Empowering Small Scale Kashmiri Weavers

A co-operative group formation wherein Kashmiri artisans will be able to sell textiles via an online shopping application dedicated solely to them and will get sufficient trainings and logistical support.

Kashmir is known for its beautiful handicrafts and textiles. The textile tradition in Kashmir has a glorious history of world-renowned tapestry. However, due to mechanization, counterfeit goods and lack of incentives, the centuries old art is getting lost. The rich embroidery is getting replaced by cheap machine made cloth. An online shopping app where Kashmiris will be able to sell their original, handmade products that will be visible to the whole world and delivered to every corner of the world with the help of proper delivery partners across the globe will provide the much needed incentive and the workers will get fair pay for the hard work that they put in. Some weavers take their products and go from door to door trying to sell them. This form of micro business is very unorganized and does not guarantee any fixed income. With the help of the co-operative, middlemen will be removed, things will be much more standardized and will reach a lot of buyers across various geographical locations and distances where normally the traders wouldn't have travelled. It will also provide logistical support, loans and trainings to artisans to help them preserve their work.

I am trying to build a cooperative which will build a standardized and accessible market (in the online platform) dedicated solely for the trade of the artwork that was practiced for centuries by thousands of families in Kashmir, India. It will also provide the required information, logistical support and trainings to the artisans. This will lead to fair pay for them.

 There are approximately 50,000 weavers in Jammu  and Kashmir with only 14,889 in the organized sector, says the reports of The Government of India.

The key factors that are contributing to the problem are: Low wages of the artisans and counterfeit products. Without a proper market, it becomes very difficult for the weavers to continue production. Machine made cheap quality products have flooded Indian and Chinese markets, thereby reducing the demand for the original products. The original handmade textiles sell for much more than what weavers get now. This rich art and heritage of Kashmiri weavers is slowly dying solely because they cannot reach the target consumers. 

According to reports published in Al Jazeera, for a shawl that took months to weave, a weaver "will be paid less than $290. Similar shawls can sell for up to 10 times that online". One artisan said, " Even unskilled laborers earn more in a day than the rates we earn making carpets and shawls".

I draw inspiration from the cooperative that Amul built in India that transformed India from a milk deficient country to the world's largest milk producing nation.

The target population is around 50,000 Kashmiri artisans. They do not get even close to the payment that they deserve for weaving textiles. The profit margin is so low that many of them cannot thrive by practicing their embroidery. However, lack of demand is not the problem because the textiles and tapestry that they weave are still in very high demand in many places of India and abroad. The problem is the unavailability of a standardized and effective marketplace which can be approached by the producers and the consumers alike.

This application of online shopping dedicated simply for this purpose will do away with the middlemen who take away up to 90% of the profits from sales. The artisans will directly be able to sell their products using this App and will be able to reach the target customers simply with the help of a smartphone and internet connection. This will enable them to get fair pay for their work and will also make the products available at a reasonable price for the customers. As a co-operative, they will be able to get loans from financial institutions as well. They will receive training and all the logistic support. Once they start getting  fair pay, they can teach the embroidery to all interested artisans in other parts of the country and abroad.

I have studied newspaper reports and interviews of the Kashmiri artisans. I have also gone through the reports of the Government of India which shows only about 29.78% of artisans are engaged in formal sector of work. I do not have the means to do any first hand market survey and if my proposed solution makes it to the finals, I hope to get the necessary support for detailed analysis.

Taking care of the informal sector is our duty and I believe Kashmiri embroidery is a work of art that needs to be preserved from dying away. I thereby wish to use technology to protect our heritage and the people who have devoted their lives to this work. With this co-operative, the individual artisans will come together to protect their interests and art. They will receive a wider market, will get increased profit, will formalize the sector, will get the technical and logistic support to cater to more orders. Also, they will be able to take their business one step ahead by engaging interested artisans to their trade on a global level. I envision this project to reach to heights so that they can inspire other groups of artisans to form co-operatives themselves.

I am currently developing the idea. I do not have the means to test it out and that is why I am pitching my issue and proposed solution to MIT Solve so that I get the necessary support. From the reports I read, I am positive that this will be a feasible idea because the artisans want to protect their heritage and artwork as much as we want to. 

My solution is heavily reliant on technology. 

• We need an app that will be dedicated to the Kashmiri weavers where they will be able to list their products for the rest of the world to order.
• Logistical support like warehouses for storing products that will be shipped and raw materials.
• Training centers for artisans, both online and offline.
• Co-operative bank where the artisans will get loans initially from their pool of money before they can reach out to other banks.
• Smartphones and data packs for the artisans with which they will have access to their training and the selling app.

I intend to serve about 35,000 people who are currently employed in textile weaving in Kashmir, India but are employed in the unorganized sector.

My solution aims to improve the living standards of the Kashmiri artisans by organizing their work sector and giving it greater accessibility to the rest of the world. It plans to minimize the roles of middlemen who take a chunk of the profit, leaving the artisans with the bare minimum. So first my solution aims to start out by improving the financial conditions of the artisans. For this, it is important to first develop the app and talk to the potential investors and address the consumers, making them aware of the new development. Then we need to develop the associated logistical support and arrange loans for the artisans. Once they are not struggling financially, my solution aims to improve the quality of their work further by organizing training facilities and giving them better tools for work.

• Increase in sales of the weavers.
• Increase in weavers' income to eliminate the poverty trap.
• Increased participation in the co-operative and in the training sessions.

My idea is new and it involves a lot of technical set-up to take off. This involves urgent requirement of funds. Further the market needs to be made aware of the new developments. The development of technology is the key to improving the situation of the weavers. I also need strong legal advice to understand how to bring about these settings and changes in Kashmir.

Therefore, the barriers currently existing for me to accomplish my goals in the next year are:

• Financial barrier
• Market barrier
• Legal barrier
• Technical barrier

I am a student of Economics with a special interest in Development economics. I can study and analyze the case studies of similar co-operatives and business models that were set up across the globe previously with such purpose in mind, and can choose the best way to progress. With a little financial help, I will be able to put forward a team that guides me on various aspects of my solutions and communicate with the weavers and understand the challenges in greater details.

I have not yet partnered with any organization.

I am a 22 years old girl from India from a middle class family with a dream to do something big and change the world by creating a positive impact in the lives of some people. Needless to say, the idea that I have proposed  requires a lot of investment. Therefore, if I get the HP Girls Save the World Prize, I would use it towards building a technically sound and professionally qualified team focused on my cause, so that it can work diligently towards  serving the cause and improving lives. With all the remaining money, I will primarily conduct purpose driven data collection and data analysis to improve various aspects of my solution.

My solution aims at improving the condition of thousands of artisans and their families in Kashmir, India. It uses an economic route to ultimately cause social upliftment. Therefore, I qualify for The Pozen Social Innovation Prize because I am working to improve the lives of thousands of people who had been marginalized in the society for decades. With the prize money, I will form the necessary institutions to provide logistical and training support to the weavers so as to increase the quality as well as quantity of their production and to connect the Kashmiri artisan community to interested investors and consumers across the globe.