CRAFTING SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOODS

crafting sustainable livelihoods

Objectives of the project:

To project India’s craft and cultural heritage and create its awareness among the Indian urban consumers as well as the large number of tourists that visit the country.
To empower the crafts community to bypass the exploitative middlemen and directly operate in the market, enabling them to gauge market trends and customer demands for themselves.
To attract foreign designers, exporters, buyers and entrepreneurs who interact directly with genuine craftspeople without middlemen, thereby enabling fair trade and regular and continuous flow of orders.
To increase earnings and incomes of the craftspeople through sales at Dastkar bazaars, thereby directly affecting improvement in health, education and lifestyles.
To project, popularise and promote handicrafts by organising trainings and craft demonstrations with the ultimate objective to augment the employment and income of craft persons.

Funds from PUBLICIS SAPIENT are being utilised for the following activities during the bazaars:

An integrated series of workshops and trainings to build entrepreneurial skills such as marketing and branding, visual merchandising, e-commerce, costing and pricing, and quality control. Conducted with the participating craft groups in every bazaar, these trainings not only ensure building the artisans’ skills in understanding and translating the demands of the market, but also help them transition into viable, self-sustainable business models.
Craft Demonstrations by traditional artists that add to the educational and participatory dynamic of the bazaar, such as block printing, varied embroideries, handloom weaving, tie & dye, natural dyeing and more.
Decor and Display to enhance the mood and set a perfect ambience for the event.

Project Impact:

Created awareness about languishing cultural and craft traditions among emerging urban Indian consumers and tourists.
135 craftspeople were directly benefited with the production of display material for our bazaars using 24 different craft skills. Designs were all provided by Dastkar and craftspeople were delighted to create new products which enhanced their existing product range.
Empowered the crafts community to bypass exploitative middlemen and directly operate in the market, enabling them to gauge market trends and customer demands for themselves.
Attracted foreign designers, exporters, buyers and entrepreneurs who interacted directly with genuine craftspeople, thereby enabling fair trade and a regular flow of orders.
The project directly benefited 191 craftspeople and indirectly over 1 lakh people (including families of craftspeople, customers at bazaars and our followers on social media) through training, craft demonstrations and development of decor and display items for the exhibitions.