SEWA Trade Facilitation Centre

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CSO Forum World Bank Annual General Meeting 15th
September 2006
SEWA Trade Facilitation Centre
Empowering women through traditional skills
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The Self Employed Womens
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

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Evolution of SEWA Need Driven and Demand Based
Growth
Founded 1972 as labor union for informal sector
Rural Expansion
2001 Earthquake
SEWA Bank Founded
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SEWAs Organizational Structure
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The Self Employed Womens
Association (SEWA)
SEWAS 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

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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

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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.

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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.
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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.

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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.

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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

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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

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Women and Trade

• 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

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Recommendations

• Formation of Trade Council
• Formation of Trade Security Fund

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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

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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
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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

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THANK YOU