1 / 18

SEWA Trade Facilitation Centre

CSO Forum: World Bank Annual General Meeting 15 th September 2006. SEWA Trade Facilitation Centre. Empowering women through traditional skills. The Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) “We Are Poor But So Many”.

patsyramirez
Télécharger la présentation

SEWA Trade Facilitation Centre

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. CSO Forum: World Bank Annual General Meeting 15th September 2006 SEWA Trade Facilitation Centre Empowering women through traditional skills

  2. The Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) “We Are Poor But So Many” Today, over 700,000 SEWA members both contribute and gain: • Empowerment • Livelihood Support • Direct Employment • Micro-finance • Health Care • Child Care • Nutrition • Education

  3. Evolution of SEWA: Need Driven and Demand Based Growth Founded 1972 as labor union for informal sector Rural Expansion 2001 Earthquake SEWA Bank Founded

  4. SEWA’s Organizational Structure

  5. The Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) SEWA’S Goals • Self Reliance • Full Employment • From 1200 in 1972 to 800000 members in 2004 spread in 14 districts of Gujarat and 7 states of India • From a union in 1972 to now 18 economic institutions including the SEWA Trade Facilitation Center

  6. A unique model for poverty alleviation Present Coverage: 3500 women artisans/Shareholders Planned coverage: 15000 women artisans Main objectives: Promoting access to national and global markets to the women artisans in the informal sector. Unique Model: poor artisans are the owners of their own company. The major services provided are: • Marketing (National and International) • State-of art Manufacturing facility • Product development and design • Training and technical assistance • Business development services • Policy initiatives

  7. SEWA TRADE FACILITATION CENTRE Designing, producing and marketing rural artisans’ handicrafts for the global market on a sustainable and scaleable basis • STFC grew rapidly out of need for employment among earthquake affected artisans and their communities. • Post-earthquake scale of operations unsustainable under previous model. • After restructuring, STFC facilities, systems, staff and other resources now capable of expansion.

  8. Progress Achieved • Achieved turnover : Rs. 50 million • Export share: 30% • Total Employment Generated : 5000 artisans & 200 garment workers. • An average monthly income : Rs. 1500/- to Rs. 2000/- STFC is now moving towards bringing in equity from joint venture partners in the private sectors.

  9. Progress Achieved • Set up a State – of – Art manufacturing infrastructure Vastralaya with a capacity of 500 pcs./day • Integrated scattered production base across two districts of Kutch and Patan with common facility centers. • Created a cadre of Grass-root business managers to streamline the entire production process and establish a robust supply chain • Provide market access and business development services to other grassroots artisans groups • Constituted a core cell within the Ministry of Textiles to enable formulate pro-poor policy.

  10. Progress Achieved • Business partnerships with large retailers such as Fab India, Shoppers Stop, Trent – Westside, Arvind Mills and International Organizations like Novica, Oxfam, Norm Thompson. • Established retail network with own stores in Ahmedabad and New Delhi. • Launched its brand “Hansiba” as a ‘Fair Trade’, ‘Hand Crafted’ Made in India product. • Technical Partnership with IFC, ICICI and EXIM Bank to evolve a sustainable business strategy.

  11. Important Impacts • Build a model market oriented Collective Enterprise owned by poor informal sector women workers. • Increased access to competitive Global Markets. • Sustainable livelihoods for over 10,000 rural women artisans. • Attain an export turnover of Rs. 200 million in 3 years. • Empowerment of grassroots women workers i.t.o. enabling them to understand the changing global environment that influences their work and lives and assert their needs in this context. • Human Capital Benefits : Skill training and managerial capacity building of artisans. • Quality of Life Benefits: better education, health and social security at the household level and at the work place

  12. Trade for Poor Major Barriers faced by poor grassroots producers : Create Collective Enterprise to : • Size and Organization • Market and Information and Access • Finance and Technology • Training and Skill up-gradation • Therefore Low Productivity and Quality • Uneconomic scales of operation resulting in lower returns • Difficulty in Marketing and Products • Results in Low Income, Powerlessness, lack of voice • Enable poor producers to become owners and mangers of their women enterprise • Provide sustainable employment/ alternative livelihoods • Federate groups into collectives to strengthen bargaining power, attaining economies of scale and acquire competitiveness • Strong Linkages with mainstream market systems

  13. Adequate resource and trade links Investments in different sectors of market infrastructure Promotion to raise productivity, setting up multi skill develoment schools Adequate capital suitable market linkage Better terms of trade Institutional facility to develop R & D for product development Information technology Build up organisational and managerial capacities Enabling effectiveness of policies Women and Trade:

  14. Recommendations: • Formation of Trade Council • Formation of Trade Security Fund

  15. Recommendations: • Formation of Trade Council: • To strengthen trade as means for poverty alleviation • Provide a platform to highlight the needs for trade related infrastructures for the poor and women specially in the informal sector • Build trade linkages between the formal and the informal • Encourage the building of institutions that promote women and trade, help build micro-enterprises to provide work and employment security and access to market

  16. Trade Council: • Proposed Task: • Recommend investments and incentives based on trade related needs • Would facilitate identifying various trades that would be taken poor women with respect to globalization and open economics • Undertake research and studies to assess the contribution of women in growing global trade • Determine needs in terms of infrastructure, technology, R & D • Identify global opportunities in global trade Comprise of sector specialists, repres. Of grass-roots enterprises, civil society organsiations and repres. From govt and planning commission

  17. Formation of Trade Security Fund: • For providing access to fund and investment • To meet the identified needs • To build producer owned enterprises, developing trade supportive infrastructure • Provide relevant trainings and market linkages

  18. THANK YOU

More Related