Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) - Using Craft to Rebuild Livelihood : Updates

Self Employed Women's Assocation (SEWA) is one of the most well known NGOs working in Gujarat and especially the Kutch area. SEWA has been working there for quite sometime for the betterment of the artisans and especially the women of the area. Post-earthquake SEWA has undertaken massive relief and rehabilitation efforts. SEWA was one of the first NGOs to adopt villages and they have relief work ongoing in the districts of Kutch, Surendranagar and Patan.

SEWA's relief work involved several such initiatives. Some of the notable ones were Reconstruction of homes in the villages that they had adopted, Livelihood security program for artisans that had lost their livelihood and Fodder Security program for the People that were dependant on the cattle, dairy and poultry industries. Besides this there were several other programs instituted for relief of Salt Workers, Gum Collection, and the Restoration and Reconstruction of Water resources. Social services provided to the villagers included Savings and Micro Credit schemes, Insurance and Child care services.

VIDE was particularly interested in the Craft as livelihood security program. SEWA had done a thorough damage assessment post the earthquake and by March 2001 it was evident that the major need of the hour was shelter and employment. Of the total of 15,000 artisan covered, about 3,500 had completely lost shelter and 10,000 had lost their tools and equipments. Therefore SEWA prepared a detailed plan of action to cover about 12,000 artisans from the affected 135 villages of Kutch and Patan, under the "Craft as livelihood Security" program. Of the 12,000 artisans, about 3000 have been provided with work from 6th February onwards, with the reach being increased gradually as more funds flow in.

Each artisan family is provided with a craft kit/ bag with the necessary raw material for one week's worth of work. Every week, the spearhead teams collect the finished goods and provide a new craft kit for the next week. The artisans are made spot payments for the work done (about Rs. 40 per day). The payment is made in part cash and part kind. The components for payment in kind include food grains or clothes or whichever the family needs. This has been finalized in consultation with the local artisans.

The artisans have initially undertaken production of items of local demand, since other families have lost all their own traditional clothes and belongings, which they need for day to day wear, so the first batch of revenue is expected to be local in nature but later this would change later to focus on national and international trends. The artisans will be paid for three months under this programme. This will provide them livelihood security to withstand and rebuild their lives both from the earthquake and drought. The production estimates range to about Rs 2.1 Crore per month. In order to cover the additional 12,000 artisans and provide them with sustained work and income. SEWA is putting in all its efforts in marketing. From March to May 2001, SEWA organized four exhibitions, which generated a total sale of Rs. 10,00,000/-. Besides this, SEWA has launched a website which also generates good sale revenue. Thus total sales of Rs. 50,00,000 has been generated up to 31st May 2001. All the revenue generated from these sales is redeployed into a revolving fund for helping other artisans. Thus the money is constantly being put to use.

For the Project funded by VIDE, SEWA will support 500 artisan families for a total cost of upto USD 53,000 for a period of three months. The project has been identified to be in Radhanpur.

Project Owner:
Romil Khansaheb

NGO Contact:
Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA)
SEWA Reception Centre
Opp. Lok Manya Tilak Baug Bhadra,
Ahmedabad - 380 001. Phone No. : 079-5506477, 5506444
Fax No. : 079-5506446
E-mail : bdmsa@icenet.net.in
URL: http://www.sewa.org