Udyogini

Financial improvements for Chunari handycraft producers

About Udyogini

Udyogini is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) with 60 employees, established in 1992. Udyogini works to empower economically and socially disadvantaged women through micro-enterprise development and management. They provide business development services to these women and help them to initiate and effectively manage their own micro-enterprises and grassroots associations. Udyogini holds a vision that rural women can build on their productive skills to become self reliant and knowledgeable entrepreneurs. The social impact of Udyogini is:

• local employment and/or income generation
• community involvement
• improving quality of life
• transfer of knowledge and skills

Business case

Udyogini has introduced chunari production as a livelihood generating activity with potential for growth (if women become traders themselves) among previously unemployed women or women who were working as domestics, living in the slums of Saharanpur city. Udyogini has made linkages with the market, done market assessments to understand the prices at various points in the chain, organized production centers so that women can work for part of the time at a central place. The potential for employment has resulted in the number of women increasing seven fold in the short time that Udyogini has worked in Saharanpur. However, Udyogini's work over one and a half years in Saharanpur has established that the returns to labour for adding embellishments to chunari cloth is very low and many women, who earlier were very keen to do the activity, are now becoming restive because of the continuing subsistence nature of the remuneration. Women earn about Rs. 350 per month but their expectation is to earn about Rs. 800 to Rs. 1000 per month.

The NGO Udyogini asked SharePeople to make a SWOT analysis of the Chunari sector (decorated red bride screen), together with Indian Udyogini Manager Arvind Malik. The SWOT analysis was aimed to improve the financial situation of the Chunari women.

Results

The team came to a vision which could be implemented in four steps:

• improving quality and speed
• streamlining work processes from the order until screen
• developing simple designs which bring in much
• selecting the best subcontractor

The Chunari sector is now still subsidised. To be able to work more commercially it is better to run down the subsidy. The team worked on an action plan for this indepency. Mark, Karen and Frederik still have regular contact with Arvind.