Handicraft weaving, a tradition passed down through generations of indigenous peoples in Cambodia, is gaining fresh value through a partnership between the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), sister UN agencies and local organizations.
Since July 2010, 800 indigenous people in 10 villages of four Cambodian provinces have begun learning new entrepreneurial abilities—including marketing and quality control, exhibition, costing and consignment skills—to sell more textiles and products and increase their families’ incomes.
“We are happy that more people are interested in buying our products,” said Planh Proleav, a 27-year-old woman from the Kroeung indigenous group in the village of Ta Gnach, northeastern province of Ratanakiri.
“We are able to earn more money for food, medicine and books for our children to study,” added Proleav, one of 195 people who received training in her village.
The initiative is part of the Creative Industries Support Programme, which works to preserve and promote Cambodia’s cultural heritage, supporting the livelihoods of more than 800 indigenous and Khmer artisans in the central, north and eastern provinces of Kampong Thom, Preah Vihear, and Mondulkiri, as well as Ratanakiri.
In Ratanakiri, UNDP worked with civil society group Cambodian Non-Timber Forest Product Development Organization (CANDO) to assist indigenous communities in finding markets for their handicrafts. CANDO also arranged training on business planning, financial management, costing, quality control and marketing.
Between October 2010 and March 2011, sale of indigenous-weaved products from the province increased by 18 percent compared to the same six-month period in 2009, according to CANDO.
“In the past they didn’t understand the market, but through the training they know how to set their product prices to factor in the cost of raw materials, labour and production tools,” said CANDO staff member Heng Socheath.
The villagers weave textiles and sell them to CANDO, which sub-contracts other producers—mostly women and people with disabilities—to turn them into finished products.
Notebook and laptop covers, shopping bags and wallets made from the woven textiles are sold in the capital Phnom Penh at several tourist outlets, including at a shop established by the Creative Industries Support Programme.
In addition to improving indigenous peoples’ incomes, the partnership also helps preserve the cultural heritage of several ethnic groups.
“Many indigenous communities have already abandoned their weaving tradition,” said Heang Sarim, president of CANDO. “They couldn’t find markets to sell their products and didn’t have support to improve product quality.”
These newly-acquired skills have also given women greater independence from their spouse. “Unlike in the past where they depended on their husbands to provide for them, many of them are now able to make money for their families,” said Sarim.
In addition to UNDP, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the International Labour Organization and the Food and Agricultural Organization are partners in the Creative Industries Support Programme, supported by the UN-Spain Millennium Development Goals Achievement Fund.
Article from the United Nations Development Programme, 2011 (http://www.beta.undp.org/undp/en/home/ourwork/povertyreduction/successstories/cambodia-marketing-skills-indigenous-handicraft-sales.html)
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