(Received Sept 21, 1999)
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?
A. The marketing of products coming from the Rural Technology Workshop is done mainly through "Exhibitions-cum-sale" sponsored by the Handicrafts Commissioner (Ministry of Textiles, Government of India) and other agencies like CAPART, etc. who organise periodic exhibitions. Linkages with external marketing agencies were not established and so there is no such experience.
In the present case, efforts will be made to establish direct linkages with shops/ establishments/ agencies who will sell the produce rather than involving middle men. Efforts will be made to train local tribals in marketing aspects so that they will be self-supporting in all respects.
The major advantges of not going through retailers/ agencies are : a) the
profit goes back to artisans rather than the commission agents and b) one has
the freedom to choose sales outlets which are ecologically and socially aware.
So the proposed project will try and market products on its own.
Project Implementation
Q. Will the first set of trainees help in training more people in the future ?
A. That is the basic idea. The first set of trainees will try and train more
people from different villages.
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 ?
A. We admit that the school girl training is not described very well. So let us spell out the details.
ADS runs a school upto 10th standard on its campus. Girls and boys from surrounding villages come to the school. Some of the girls stay in the hostel facilities on ADS campus. They have a lot of free time before and after school hours which can be fruitfully utilised in learning various vocational skills (like for instance, sewing/ stitching).
Girls from standards 6 to 9 will be involved in this activity. The duration
of training will be 1-2 hours depending on the school schedule. For instance,
duration of training will be less before and during examinations. All the girls
will be coming from the ADS school and so there will be no interaction with
other schools where the actual training programme is concerned. However, efforts
will be made to provide an exposure to teachers from other schools to the kind
of work that is being done in the ADS school.
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 ?
A. The trainees for this project will be from tribal families. Tribal communities in this region are socio-economically marginalised. They are dependent on agriculture and forests for their livelihoods. Due to lack of skills most people are forced to to work on unskilled jobs at low wages in order to support their families.
The trainees would otherwise have to work somewhere for earning wages to support their families. A monthly stipend will enable them to complete the training programme and provide for their families.
The training will be for 8 hours a day, six days a week, over a period of one year. The stipend is not intended to motivate them but to meet their basic requirements (food, etc).
Potential trainees are aware that acquiring new skills would provide them
better opportunities for self-employment.
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 ?
A. One master craftsperson is sufficient to train 8 persons. We have already appointed a master craftsperson who will be working fulltime on this project.
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 ?
A. The raw materials to be used for this project are a) Bamboo b) Softwoods like Dudh kudai (Wrightia tinctoria) and c) Cloth. Bamboo and Dudh kudai are available locally. A source of cheap Khadi cloth has been identified in Pune city. Cloth will be procured from this place.
ADS has been successful in raising bamboo plantations in this region. As a
matter of fact, ADS has also established a genepark and nursery of Bamboo
species on its campus with a collection of over 20 species from different parts
of India. ADS has expertise in setting up bamboo plantations and has a
government recognised nursery. The bamboo plantations in this region can sustain
the raw material needs of this project.
Q. How does tailoring fit into the project? Is it for school girls only or the women and handicapped too ?
A. The project is trying to improve livelihood opportunities to the deprived sections within the tribal community (handicapped persons, women and girls). Learning tailoring skills will make available more options to the girls to be self-supporting to some extent after their marriage.
So tailoring may not fit in with "crafts" as such but it is skill that can
provide employment opportunities in this region. It has been included in the
proposal for this reason. It will be only for school girls.
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 ?
A. A single master craftsperson will not be able to devote adequate time to each individual if more than 8 trainees are enrolled at a time. Organising training for more people initially would mean appointing more craftspersons and additional stipend for all the trainees. The budget will increase accordingly.
The relatively high set up costs can be justified by the fact that the centre
will continue to organise different kinds of training programmes in the future
once it is established. The tools and equipment procured as part of this project
will become assets for the crafts training centre.
Q. What is the expected income/sales of the products from this project (based on experiences with the Rural Technology Workshop)?
A. This programme is being envisaged as a training programme for "creating"
new master craftspersons who will, in turn, train more people in villages. It is
a sort of "trainer's training". So expected sales / income will not be major
considerations. Any income from sale of crafts produced during the training
programme will be used for further training programmes.
