mark-up from the wholesale price.  Some retailers mark up their product even higher than keystone, while others also mark them up less.  Sometimes there are multiple levels of distribution until the client gets the Fair Trade product (i.e. the raw, green, Fair Trade coffee is purchased and roasted by a wholesale buyer and then sold to a distributor who private labels it for sale at a small coffee house) These distribution steps can result in coffee that is sold for 8 to 10 times its original Fair Trade market price of $1.26 a pound.  Some of these product costs are legitimate costs for services, packaging and marketing, though others are added on because the “ethical consumer” market will tolerate the higher costs. 

Consumers assume that a higher Fair Trade retail price means that more money is going to producers.  It is rational for an ethical consumer to purchase a more expensive product against their own economic self interests because of the satisfaction (personal gain) they receive in being able to “give back” and help others through their Fair Trade purchasing.

-------------------------------------------------

Two Last Things…

Fair Trade is made up Four Pillars:  Producers, Consumers, Institutions, and Governments.  All four have to work together in full transparency, reciprocity and trust for Fair trade to truly be fair.  I don’t have a model for this yet – but I can make one…

I also have a Game Theory scenario for producer support in their home country – this would fit into a feminist argument in Fair Trade - look for this coming soon!

Welcome to THE COMMONS -- News and Views for Windham County, Vermont

Time Trade is another great tool to help build a sustainable economy. Here's an article examining my recent experience with it.

Welcome to THE COMMONS -- News and Views for Windham County, Vermont

SEEKING DONATIONS

 SEEKING DONATIONS (tax deductible)

I'm now fundraising for $5,000 (to cover travel expenses) for my post doc research. 

I'm returning to Bolivia (and Peru) in May 2012 to further explore the effects of trade on indigenous women - through comparative studies:  Peru vs Bolivia, informal sector vs fair trade, and to look at a larger group of knitters to see if my initial findings still hold true. 

All will be published in a book I'm writing this summer.  Donations will cover travel costs. 

Donors will be thanked in the book and receive a signed copy(s).  Any amount is appreciated $20, $50, $100...? and tax deductible.  Please send payments to Ayllu, Inc., PO Box 2154, Brattleboro, VT  05303.

Please pass this along - thanks! 

More information on Ayllu:  http://www.jadejourneys.org/ayllu/test.html

Meet a KUSIKUY Knitter

KUSIKUY is proud to announce that Emilia Laime will be visiting universities in the US in November - sharing her experiences with Fair Trade, climate change, community organizing and women's rights.  See her at:
Keene State College, Keene, NH http://sites.keene.edu/symposium2011/schedule/
Antioch, Keene, NH http://sites.keene.edu/symposium2011/schedule/
Sienna College: http://www.siena.edu
And more...
Special thanks to Keene State College for funding Emilia's travel.

Fair Trade Towns » brattleboro-vt

Fair Trade Towns » brattleboro-vt

Do you want to talk Fair Trade? Meet at Mocha Joe's on Main St., Brattleboro VT to talk and plan. Wednesdays 8:45am - 9:45am. Brattleboro, VT is the 2nd Fair Trade Town in the US.

Buy Local - Buy Fair

Buy Local, Buy Fair is the new theme for our 2012 KUSIKUY Collection.  The catalog photo shoot took place at the Brattleboro Farmers' Market, where farmers such as Lilac Ridge, Duttons, and Dwight Miller sell their local, organic produce.  Learn about our local market here: http://www.brattleborofarmersmarket.com/  Visit http://www.kusikuy.com to browse KUSIKUY's newest eco-ethical designs for 2012.

KUSIKUY, always Fair Trade,  links global communities - farmer to farmer and global citizens - people to people.  As we understand and support each other, we move closer to creating a just and fair world.

Our newest product, THE ALPACA WRAPPER, is a celebration of the whimsy and thrift of the KUSIKUY knitters.  Hand knit of of extra alpaca yarn, it is an eco-alternative to paper coffee cup sleeves.  It can be saved and reused hundreds of time and naturally felts and improves with age.  The ALPACA WRAPPER keeps beverages hot and hands cool.  It also doubles as a wrist warmer and a great conversation starter.

Learn more at http://www.kusikuy.com/product.php?productid=16734&cat=282&page=1

Trading time instead of a dime

Trade can be fair in many ways, even within our own local communities.  Here's a recent experience I had with a different type of "fair trade."

I needed some light electrical work done in my house, the installation of a new closet light, porch light and outdoor outlet.  I called a local electrician and received a quote of $65 an hour with the promise of a few hours of work plus materials.  Hmmm.  Then I went to Brattleboro Time trade and listed my electrical installation needs.  Within a few days two local men offered to do the work, for free.  Well almost for free.  They would be getting paid in time.

However much time it took them to do the job, plus travel (I live in Marlboro), was how much time I would deposit into their online time bank account.  The fact that I recently joined the Brattleboro Time Trade and had less than two hours in my account (for attending the orientation meeting and setting up my online account) did not matter.  Like the rest of the country, I was entering into a deficit and the Time Bank was willing to take me on. 

Both men were from my local community and one was a semi-retired electrical engineer.  I took up the engineer’s offer and once he returned from his trip to Cuba and I from Canada, he was in my home wiring, drilling, and making that electrical magic happen.  But it was not just electrical magic which was happening, a change took place.  He was not just a contractor to me.   I was not paying him money for his services.  So the informal niceties, hoping he does a good quick job, and “let me know how I can help” while the dollar meter is ticking in my head and I’m secretly hoping this guy leaves quickly so my bill is not so high, does not happen.   Instead there is a feeling of camaraderie, wonder, and appreciation. 

