I would like dwell upon my tryst with business, with a background of teaching and social work, my challenges in making this organization a self sustaining one and my vision for the organization.

The past 11 years have been years of learning for me. I have been learning to marry business with Social work, often perceived as two incompatibles, in a very competitive, quality and price conscious market. On the one hand we had to develop world class products, produce them and market them to remain in the market (A loser has no place in the market). And on the other hand, we have our women members who struggled to understand what “world class” and “international quality” would mean. But we had no choice but to face the challenge through rigorous training, re-engineering of our product range to suit both the skills and capacity of women and the fashion of Europeans, entering into networks, and exploring new markets.

From what I heard and witnessed, the first 14 years must have been the most difficult years as the time was spent in laying the foundation for an organization of a different kind, based on democratic values. True to her character, Sr. Isabel Martin (founder of CH) wanted to do something very different, wanted to tread the road less travelled and thus build an organization that could economically and socially empower women. Having a strong foundation laid by her, my role was to build on this strength and take the organization to sustainability and possibly to new heights.

Looking back, I feel we have moved beyond the target that we had set for ourselves. Today we are registered as a Fair Trade organization that commands a lot of respect in the fair trade fraternity. We have not been hesitant to enter into the demanding world of fashion and produce products for the main stream market. Our members also always rose up to the demand, as it was also a question of survival (if we did not change we would have been annihilated). In the last 8 years, our turnover has been scaled up 20 times though growth has been rather ad hoc resulting in a lot of stress for our staff and women members.

Our founder and trustees have always been stressing that the economic development of the women does not automatically guarantee the holistic development of a woman. This is very true and our community development department, rather understaffed, has been working to bring about this change in the mindset of women that will make them an empowered lot and wholesome women.

The sponsorship program and the pre-school education program for children of the slum and the tribal areas guarantee that the children, who are unlikely to see the corridors of a formal school, make it through the educational filter. The sponsorship program makes it a point that the children of our women, most importantly the girl children, get a decent schooling. The saving and credit program tries to address the pressing need for loans among the poor but tries to make sure that it does not make them more indebted.

Looking into the future I strongly feel that fair trade is the answer to the impending poverty and poverty related problems. Fair trade needs to move out of the conventional handicrafts and food sectors to producing anything and everything that is of human utility. The answer to poverty is a movement from mass production to production by the masses. The answer to the alarming inequality in the society is to involve the mass in production and ensure that they get their fair due. I would like to see Creative Handicrafts reach out to more women, beyond the existing groups, beyond the city of Mumbai, to rural women who live in much misery and deprivation. CH should be able to provide sponsorship for thousands of children who are deprived of a decent schooling. However, all this should be done without CH losing its identity and core value of being an organization that stands and works for the most deprived.

I conclude by saying that it gives me immense joy to see that change is happening in the lives of these women but the real change happens in the generation next. It takes more than a generation to effect a substantial change.

Thank you,
Johny Joseph
Director