Kala
Raksha, India
Kala Raksha is a non profit organisation.
It began it’s work in Kutch, Gujarat
with 20 suf embroiderers who had migrated
from Sindh. In a decade, they grew to over
500 women from seven different communities,
all traditional artisans from relatively
marginalised populations.
In each community Kala
Raksha first forms a group, based on mutual
responsibility. Artisans come to the centre
for workshops and meetings. Trained, salaried
staff from the artisans respective communities,
connect them to the Trust through income
generation activities.
Shrujan
Shrujan is a not for profit
trust. Income that is generated is returned
to the project.
The organisational structure ensures personal
and economic support to the women. Shrujan
provides all the materials and pays the
women immediately on completion of each
piece of embroidery. As much as possible,
responsibility for production is delegated
to village women called entrepreneurs who
have been trained in organisational and
business skills. If the work load warrants
it, an Entrepreneur may delegate to a Sub-entrepreneur.
This structure ensures that at the village
level, management is always evolving, with
training and responsibility being passed
on to younger women.
KMVS
Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan
is a collective of rural women from 130
villages of Kutch, striving for their socioeconomic
and political empowerment. Of around 4,000
KMVS members, 1,200 are traditional craftswomen,
who have come together to form self sustaining
producer groups.
Thanks to their sustained efforts over
the last decade, these women have helped
each other, their families and heir communities
extricate themselves from a vicious downward
spiral of commercial exploitation by middlemen
and traders, being forced to become daily
or piece wage labourers, some even abandoning
their traditional occupations.
Fair Trade Producers
in India
