AWAZ founder Sarah Mitts speaks on Panel about Fair Trade Craft Movement at NWFTC Third Thursday Film Series

Join us next Thursday, Oct 20th, as the Northwest Fair Trade Coalition, AWAZ, and other coalition members come together to bring you another educational Fair Trade Film. This film explores the impact of fair trade organizations on producer groups in Peru. Come learn about the basics of fair trade and how they are applied to real producer groups.



The film will be "A Thousand Fibers", hosted at Equal Exchange HQ, 1033 SE Main. This film explores the direct impact buying fairly can have. When consumers choose Fair Trade, they often understand the basics of Fair Trade and are cognizant of the various parts of the supply chain, including the essential—yet often overlooked—role of the person who produces the product. The documentary produced by Partners of Just Trade explores the principles of Fair Trade based on real life experiences, with a special focus on the lives of handcraft artisans in Peru. The film will be followed by an in depth discussion about fair trade artisan groups as a viable alternative to sweatshop production.

Come for the movie, stay for the artisan stories!
What: "A Thousand Fibers"
Where: Equal Exchange 1033 SE Main St.
When: 6pm - 7:30pm

Following the film, members of the coalition will speak about their specific projects and the artisan groups they work with. Sarah, founder of AWAZ and NWFTC, will speak to her work with Stree Shakti. Sarah has a special relationship with Stree Shakti. In 2007, Sarah spent six months with the artisan group, living and working with them. She knows how important their work with Stree Shakti is for their families and their personal empowerment. This group has become a second family for her, and they hold a very special place in her heart. Joining Sarah will be Margaret ____, a representative of Mayan Hands, a fair trade organization that works with around 200 Guatemalan women from 9 different communities. Come learn about Sarah's work in India and Margaret's work with workers in Guatemala. Share their stories and learn how to help.

Street Shakti means “women power” in Hindi and serves serves as a handicraft income generating program for more than 80 low income women in rural communities outside of Dehradun, in the foothills of the Himalayas mountains. In 2003, The Purkal Youth Development Society (PYDS) started this project to help create economic stability for women and their families in Purkal and neighboring villages. Stree Shakti works to empower women to become income earners in their family by providing the workers with the resources and training for producing and selling handicrafts. Stree Shakti produces many beautiful products, including hand-sewn quilts, greeting cards that highlight their quilting work, and natural dye block printed bags--both women's and men's styles.

Help us help them! 30% of each sale goes straight back to the Stree Shakti women

AWAZ is doing a special promotion of Stree Shakti's work. For every package of Quilt Greeting Cards that are sold, 30% of those profits go directly to the artisan group. This 30% is on top of the price that was already paid for the item. The money will go to support educational and empowerment projects for the women artisans. Find their more of their items here, and be sure to check out our other partners! These artisan groups all uphold the values of Fair Trade and through that create beautiful items for the whole family, including scarves, clothing, kid's toys, and jewlery. Be sure to visit our site for a great gift for any occasion!

Green Sprouts natural baby & family fest, Sunday, Sept. 25

Come see us this weekend, on Sunday Sept. 25, at the Green Sprouts natural baby & family fest at Peninsula Park in North Portland. We will have lots of great kids stuff and stuff for moms too!

Check out our fun colorful soft baby toys shaped like elephants, giraffes, and monkeys. We will have lots of other great stuff like one of a kind hand quilted baby blankets, backpacks, and kid's accessories.

Take a look at some of our favorite kids stuff in our online store: Community Garden Appliqued Baby Blanket exquisitely hand quilted by women artisans in the foothills of the Himalayas and Block Print Soft Elephant made by disabled artisans. Your purchases help support these artisans.

http://redirectguide.com/greensprouts/Portland/about.asp

Video of the women at Stree Shakti

Following our post below about Jaya's visit to Stree Shakti, I thought you'd enjoy a great video of Stree Shakti's work that takes you inside the production center, shows you their community and beautiful work. I've lived, worked and shared with these women who I've seen grow stronger and more confident over the years. Chinni and her team are really making a difference!

Hear stories about Stree Shakti's growth after a visit from our Textile Designer

After breaking away from their parent organization, The Purkal Youth Development Society, Stree Shakti has stepped up to the plate.

Stree Shakti - Infinite Possibilities
Jaya Bhatt - Textile Design Consultant

Stree Shakti – is a women’s income generation program which was kick started by The Purkal Youth Development Society (PYDS) with a modest home training given to a few village women in Purkal village, Dehradun. Today Stree Shakti comprises of about 80 women members. The program formally began in the year 2004 and has gradually grown into a successful handicraft enterprise since then. Just this year they registered as their own individual entity apart from their parent organization, PYDS, and are learning to stand on their own.

