It was inspiring to finally meet Dr Sara Parker who is a professor and reader at John Moores University Liverpool.
Dr Parker has spent the past 30 years researching Nepal in particular Sikles a town in Nepal and supporting fairtrade producers WEAVE in Pokhara.
She has written and designed a fairtrade puppet set for children called Fairis the Frog and established her own company Fair Connections and Fair Connections Foundation supporting local schools in Nepal.
For every fair trade puppet set purchased one is donated to a school in Nepal educating children in the most rural areas and regions.
Fairis the Frog and friend
Fairis the Frog and Friends
I was asked to perform the puppet show at the International Fair Trade Town's Conference Baskinta, Lebanon July 2016. Many fairtrade co-ordinators along with members from Movement Sociale watched my impromptu fair trade puppet show.
I am very grateful to my two friends Yara and Hala who enjoyed working with Fairis the Frog, Chalak the Monkey, Chu Maya and Ram Kali.
Many thanks to William Goldstein Fair Trade Coordinator Fair Trade Towns America for taking photographs of the puppet show.
The photograph below was taken by Dr Parker and posted to Instagram April 2017 when we met Manchester, UK
Dr Sara Parker and ME!
Dr Parker writing in my guest book
Dr Parker's motivating comments below
''Sabeena, so lovely to actually meet you in person, feeling really inspired and must definitely come to see you in Dubai.
I'd love to come and do some workshops with you and help you inspire others to think about where their products come from.
I'm sure this will be the first of many meetings and hope you can get to the WFTO in India in November!
Keep up all your good work as well as developing your business you also need to keep up your activism!
We all know the impact we can have - let's multiply that by working that together.
Here's to a world where we don't need anymore campaigning!
Namaste! Sara
#WeCanChangeTheWorld''
Due to my torn ligament I hope to upload Dr Parkers interviews soon.
Dr Sarah Parker - Fair Connections
Sara is a Reader in Development Studies and Level 4 Tutor for the Sociology and Criminology Sociology students at LJMU. She has worked at LJMU since 1994 and teaches modules on Globalisation and Development at Level 4, Qualitative Research methods in Level 5 and an International Field Work module at Level 6.
Passionate about participatory action research with strong research links in Nepal, Sara has been teaching in the School of Social Science since 1994. She completed her PhD on Actionaid's RELECT programme in the remote mountainous village of Sikles in the Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal. Leading on from this she facilitated a community photography project which led to the publication of a coffee table book entitled 'Our Village Our Life Sikles in Focus' featuring photographs taken by local people. This project challenges stereotypical images of Nepal and focuses on local people representing their own reality. It brought together women's groups. youth group members and teachers and children in the local school and led to funds being raised for locally determined autonomous development projects.
Sara has also researched and published in the areas of gender and education, ageing in Nepal and more recently on the rise of fair trade in the 'Global South'. She has presented papers at the Fair Trade International Symposium in Mila, (May 2015) and is presenting a paper at the 4th International Visual Methods Conference in September 2015.
Sara's research interests are embedded into her teaching on modules such as World Development, Global Consumption, Methods and International Fieldwork modules. She has led field trips to China, Nepal and Brussels.
In addition to this Sara has recently founded a Community Interest Company, Fair Connections (Global) CIC, to develop materials and resources for the primary school curriculum on the topic of fair trade (two words!) and Nepal. She has co-written a story book aimed at primary school children in Key Stage one and two, entitled 'Adventures of Fairis a Nepali Frog'. An educational material and resources have been developed by Sara to support this story including a handmade fair trade based 'Global International Fair Trade Story Sack'. This is having a direct impact on the lives of people in Nepal by expanding the market for products made by WFTO members in Nepal. Fair Connections is providing internship opportunities for students at LJMU to develop their employability skills and gain invaluable experiences related to both ethical business and education - wee www.fairconnections.org and also a foundation www.fairconnectionsfoundation.org
She is also passionate about photography and travel and utilises a range of visual and participatory methods in her teaching, research and community engagement.
Nepali
French
2005, Liverpool John Moores University, United Kingdom, PhD
1994, University of Bath, United Kingdom, MSc Development Studies
1989, University of Leeds, United Kingdom, BA (HOns) Geography
Further Reading and Links
This month I supported fairtrade fortnight 2024 and celebrated Fairtrade's 30th Anniversary.
This month my right shoulder is still very painful and I have struggled to record this vlog and type this blog.
I finally managed to record videos for my Six Items Challenge 2024 and upload them to my YouTube Channel.
Translation in Urdu
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I'm Sabeena Ahmed owner and creator of The Little Fair Trade Shop. I've been an individual associate member of the World Fair Trade Organization since 2011 and together with my artisans I bring you a bespoke collection of ethically sourced fashion & gifts.
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