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

Knitters and Consumers

Knitters and Consumers - Building Solidarity

Building direct communication between knitters and consumers would greatly improve the experience of justice on both ends.  Knitters expressed mistrust with pricing structures and no connection with the end users of their products.  More transparency with the wholesaling and retailing of product would enable knitters play a more active role in the production process.  This could lead to new innovations and savings as well.  Engaging consumers with the knitters, for example through social media, could circumvent the effects of greenwashing as people become more trustful of their relationships with producers.

Fair Trade Knitters' thoughts on institutions

Knitters and Institutions

Indigenous women knitters find access to Fair Trade institutions extremely limited, competition fierce, and the benefits questionable.  Fair Trade institutions, though helpful in mitigating risk and helping to collect funds, could be more active in creating more institutional and market accessibility and value for knitters.  Institutions need to better monitor and provide support for members.  For example, poor workplace conditions reported by almost every knitting group, are in violation with Fair Trade institution guidelines and erodes knitter’s experience of justice in their Fair Trade work.  Instruction for creating safe workplaces at home would alleviate this problem.  By creating a relationship of reciprocity, where knitters are regularly involved in institutional Fair Trade decisions, the needs of knitters could more easily be heard and mitigated, building a better and more just relationship for all.

Thinking of Fair Trade

How does Fair Trade advance Justice for indigenous Bolivian women?

Answering how Fair Trade advances justice entails a long, complicated response, beginning with “it depends.”  Fair Trade takes place on multiple levels and includes many different global partners.  These exist in the form of the institutions that bears its name, consumers, producers, and governments.  These diverse elements all come together under the umbrella of Fair Trade, each having significant impacts and importance on each other.  And each is inherently different in itself.  There are different Fair Trade institutions all serving Fair Trade in different ways; different types of consumers defined by gender, age, region, motivation, beliefs; different producers from vastly different countries who are different themselves, men - women, indigenous - non-indigenous,  urban – rural; and new concepts of governance and economic policy.  Justice itself is not easily understood, and in the context of the different facets of Fair Trade it gets even more convoluted. Indigenous women, though important participants of Fair Trade, are virtually invisible in Fair Trade literature.  Giving voice to the these women through ethnographic study enables the impact of Fair Trade to be understood from their perspective.  Applying the knitter’s experiences to lessons learned through literature and research helps to clarify the experience of Fair Trade amongst Bolivia’s indigenous women illuminating the ways in which justice is served, and not, and identifying new ways in which to advance justice.