NEED - India
My time at NEED (Network of Economic and Entrepreneurial Development) was an inspiring one. Having travelled 1,000 miles from Andra Pradesh, I was shocked by how much poorer the north looked than the centre. Indeed, 10% of the world's poor live in this region.
Ostensibly, I went to Lucknow to develop some new products which I hope will sell well in England and to see how the women's groups worked but I learned so much more than this. NEED has supported over 100,000 people in Uttar Pradesh in a great variety of ways and visiting some of the villages was the most enjoyable part of my stay.
First, we visited Dasdoi village and met a group of around 15 women who had successfully set up and were administering a self-financing group. Practically, this meant that they were able to borrow money for mainly agricultural projects and Ghita told us about her expanding flower growing business. By selling in the local market directly, these women were able to avoid paying most of their profit to a middle man, which was what had happened previously.
This group had drawn up their own set of rules and it was wonderful to see how clear they were about their criteria and how confident they were about describing their projects, their successes and plans for the future.
NEED had also supported this village in a self-build school project and I particularly liked the way one of the children was leading the 'elephant song' and all the rest of the class was doing the actions. They were also managing to keep quite a good size class of teenagers here, which was encouraging.
In Bigahur village we went to the home of Tara Wati and Amrit Lal, producers of Dupatta, or large scarf, and it was reassuring to see that although the husband, Amrit, was busy working on the loom, his wife Tara was the power behind the business. When I asked about the advantages of fair trade to them, one of the main benefits was flexible working, meaning they could do a few hours here and there at home when convenient and also fit agricultural labouring in around the loom.
The difference in income level was excellent - a rise of over three-fold and with the extra income they were going to 'make the house pukka, keep their three children in school and use it for the household budget.'
The third village, Pathan Khera, again, showed the resourcefulness and power of women. Led by Kesana who went to Lucknow to pick up orders and then distributed them around her village, this group had, again, cut out the traditional middle man who used to take an extremely large cut for bringing the orders and then picking them up. They were making the traditional Chikan craft, or embroidery, which this area of India is famous for.
Most of the village women wanted to be part of this expanding business and Kesana sensibly said she could manage a team of up to 15 women and then another group would need to be administered by a different woman.
The fourth village, Karjhan, had managed to buy 25 large weaving looms which four women could work on at a time. They were making incredibly beautiful, intricate scarves for the Dubai market. Again, the orders were coming direct from Lucknow and so a much greater proportion of the money was going to the actual women who produced the goods. The abusive relationship with the male middle man was a thing of the past so the women could feel justly proud of their enterprise.
It was encouraging to see that these groups were not merely relying on the export market for their sales but in the fourth village they still needed to try and access orders more directly from the overseas source in Dubai to really secure a fuller financial benefit. And this is where Lovethatstuff comes in. By helping develop more patterns for products and supplying to markets in the U.K. and elsewhere, this will help ensure some of the social premium which is necessary to help fund the many diverse projects NEED is involved in.
And apart from very enjoyably working with a wonderful team of women based in the Lucknow workshop to develop new tops and bags, I also met and spoke to many knowledgeable and committed fair traders. I had many excellent discussions with Anil Singh, the director of NEED, who is passionate about the people behind the products and who believes that fair trade is all about humanising trade, that it's not simply about increased income but about helping women realise their potential and discover their bargaining power.
This increases their self respect, hope and dignity. NEED have a good range of training on offer in skills, marketing, finance and health awareness which helps redress the very uneven distribution of income and power over resources which characterises rural India in particular.
Their label 'Shakti' or 'inner strength' is very apt - I saw it in abundance - and I will never forget it.
Thank you all at NEED for teaching me so much.
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