Investigating Fair Trade through Global Exchange

Through my "Ethics, Methods, and Pragmatics of Global Practice Course," which I am taking this semester in preparation for my experience as a Nest Fellow, I have been conducting a number of "Methods Workshops" to practice skills and techniques that I may use this summer in Guatemala, such as taking fieldnotes, interviewing, conducting surveys, and visual documentation. For these workshops, I've visited Global Exchange, a Fair Trade store in downtown Berkeley, to explore the relationship between the store, its customers, and its employees, and to investigate the extent to which the customers and employees identify with and/or support the ideals and principles behind the Fair Trade movement that the store is founded upon.

Through these Methods Workshops, what struck me most about Global Exchange was how much effort the store makes to fulfill its mission statement - "building people-to-people ties" - by posting signs about posters about Fair Trade around the store, including informational tags on each product detailing where, how, why and by whom it was produced, and providing informational cards, flyers, and pamphlets about the store, the Fair Trade movement, and partner organizations for customers both to look at and take home with them. As you can see in the pictures below, to me, all of these initiatives demonstrate Global Exchange's dedication not just to providing access to Fair Trade goods but also to inform its clientele about the Fair Trade movement and the developing world, and to help connect consumers to the products they are purchasing and the producers who made them.

Posters on the front window present information about Global Exchange's support of World Fair Trade Day, held the second Saturday of May. In 2011, for the second year, Global Exchange will offer a "Fair Trade Coffee Break" to customers and passersby, by distributing Fair Trade coffee and chocolate as well as information about Fair Trade at tables outside of the store.

Before entering the store, customers are greeted by a
hand-written sign, explaining the store's mission statement
and its connection with Fair Trade.

Nearby (or attached to) each product is an informational tag, with details
such as how and why the product was made, where the product comes from,
and who the producers of the product are.

A stack of information cards accompanies many of the products sold at

Global Exchange, that customers can take home to share with their friends and family

or to remember important details about their favorite products.

3 Months until Guatemala!

Over the past two months, the pieces for my Nest Summer Fellowship have slowly been falling together, first with being selected for the amazing opportunity of serving as a Nest Summer Fellow in Panajachel, Guatemala, then with receiving a grant from UC Berkeley’s Global Poverty and Practice program covering the costs of nearly the entire Fellowship, and finally with extensive research about the site, health and safety measures, and position requirements. At this point, with three months remaining until I embark on my Summer Fellowship to Guatemala, I am both excited and anxious to learn more about the position and begin preparing for what is sure to be a life-changing experience.

As a student in the Global Poverty and Practice minor at UC Berkeley, I am currently enrolled in a course called “The Ethics, Methods, and Pragmatics of Global Practice,” along with 40 other students who will each be embarking on their own unique Global Poverty Practice Experience this coming summer. In addition to serving as a forum for each of us to share our thoughts, qualms, and excitements about each of our upcoming experiences, this course has challenged me to learn about (and practice!) a variety of research methods – including taking fieldnotes, conducting interviews and surveys, and taking visual documentation – all of which I’m sure will be incredibly beneficial to my experience as a Nest Fellow. I have also been working on an extensive literature review, exploring a vast mountain of literature related to the highlands of Guatemala, microfinance (and the context behind Nest’s unique microbarter model), and the effects of globalization and increased access to the global market on the indigenous communities that I will be working with in Guatemala. My research has been fascinating so far, and through preparing my literature review I hope to arrive in Guatemala will a rich background on the communities that I will be working with and on the context behind the work that I will be doing.

What most excites me about being selected as a Nest Summer Fellow is the opportunity to experience microfinance work firsthand, in the field, after nearly a year of researching and discussing microfinance and its role in international development in a classroom setting. I’ve learned that despite its immense promise, microfinance is not a panacea for development, and I am excited to work with an organization with such a unique and innovative form of microfinance that seeks to avoid the high interest rates, predatory lending practices, and exploitation that have been seen to characterize many traditional forms of microfinance.

I can’t claim to be completely worry-free about this experience, however. Though I have traveled extensively and spent entire summers in both Ecuador and Spain on language immersion programs, I have never traveled or lived independently for such an extended period of time in a completely foreign country. I am thrilled to be joined on my Fellowship by another Nest Summer Fellow, but I know that the two of us will have to take extra precautions traveling as two, young, American women in a foreign country, and I know that my Spanish language skills could definitely use some brushing-up before I leave in June! Nonetheless, I can’t wait to book my flights, pack my bags for Guatemala, and begin what is sure to be an incredibly fulfilling summer!

My Qualifications as a Nest Summer Fellow

Incorporating my position as a Nest Summer Fellow into my Global Poverty & Practice minor at UC Berkeley would provide both Nest and myself with a rather unique opportunity.  Through the Global Poverty & Practice minor, which combines a core curriculum on the analysis of global poverty with an individualized practice experience, I will first complete a preparatory course to gain background information and develop skills pertinent to my work as a Nest Summer Fellow, and I will complete a reflection course and related elective courses upon returning. This will enable me to begin the Fellowship with a clear understanding of microfinance, international development, and non-profit work, which in turn would permit me to contribute more to the Fellowship than would a typical Fellow. Apart from my Global Poverty & Practice program, my diverse experiences in international relations and development, including five years of participation and leadership in Model United Nations, internships with the World Affairs Councils of America (a non-profit dedicated to spreading awareness about foreign affairs to the American public) and the East Bay Sanctuary Covenant (a local immigrant and refugee sanctuary), and study abroad experiences in Spain and Ecuador will further allow me to bring expertise, dedication, and experience to the position.