Asha Handicrafts

Still Running for Fairer Trade

Vithal Kamblie is back! To promote the Fair Trade at Mumbai Marathon 2012 edition in his own unique way.

Last year Vitthal sacrificed his hair for fair trade. He made his shaved head available for painting the WFTO Logo and to appeal to the onlookers to “Make Trade Fair”.

As expected he drew a lot of eyeballs even though he set off for his marathon quest very early in the morning.

The young and the old, runners and on lookers got his message to Make Trade Fair by their decisions to buy and demands for fairly traded products.

On 15^th January 2012 Vithal Kamblie and Laxman Malusare are all set for an encore as they Run For Fairer Trade. A campaign supported by Asha Handicrafts, An Association Assisting Artisans.

You too partner with Asha Handicrafts to make a difference to Indian artisans. You can support the cause by personally donating any amount, by promoting this event on your social network.

To learn more about the projects that you can support and impact they make on lives of artisans and their families, write to : asharesources@gmail.com

Through regular follow-up visits and encouraging artisans to maintain documents, we have made progress in fair trade monitoring. Having analyzed the data received, we have documented that on an average artisans earned US$4.38 per day while making handicraft fair trade products for us. This in turn translates into a monthly income of over USD 100 which in the Indian scenario for artisans is a fairly decent wage.

Opportunities were created to identify the ongoing market trends in Europe and interact with the buyers of Fair Trade Organizations as well as meet the typical consumer of fair trade products through participating in the Saarthee Programme which supports Business Development Services (BDS), to develop high quality and effective business counseling services for pro-poor Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs),

Producers from all over India were introduced to customers’ profiles & preferences, product selection process and design inspirations. Working with story boards, preparation & new trend conclusions as well as ways & ideas to be incorporated into their designs to make products more effective & saleable were taught in detail. Quality standards demanded by US customers which have to be adhered to by Indian producers was documented in detail.

Representatives from various partners came to study the impact of Fair Trade on Indian producers & artisans, and the social development. The Groups visited producers and artisans from Agra, Jaipur, Moradabad and Delhi. The hallmark of the tour enabled the group visit artisans’ houses, social projects and to get to know more about the life style of the artisans and the development that Asha has brought in their lives. The tour has helped the members to know in depth about the impact of Fair Trade on artisans and this in turn will enable them to sell more Fair Trade products in their shops by communicating this message to the consumers.

The Setem Group basically works with Fair Trade shops in Spain as volunteers and are involved with Fair Trade advocacy campaigns in Spain. They have completed two major tasks of making a documentary on Asha and a research on “Impact of Asha & Fair Trade on Indian artisans”.