STATUS REPORT OF ADS BAMBOO TRAINING PROJECT

From: (Peter Bakos) bambooindia@vsnl.net
Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2001

We would firstly like to thank you all for enabling us to undertake our tribal women’s craft training for self-sufficiency  project  here at ADS.

Our Project Has now completed  one year in December 2000. We feel that the project has been very successful in achieving most of the objectives we had set for ourselves. The Bamboo craft training for tribal women and the disabled has produced exceedingly favourable results. Unfortunately due to need for me to periodically leave the country, to renew my visa (as I am here voluntarily from Australia), the making of cloth bags with the local girl school children suffered some what. We had requested to Aravinda & Ravi,   for an extension on the project to successfully complete the entire project objective. The woodworking part of the project had to be dropped due to unavailbility of funds for the band saw as this was a priority factor in the activity. We had tried to obtain other sources of funding to no avail. We propose to submit a proposal to various agencies primarily focusing on woodcraft as the prototype designs have created enthusiastic response.

In answer to the questions you had asked :

  1. What specific bamboo products were the trainees taught to make?

    The trainees were taught the fundamentals of bamboo preparation for product development and production, Natural dyeing techniques ( including techniques developed by  I.D.C. I.I.T. Mumbai  ) Natural finishes and finishing , tool handling  and use of jigs and exposed to various market potential’s.

    The specific products the trainees were taught to make were in total around sixty items over the one year period. The products ranged from traditional  styled baskets to intricate fine bamboo basketry of Japanese and Malasian  origin. Other products included wall hangings, pen stands, fans, jewellery, containers, pens, office sets, table mats etc.

  2. What are the future plans of the tranees? Have the trainees formed co-operatives to sell their products? Are any of them interested in training more people as originally expected?

    The trainees have now discontinued attending  ADS Bamboo workshop and they are now producing items from their villages, ADS Bamboo workshop will conduct the marketing , quality control, packaging and orders. Of the women trained under the project all are currently producing items in their spare time as other chores take up a good percentage of their day, the average supplementary income earned by these women over the last month is Rs 600/- ( when you consider that the average annual family income for the region is only around Rs4000/- 5000/- this amounts to a purely sustainable vocation and enables the women considerably more say not only in family matters but also in village decisions.)

    The project has empowered all of the trainees considerably. In particular, the disabled women named Dharmi, when she started she was a very shy and timid lady who had spent her life as a burden upon her family. She was not physically able to carry out most of the regular daily activities carried out by the other women in the village such as water and fuel wood collection.  When I had first visited Dharmi in her village at the project commencement  she was quietly sitting at home whilst the rest of her family members were out working (collecting fuel wood ,water and fishing.) Recently I had visited Dharmi in the village and was met with a totally different scene, she proudly took me around the village and introduced me to various village authorities( were we took the traditional tea) and showed me ongoing activities within the village and its infrastructure such as rice grain bank, flour mill, village shops etc. Through a village socio-economic survey assessment, a village near Dharmi’s was selected and 16 potential women trainees  identified, Dharmi has now started to regularly attend the village conduct training for these women.(support for funding has been submitted to AID for this activity through Aravinda & Ravi )

    Another of the trainees has been given the fulltime  role of Quality control and artisans assistance(to provide help to artisans in obtaining consumables, raw materials and production of items)and to assess other potential trainees and villages. Gulab has been given this role due to a number of factors including her exceptional comprehension of the craft and due to her home situation where she is the second wife and if at home is expected to carry out the household chores. When she had first returned to her village and was sitting in the shade of her verandah contentedly producing Bamboo items , it produced severe jealousy amongst the other women in the household as they were out in the hot sun walking many miles to collect fuel wood and water  etc. they disallowed her to continue the art of Bamboo whilst she was at home. She had asked if we had any solutions to her problem as she enjoyed  working with Bamboo and felt that she had really attained a great skill and did not just want to waste it.

  3. Have efforts been made to get support for the purchase of essential tools for the trainees through existing government schemes for skilled artisans(as was mentioned by ADS in previous project proposal correspondence)?

    All the artisans where given the own personal basic tools at the commencement of the project,  and we felt that as they had become familiar with working with these tools over their training period that it was best that they keep the tools and that we purchase new tools for the next batch of trainees.  Artisans will also be supplied with the nesseccesary jigs and fixtures to aid in the production of various Bamboo items as orders arrise. These jigs and fixtures have been developed in association with I.D.C.of  I.I.T. Mumbai .

    Where a number of artisans have been trained from the same village we will approach for government funding for a suitable 'in-situ' work area with some semi-processing equipment.  

  4. Are the products been sold and if yes, where? Can you give some specific examples?

    To date the products have been marketed to a select few as supply is very limited, there has been a good deal of interest for the products from both national and inter-national parties but most require large quantities. We have supplied some stock to the AID SHOP in Mumbai and a small shipment has been sent to Australia and America. Regular sales from the ADS workshop have been taking place since the commencement  of the project. We are now currently trying to obtain some funding for working capital so we can procure products from the artisan and build up a stock of items to supply the market demands.

  5. Have direct links been made with shops to sell the products? Are the trainees involved in the marketing aspects?

    As mentioned above:
    To date the products have been marketed to a select few as supply is very limited, the only shop that has been regularly supplied with items is the AID SHOP, trainees have been  responsible for maketing the products direct to the public and have been exposed to various city markets and the sale potential of their products.

