2nd Lady lauds India-Africa Craft Design Initiative

Mrs. Matilda Amissah-Arthur,on 1st May lauded the India Africa Craft Design Initiative at their training site at the Ghana Trade Fair Centre in Accra, where the India government is helping in the empowerment of African women through a unique initiative being undertaken in coordination with the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad. "The initiative is helping women in basket weaving to develop and improve their skills in making products they have already been making.

Mrs. Matilda Amissah-Arthur encouraged the participants to take advantage of the training programme and add value to their skills and themselves so as to become marketable and commended the Indian government for helping add value to the work of the participants.

The second Lady Mrs.,after interacting with then said she was impressed at the transformation the weavers have gone through under the project, and encouraged participants to do more and also help others. She said if they are serious and replicate what they have learnt from the Indian initiative well, they would not only get local market but also export and be able to compete with international standards. She made a personal commitment to, from time to time, order for their products and give out as gifts to her friends and guests.

The final in-field workshop and will be offered in April 2014. So far twenty weavers have been trained through workshops in the country and at NID, receptively. A group of approximately 30 weavers are envisaged to participate in the last workshop. As part of the India-Africa Forum Summit-II, held in Addis Ababa, in May 2011, the Indian government offered a major design intervention to women basket weavers in five countries in Africa.

Its thrust is to empower rural weavers in Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi and Zambia. A senior Designer a the Ministry of External Affairs of India, Madam Shimul Mehta Vyas, said the project is being implemented by the National Institute of Design, NID, Ahmedabad, under India’s department of industrial policy and promotion in the ministry of commerce and industry.

The Executive Director of Aid to Artisans Ghana, a non-governmental organization, as project consultant, Madam Bridget Kyerematen-Darko said field visits in Ghana revealed that there is a major concentration of basket weavers in the northern town of Bolgatanga, who use elephant grass to weave exquisitely patterned baskets, hence weavers from different craft based organizations based in Bolgatanga were chosen for training under the project.

The project programme comprised three training workshops, a scoping field trip in beneficiary country, and beneficiaries’ trip to India to participate in workshops at the NID, and a final workshop and exhibition in beneficiaries' home country. So far, a range of 30 products have been developed, which span across personal accessories and lifestyle products, with interesting integration of leather and wood as secondary materials, adding further value to the products.