Marketing

Q. ADS has been involved in selling handicrafts earlier (as part of the Rural Technology Workshop). Were linkages with marketing agencies established then and what was the experience ? What kind of external agencies is ADS seeking to be independent of in the future ? What are the pros and cons of supplying finished goods to a separate retailer/agencies as opposed to trying to market it on its own?

Project Implementation

Q. Will the  first set of trainees help in training more people in the future ?

Q. The schoolgirl training is not described very well. What is its duration likely to be, which classes are being targetted (8th,10th etc?)  Which schools will these girls be coming from ? If its not the one that ADS has set up, have they had previous interaction with these schools in a similar program ?

Q. Why is it necessary to give a stipend to the trainees ? Are they involved in some income-generating activity that has to be given up to receive training ? What is the duration/frequency of the training ( 1 hr/day etc) ? Or  is the stipend necessary to motivate them to learn the new skills ? Given the success of the 30 youth in improving their income generation capabilities, how aware are the potential trainees of the importance of acquiring new skills ?

Q. Will one master craftsman be sufficient to give all the training required ? Is he/she going to be hired especially for this project or is there someone already working with ADS who  needs to be compensated for the extra time spent ?
 
Q. Are most of the raw materials available locally ? There was a mention of ADS trying to grow bamboo locally. How successful has this been - can it sustain the bamboo/cane needs of  this project ?

Q. How does tailoring fit into the project? Is it for school girls only or the women and handicapped too ?

Q. Would it be possible to have more than 8 people  given the relatively high set up costs ?  What would it cost to have a larger number of people trained initially ?

Q. What is the expected income/sales of the products from this project (based on experiences with the Rural Technology Workshop) ?
 

(Breakdown from proposal included for reference)
 

No.	Particulars	total Amount	ADS Contribution	Amount required
1.	Training shed	1,50,000.00	1,50,000.00	0.00
2.	Stipend for eight trainees @ Rs.750 per month per trainee for a period of one year	72,000.00	0.00	72,000.00
3.	Honorarium to one master craftperson @ Rs.1,200 per month	14,400.00	0.00	14,400.00
4.	Tools & Equipment for wood, bamboo and stitching (list given below)	55,000.00	5,000.00	50,000.00
5.	Raw materials (bamboo, softwood, cotton cloth)	30,000.00	10,000.00	20,000.00
6.	Consummables (thread, needles, inks, dyes, varnish, nails, etc.)	15,000.00	5,000.00	10,000.00
7.	Support for marketing of handicrafts	15,000.00	10,000.00	5,000.00
8.	Furniture (cupboards, tables, chairs, fans)	15,000.00	15,000.00	0.00
	Total	3,66,400.00	1,95,000.00	1,71,400.00

 

Sustainability
 
Q. Out of the total amount of 1,71,400 required from an external agency, items 2,3,5,6,7 totalling 1,21,400 would be needed in each subsequent year of operations. Will ADS continue to need this kind of support from an external agency (such as AID) or are there any plans to make the project self-sustaining ?
 
Q. The setup costs (shed,furniture,tools) are fairly large. What if funding does not come through for the stipend+raw material part of the program next year. Will the equipment be used for their other programs ?

Q. Will the equipment be given to the trainees to start their own business or retained for future training programs ? How will the trainees get their own equipment after they finish training ?

Q. Is the training shed specific to this project ? Is it already in place or does it need to be built ? How will its construction time affect the starting of the project ?

Q. What are the costs incurred for training the schoolgirls (other than the equipment costs for sewing machines and consumables) ?
 

General

Q. What are the sources of funds for the other programs run by ADS ? How much is the local component ?

Q. What is the structure of the Executive Commitee of ADS ? Are there local people in it, volunteers from Mumbai ?

Q. What were the sales/production of similar items produced by the Rural Technology Workshop in the years previous to 1998 ?

Q.  How do cloth bags (to be produced by the schoolgirls) compare to the plastic ones in terms of price and sales ? What has been your experience regarding the advocacy of environment friendly practices even if they may be costlier in the short run ?

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Suggestions ? Anything important left out ?

Please contact one of the  project coordinators listed in the  [ADS Project Home]

Last modified: Sept  15, 1999 by Shailabh Nagar (nagar@cse.psu.edu)