Stree Shakti and Sarah Mitts, the founder of AWAZ Voice for Empowerment share a five year long relationship. Some of the first few products at AWAZ in fact came from the women artisans at Purkal, after Sarah spent 6 months living and working with the society in 2008. The organization has been working towards developing their organizational structure, working methodology, designs and products and AWAZ has been a constant supporter towards these efforts. I am thankful to AWAZ for having introduced me to Stree Shakti, and the women’s organization for giving me a chance to assist and use my skills and experiences to help them improvise on some of their areas of work.

My first visit to Stree Shakti was in the summer of 2010 along with Sarah. The experience was exhilarating. I have had earlier experiences of having worked with similar women’s cooperatives and artisan groups, but there was something fresh about Stree Shakti. The organization is still in a nascent stage and that gives a whole lot of room for changes, improvisations and developments. The people are cooperative and open to accepting new ideas and changes.

The various challenges that Stree Shakti faces at this stage is quite similar across most such organizations. The few problem areas that were discussed were mostly with regards to group structure, monitoring, product development, raw material sourcing and many other day to day issues. Sarah has expressed quality concerns with their products and I've worked with them to improve upon that. Time is always a constraint in such projects, the discussions and debates are never ending, but yet we managed to arrive on various conclusions for design development, structural re-organization, sourcing database, marketing etc. Here, you can see a new sample for a jewelry and make-up organizer and felt Christmas ornaments we worked with the women to develop.

Over time, I’ve had a chance to work with Stree Shakti on most of these issues. Though, some of the most important concerns included fabric and raw material sourcing, group organization and re-structuring and product development. Today, Stree Shakti has successfully managed to tie up with a few raw material suppliers of handmade fabrics, who specialize in vegetable dye block prints, which has helped them achieve a new and unique look for their products and promise a consistent supply. The women were re-organized into small groups and are led by a group leader, this has increased production capacity, better quality and a healthy competitive spirit amongst the artisans. The last of the many efforts up till now included design and product development, introducing new ideas to the existing product line that would help tap a larger market and increase the interest of returning buyers.

It was unbelievable how a new place and a set of complete strangers became so close and a consistent name on the daily phone call list!!! Even though my stay was short, just for about 5 days each time, the impact seemed large enough to have bonded me with Stree Shakti forever. I hope that all our combined efforts, in the form of discussions and actions will bear fruit for Stree Shakti and that both AWAZ and Stree Shakti will continue to share this close bond and go a long way together.

Artisan Profile: STREE SHAKTI - www.purkal.org

The Purkal Youth Development Society is a registered charity dedicated to enhancing the lives of disadvantaged rural youth through education and empowering women through skill development. I worked with this organization for 6 months and was impressed with their honest and sincere efforts to help elevate the communities they work in. They work in a rural village in Northern India in the foothills of the Himalayan Mountains where they operate a Learning Center for youth and run a handicraft skill training program for women. The society is providing mentoring and education to over 140 youth and helping over 70 women in the village earn a steady income to care for their family. Stree Shakti, meaning ‘women power’, is the name of the handicraft project which for the last five years, has been teaching women how to make quilts and various other home and fashion products. The women apply beautiful appliqué and patchwork techniques to cotton and silk fabrics and make items such as cushion covers, handbags and placemat sets.

The products are unique and high quality which has helped them earn an international reputation, especially for their patchwork quilts. The success of the program has created a demand for products and more women are joining the program daily. The women are organized into four Self Help Groups which give the women greater control and decision making over their work. PYDS provides the women with free working capital, management, designs, infrastructure and tranportation. The program also includes healthcare benefits, a security fund for issuing loans and an English and Computer Training Course for those who are preparing for a professional career.

Yuva Shakti

In addition to a focus on women empowerment, PYDS works to educate and provide support to over 140 children and youth in the village where they work. The society provides the children with scholarships to go to good English Medium Schools in the city and then they return to their Learning Center in the village after school for help with their studies and development. Over 13 teachers and 10 staff work with the children to provide holisitic support that includes a daily meal, attention to nutrition and healthcare, career and personal development. The society also has an education program for young children and an English and Computer course for Young Adults in the community. The society survives off of donations and child sponsorship. You can also participate in their Fund A Meal and Healthcare Scheme by paying $35 to sponsor a daily meal for the children. After my experience working with PYDS, I can say that they're doing true, honest work for the community. I can verify that your donation will directly help to benefit the children they work with. Sponsor a Child or Fund A Meal today!