For
a small group of nine women in a
village near Tarapur, life may just
have taken an unexpected turn for
the better. As part of its commitment
to work with small artisans and
facilitate market linkages for them,
Sandhi was instrumental in putting
together this group of nine women
who were at the time engaged in
beading low value jewellery for
a local agent. Each woman was earning
a wage of Rs. 25 ( 50 cents) for
beading 100 grams of beads and the
task usually took three days to
complete. Although the women only
had knowledge of an activity that
required a low level of skill, Sandhi
wanted to explore the possibility
of providing them with better work
and wages.
Sandhi obtained an export order
for beaded jewellery from the League
of Artisans (LoA) a not for profit
NGO, set up by the American Indian
Foundation (AIF) that facilitates
sustained improvement in the economic
and living conditions of underprivileged
artisans by creating an international
marketplace for their products.
LoA operates out of USA and Sandhi,
as LoA's partner in India, manages
all activities related to India.
Sandhi trained the village women
over three days at Tarapur. They
were then assigned to produce 250
pieces of jewellery spanning 5 distinct
styles in the first phase. Later,
a leader and an assistant were identified
from the same group to monitor the
work. Since the women were not formally
organised and had no financial resources
for working capital, Sandhi procured
raw materials from Jaipur. 196 pieces
of jewellery have already been despatched
as part of the first consignment
and the remaining will be completed
soon after. Sandhi also plans to
make this a home-based activity
so that the women are able to take
kits back home and bring back finished
products to a common location.
As a result of this project, daily
wages earned by each woman went
up to Rs 25 (50 cents) from the
Rs 8 (16cents) they were earning
previously. Although there are profits
in addition to the expenses incurred
on wages and raw materials, Sandhi
plans to plough these back into
a (future) common women's fund. |