I think to myself, “this person is here to help me.”  This was a person who I only casually knew in town and now he was in my home doing me a big favor.  The time I was paying did have some of the same feeling as money, because often I feel that I do not have enough time – just like sometimes I feel I do not have enough money.   I did find myself on several occasions calculating the time cost of the job and wondering how I would ever re-pay it, but it was a different feeling.  I felt equal in our ability to share and work together.  Money creates great inequality, someone might have more than someone else, it is hard to change that.  With time, it is always there, albeit however busy we are.   Each day we start out with 24 hours - every day guaranteed, no matter what our educational background or socio-economic condition, the time is there.   We all begin with the same 24-hour deposit into our daily account.  This creates a feeling of abundance, rather than the feelings of scarcity, which monetary funds (or a lack of) bring.

So the relationship shifted.  Though I had planned to do my own work when he was working, I found I could not concentrate.  My curiosity was killing me.  Who was this person?  Why was he in the Time Trade?  What had he traded? (a ride to the airport) How had it been?  How did he learn to work with electricity?  Suddenly I was intrigued.  I wondered over to chat and we chatted for hours.  It was delightful.  We found we were alma matter from the same grad school (SIT), shared a love of travel, laughed over the trials and tribulations of both having been Brattleboro landlords, and had similar political views.  The job took hours longer than I had thought it would.  I made him snack, we shared lunch together out on the porch, I offered him vegetables from our garden, played with his dog.  It was great.  I felt like I made a new friend.

            After five hours had passed, “we” were almost finished.  I had begun to feel a responsibility for the job too.  I felt bad about “using up” so much of his time, though he assured me it was OK, it was what he wanted to be doing.   My closet finally had a light, the porch light was wired and just about ready to go.  He would have to come back to finish, we had about an hour left. I found myself looking forward to his return as much as I was looking forward to being able to finally see my front steps at night.

Researching Time Trade I learned that it was dreamed up in the 1980s by Antioch law School founder, Dr. Edgar S. Cahn, as he recovered from a heart attack at age 46.  He saw Time Dollars as a “new currency” which would provide a solution to the massive cuts in government spending on social welfare which were taking place then (as is now).  It was a process, but the idea evolved to become a growing global model.  There are now Time Banks in Canada, Chile, Curacao, Dominican Republic, Israel, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, South Korea, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom. 

The US Time trade mission, according to their web site, www.timebanks.org, is about rebuilding communities through economic and social system reform, human empowerment and a contribution to each other’s well-being.   This is summed up as, “strengthening communities through reciprocity.”  The language was familiar.  I had just finished my doctoral thesis on the Effects of Fair Trade on Bolivia’s Indigenous Women.  While the US Fair Trade model helped to bring greater social and economic justice to these women, it was a hollow monetary benefit.  There was something more which was missing. 

Bolivia recently re-wrote their constitution centered around the indigenous concept of “Suma Qamana” or “good living” (as opposed to the “good life” which US people are thought to pursue – better cars, bigger houses, more things).  Good living was associated with well-being – it was having community, support and food, getting basic needs met both physically and socially.  This, claimed the Bolivians, was achieved through reciprocity.  Until now, I found this hard to define.

I re-read the Time Trade mission; “strengthening communities through reciprocity.”  There was that elusive word again.  I had understood it as a vague “give and take.”  The Brattleboro Time Trade site explained reciprocity more deeply.  While reciprocity was a “two-way street,” they elaborated that, “people that only receive end up feeling dis-empowered, as though they have nothing to offer. People that only give often gain an inflated sense of their own importance. Reciprocity leads to mutual respect.” 

I remembered feeling guilty as I saw my poor Time Trade helper sweating as he worked on my porch light, black jeans and shirt on a hot summer day.  I quickly ran to my garden to see if there were vegetables I could offer him (he did not cook).  I realize now, I had been trying to counter the feeling of “dis-empowernment” I felt at the moment, as I solely received.  This was the same feeling the knitters felt as they were well paid for their work through the Fair Trade model.  The knitters were grateful for their monetary earnings, but like me, they wanted to be able to give something back, to engage in reciprocity and develop that sense of mutual respect. 

And so on a quiet Sunday morning I awoke with these thoughts drifting in from an already forgotten dream.  Waking up while tapping on my keypad, the thoughts solidified to this article.  Now two hours later, I feel a sense of awe at our great community and the things we bring to each other.  The Time Banks web page is peppered with the names of local supporters, SoverNet, Post Oil Solutions, Brattleboro Savings & Loan, New England Grassroots Environmental Fund, Delta Energy Group, Vermont Community Foundation, the Thomas Thompson Trust and many more.  On a personal level, I feel I just found a new friend in our community and in the Time Bank and the people who are a part of it.  I also feel a welling sense of generosity, gratefulness, support and caring as I realize that this is a community that can be relied upon.  After living here ten years, Brattleboro still brings surprises, new faces and wonderful connections.  And in the most enjoyable, joyful way, through writing which I love to do, I just earned two hours of time for my Time Bank account. 

For more information or to join Time Trade please call 802-246-1699, or visit www. brattlebortimetrade.org, or stop by their office at 15 Grove Street, Brattleboro.