  6. Approximately how many girls were trained in sewing (making bags)? How are the bags made being used?

    As mentioned earlier, this sector of the project has unfortunately suffered due to unforseen circumstances, hence only a token attempt has been attained, the cloth bags will be sold in the villages as an attempt to encourage the use of environmentally- friendly alternatives to the currently used plastic bag. This sector of the project is now being fully concentrated on and Assistance of the Development Commission, Handicrafts Regional Design and Technical Development Centre ,Mumbai has been sought to enhance and encourage the sale of bags with block print designs developed at RD&TDC.

  7. How successful was the workshop that was conducted for the artisans of the area(the request for support for this workshop came separately from the original proposal)? How many people attended? Where were the workshops held?

    To date , three of the four sponsored workshops have been conducted in selected in-situ area’s,

    1. The first being held in The District of Murbad, where 50 traditional Bamboo artisans have formed a society through the encouragement of ADS. The Tribal village selected for the workshop has 80 households of which more than 60 are involved in making baskets for their living (either part time or full time). As this idea of a workshop was a totally new concept to the people of the village and even though some renumeration for their time was offered to them, they found it difficult to spend more than a few hours at a time with the workshop. The women in particular had the most difficult time as their daily chores could not be renumerated in money terms. The overall acceptance to the designs introduced was extremely enthusiastic and the participants had requested that more such workshops be conducted with them in the near future. During the workshop 3 new and innovative designs and concepts were introduced and the benefits of such designs explained to the participants.

    2. The second workshop was conducted during a major fair where bamboo artisans from all around the region gather to sell their wares. The fair runs over a period of one week so it was decided that we would take a stall there over the whole period and set up a demonstration workshop whereby our newly trained artisans interacted with the artisans who had come to sell their baskets. The benefits of our innovative designs were explained to these artisans who then took the time to come and learnt the art of making the new products. The overal enthusiasm was extremely encouraging and we have now identified a number of new villages whereby we can conduct future such workshops. The total number of attendees over the week was around 30-40 people. Because all of the artisans who attended the fair were primarily there to sell their product they could not spare any great deal of time away from their stalls (especially over the two main market days.) But as we spent the entire period there we were able to ring the quiet periods.

    3. Unfortunately the last workshop we had arranged to conduct was not so successful. It was also arranged during a major fair in a nearby region and a stall booked for the three day period, but the information we had been given about the attendance of artisans was incorrect . The program had to be cancelled but on returning to ADS we met with a small Burrad (bamboo working )community who showed a great deal of interest in learning new designs and opening up their marketing potentials. We propose to return and conduct a workshop with them in the near future and see if we can arrange for a wider market for their products.

    At present all the artisans make a single product, the market is saturated with this product,  so the buyers can offer very little to the artisans as there is no competition and they know that all the artisans work from hand to mouth (if they don’t sell their baskets at market then they and their families don’t eat till next market day). The Bamboo is not available in their own village and has to be brought from a good distance away either by bullock cart or carried upon their heads. From a single culm of bamboo they can currently produce about three baskets bringing in a total income of around Rs 60/- of which Rs 30/- is the cost of the culm..The new designs introduced can generate as much as Rs 500/- from the same single culm!!! And these are only some of the many other benefits of these new and innovative designs will enable the artisans.

  8. How successful has the vegetable dyeing been in making these bamboo product?

    The natural dyeing techniques introduced to the artisans has not only greatly enhanced the designs and finish of the bamboo products but has also inspired them to develop and create their own designs and colour combinations. The introduction of natural colours have also helped to create a desirable market to the ecologically- conscious consumer. The natural dyes are now being experimented with to enhance the cloth bags with block print also.

  9. What are "field gene banks" mentioned as part of earlier bio-diversity project in the proposal?

    The "field gene Banks" are stands of different species and genus collected from around the country. They have been planted in various plots to ascertain the ideal environment for the best growth. These gene banks provide ideal plant material for research into further propagation techniques, plant material, seed collection  and the ideal environment for education dissemination.

  10. If you had the project over all again over again, what would you keep the same and what would you do differently?

    We have learnt many things from this project and it has given us sound ideas as to how to conduct future training programs. In conducting this program all over again as we propose to do with the Hirechiwadi project ( a copy of which is enclosed ) we feel that a good number of things need changing:

    The stipend and travel of trainees was the major expense of the overall project, with our new approach for training we have eliminated these factors by conducting the training ‘in-situ’. The only expenses that we foresee to be incurred are travel and honorarium for trainer s, consumables and raw materials, tools, documentation and monitoring and some product marketing support. We are confident that with around half of the previous project budget we will be able to train twice as many people with this approach.  As this is an ‘in-situ’ training scheme  many of the younger villagers will be influenced by the skills and wealth attained by trainees during the project period.

    From the analysis of the previous A.I.D. Bamboo training project we feel that it is more conducive for the tribal people’s of the area to comprehend methods and procedures more fully, if training is given stages. trainees start  producing basic products between each stage, this not only gives the trainees confidence to continue working with the art of Bamboo, but can also provide a supplementary income to the trainees during their training period. This is also very beneficial to the continuation and expansion of the art of Bamboo.

    Hirechiwadi Training program will be organised in four stages and will include:

    Please find enclosed:

    1. Project proposal for Hirechiwadi ‘in-situ’ village training
    2. Volunteers notice
    3. Brief note / annual report

Thank you all once again for your gracious support, we look forward to our future association together.

With best regards to you all,
Yours truly,

Pete Bakos
Projects Co-ordinator

PS. We will post you a copy of the video of the training program and send you budget statements to date shortly, thanking you ....  

 [Main]