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Is
craft commercially viable today, or is it just a subsidised
development sector cop out. Must depends on the intervening
NGO.
The means to earn and be independent is the
carrot that can lead rural crafts people into the
development process. An attractive, cost-effective crafts
product is the carrot that can tempt the urban consumer into
contributing towards that development.
The consumer does not buy out of compassion
no matter how worthwhile the objective. The end product
must
be competitive- in cost, utility and aesthetics.
Income generation, by itself, should not be
considered a synonym for development. It can never be. It,
however, the entry point for many other aspects of the
development process- education, health and family planning,
and social awareness. Income generation through craft does
not - and this is important in a rural society - disturb the
cultural and social balance of either the home or the
community.
New opportunities for employment and income
generation can have a catalytic effect in revitalising
deprived communities - communities that have every
appearance of the wasted and arid landscape around them.
But there
are dangers. Success stories are to be learnt form, not
blindly aped. All too often, when we think of employment
generation for women, we think of that employment as a kind
of placebo or hobby. We should be very, sure that the
employment, is not just
a subsidised handout but an integrated part of our economic
planning an growth.
A development organisation or women’s group
however, often comes together with different priorities and
objectives. The
economic,
commercial aspect of income generation through marketing is
often dismissed as the least worthwhile and meaningful
component. All to often, making money (let alone a profit!)
is considered a somewhat degrading activity for a social
welfare organisation.
So often, key decisions of identifying the
product and its marketing potential are taken at
random.
There is no market survey, no checking of locally available
raw materials or un-tapped traditional skills; no costing,
no identification of potential buyers and marketing chains.
There are no production plans. The inherent skills,
strengths and motifs that exist in every rural community are
often not even studied or understood.
Nowhere in the commercial sector would the
development and sale of products worth many crores
and employing thousands of people be left to part-time
amateurs, however well meaning. Why does this happen?
The NGO, like any good entrepreneur, should
identify the gaps in the market before production, rather
than say - “Well, I have a product, rather than say - “Well,
I have a product, now let’s see where I can push it “.
Ideally, an NGO should locate the craft community near its
user community, using locally available raw materials to
make products in local demand. It is disappointing that
activist groups and volags opt instead for urban outlets
like Exhibitions, Sales and Bazaars, rather than employing
rural marketing techniques.
I do think, income generation through the
marketing of craft, is something that can work - both
commercially and as a catalyst for change and development.
But it wil only work if we think it through
extremely carefully - with out heads as well as our hearts;
with reason as well as caring. In recent years the survival
of many drought or disaster-prone areas of rural India has
depended on craftspeople re-discovering their potential and
the skill of their fingers. As Ramba Ben, a craft
woman from a DASTKAR project in Banaskantha, told me: “The
lives of my family now hang from the thread I embroider.”
The Author is a
Chairperson
of
DASTKAR
A Society for Crafts and Craftspeople
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