Sustainability
Q. Out of the total amount of Rs. 1,71,400 required from an external
agency, items 2,3,5,6,7 totalling Rs. 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 ?
(Breakdown from proposal included for reference)
|
|
Particulars |
|
|
|
|
|
Training shed |
1,50,000.00 |
1,50,000.00 |
0.00 |
|
|
Stipend for eight trainees @ Rs.750 per month per trainee for a period of one year |
72,000.00 |
0.00 |
72,000.00 |
|
|
Honorarium to one master craftperson @ Rs.1,200 per month |
14,400.00 |
0.00 |
14,400.00 |
|
|
Tools & Equipment for wood, bamboo and stitching (list given below) |
55,000.00 |
5,000.00 |
50,000.00 |
|
|
Raw materials (bamboo, softwood, cotton cloth) |
30,000.00 |
10,000.00 |
20,000.00 |
|
|
Consummables (thread, needles, inks, dyes, varnish, nails, etc.) |
15,000.00 |
5,000.00 |
10,000.00 |
|
|
Support for marketing of handicrafts |
15,000.00 |
10,000.00 |
5,000.00 |
|
|
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 |
A. It is true that support will be needed for items 2,3,5 and 6 (not 7, since there will be no need for support once initial marketing linkages are established). As explained above, income from crafts produced during the training programme and from the sale of cloth bags will be used to support training programmes in the future. Initially, this may not be enough to cover all costs. The deficit will be made up through support from Government agencies like DRDA, NABARD, Development Commissioner, etc. These agencies support training programmes for rural artisans provided the centre has adequate facilities and on-going training programmes.
Efforts will be made to gradually increase the income from sale of crafts and
cloth bags so that the craft training centre becomes totally self-supporting.
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 ?
A. Yes, as expained above, the equipment and tools will be used for other
training programmes in the future. Government agencies are willing to support
training programmes for tribal women provided we have adequate facilities and
on-going programmes.
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?
A. The equipment will be retained by the training centre for organising more training programmes in the future. However, ex-trainees will be allowed to use the equipment at the centre for their production work (such as, band saw, drill machine, etc). It will be treated as "community asset". Efforts will also be made to procure a set of essential tools for trainees through existing government schemes which provide free tools to trained artisans.
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 ?
A. The training shed is already in place and has been allocated for the
crafts centre. The training programme will not be delayed since the shed is
ready.
Q. What are the costs incurred for training the schoolgirls (other than the equipment costs for sewing machines and consumables) ?
A. None. Since they are being provided free lodging, boarding and education
facilities by ADS. The question of stipend does not arise in the case of girls.
General
Q. What are the sources of funds for the other programs run by ADS? How much is the local component ?
A. Some of the sources of support for other programmes run by ADS are : a)
Oxfam (India) Trust, b) Misereor, c) Sir Ratan Tata Trust, d) Sir Dorabji Tata
Trust, e) IDRC, f) CAPART, GoI, New Delhi, etc. The local component varies from
10-20 %.
Q. What is the structure of the Executive Commitee of ADS ? Are there local people in it, volunteers from Mumbai ?
A. ADS has a Managing Committee (MC) consisting of 5 members. The MC meets once every three months and is responsible for policy decisions.
The Executive Committee (EC) of ADS consists of all project co-ordinators.
The EC meets once every month and is responsible for day-to-day management,
implementation and monitoring of projects. There are local people on the EC.
However, there are no volunteers on the EC from Mumbai.
Q. What were the sales/production of similar items produced by the Rural Technology Workshop in the years previous to 1998 ?
A. The per annum sales of items produced by the Rural Technology Workshop
before 1998 were around 6 lakh Rupees.
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 ?
A. So far there is no experience of producing and marketing cloth bags. However, plastic bags are given free by vendors and so there can be no comparison in terms of price and sales.
Our experience regarding advocacy of environment friendly practices is that people are willing to accept costlier options if they are convinced about the intrinsic worth of the practice.
Last modified: Sept 25, 1999 by Shailabh Nagar (nagar@cse.psu.edu)