Orientation of the Bamboo Artisans in Haldwani - Looking from a community perspective
Date : 20-21, Nov, 2003
Venue : Forest Training Academy, Haldwani
Organised By : UBFDB (Uttaranchal Bamboo and Fibre Development Board) , Forest Training Academy, Haldwani, INBAR and CIBART
Facilitated By : CIBART team

Objective of the orientation.

The orientation was organized to understand and assess the current level of skills existent in artisans from various parts of Uttaranchal, so that a future Capacity Building and product designing strategy can be formulated.

Day 1

Session 1

The artisans after an introductory thought sharing were asked to demonstrate their skills by making a product of their choice. This enabled the facilitators to photo document the artisans methodology of holding tools and cutting the various varieties of bamboo for use. The artisans during the process were asked regarding their experiences in this craft specially related to change in the needs of the market with time and availability of Bamboo. This Session continued for more than half a day.

Session 2

Post lunch the artisans were taken to the classroom. A review of the products and the skill they used in making the products was done. Suggestions regarding the improvements they can make in their design and importance of finishing was reiterated. After this they were shown a presentation on the various kind of handicraft products made around the world. The participants showed great interest in the presentation and showed the willingness and the confidence to make similar products, which have high sale value. There were queries regarding the technology and the market for the products. The participants were assured that the queries will be answered in the coming sessions the next day.

DAY 2

Session 1

Day 2 started with a open forum in which the participants were asked what they felt regarding the products they saw in the presentation the day before. All of them said that they would like to learn more about the technology and the skills required to make the products. They ensured that when there will be the next meeting each of them will make at home and will come with at least one of the items shown. After this encouraging session the participants were shown another presentation on the possibility of Ringal and other form of bamboo items in Furniture. This was to give them an insight on the high value products possible in the bamboo category. The participants shared that they tried furniture items like tables, stools earlier also but stopped as they did not had the access to the buyers of such items.

Session 2

This was followed by a session on the design and weaving. The participants were shown various forms and styles of weaving that is possible. This session was done to develop an understanding amongst the artisans the important part that the technique of weaving plays in improving product strength as well as presentation.

Session 3

This session through a market game tried to develop an understanding of the market mechanism and need for collective action amongst the artisans. Each group was asked to fix a rate for their goods and try to sell it in the market. It was found that most of the artisans were demanding a much lesser price as compared to the effort they had put. A framework on reasons behind this fear of demanding a higher price was developed through brainstorming. It was found that since all the artisans are competing amongst themselves in the place of their habitat, they end up giving more benefits to the customers fearing each other. It was emphasized that if they can start a small cooperative or any such collective institution they would be able to gain more from the current markets. This should be their first step.

In the next step they should try to develop prototypes and invest in technology collectively so that they should be able to make products for the urban or even export markets. This would require skill building and fixed and working capital. Here role of Bamboo board and CIBART was brought in. They were told how these agencies can support their skill building requirements and networking them with the markets. It was reiterated that the artisans will always have to take the first step if they want any form of assistance of guidance from these agencies.

Coming to the market analysis it came out from the discussions that there is a need for a intermediary agency, which buys goods from the artisans and sells it to the outside market. The UBAC model was touched upon but it was told that it is the artisans and their groups who will have to think about developing such a marketing company. The artisans liked the idea of a company in which each of them will have a ownership.

Session 4

Mr. J.P. Maithany from Pipalkot who has a vast experience of working with the artisans of ringal in many parts of Uttaranchal was invited to share his experiences specially that of forming Self Help Groups of the artisans. He shared with the participants in detail the benefits which they can get after forming SHGs of the artisans. He introduced the concept of inter loaning and how it gives self sustenance and confidence to each member in the group. He cautioned about the forces which keep on working to break the group and how it is the responsibility of the leaders of the groups to keep the group together and ensure every member is gaining from his/her participation in this collective action.

He gave a detail of some of the key schemes which the govt. has introduced for the members of such groups including group insurance and bank loans. The participants showed great interest in formulation of such groups in their villages and asked the facilitators to provide the initial support and facilitation for formation of such groups.

This was the last session of the workshop followed by thanksgiving and feedback by Mr. G.B.Singh, Deputy Director, FTA.

Day 3

The facilitators Shilpi Kumar and Ajender Singh made a field visit to the artisan community living near Ghodakhaal on the third day. The village had a population of around 50 families of ringaal artisans. It was done to develop a better understanding of the processes followed by the artisans at the village level. This will be helpful in planning the village level interventions for the artisans. It was found that the village community has large tract of both private and common land and they were eager to plant bamboo in and around their village. They are also developing a small workshop at the village level with the support of the social welfare department. This village had a good potential of being developed as a demonstration site.

After the village exposure a brief market study was done in the nearby town of Nainital which is a tourist attraction. It was found that the handicraft products from Saharanpur had a large presence in the market. The items were very good in terms of design and utility and were easy to carry back home. It was also found that inspite of the high quality of the products they are cheap and will give a very tough competition even in terms of price. It was felt that there is a need to understand the organized production market of Saharanpur and know more about its production and distribution network.

Key learnings

1. The artisans need multi level support in many fields but there needs to be a sequencing of interventions. In the current scenario the artisans are working individually but for developing a organized market linkage they need to come together and work as collectives. Facilitation for this needs to be provided to all the interested groups. There is a dearth of raw material as well as the will to experiment with new form of items. The artisans seem satisfied with their current product profile until an assurance of market linkage for the new products is provided by any external agency. Once the groups agree to make new items then will emerge the need of new form of tools and working capital and money for domestic expenses as those products may have longer manufacturing periods. One needs to work on forming these linkages along with organizing the groups.
2. For making the products more acceptable in the markets there will be a need to mix bamboo or ringal with other material like metal, fiber, wood etc. This requires linkages both with other industries and artisan groups working on some other raw material. As a next step a need of assembling units at different levels will emerge in the long term.
3. Next series of awareness workshops need to be more focused on product prototyping and institution development for better production and market linkages. They should be less formal and organized at places near the habitat of the artisans.
4. As the artisan have very little prior exposure to cooperative form of community level institutions and urban markets. A need for intensive hand holding at the initial stage emerges for building sustainable and strong community level livelihood models based on bamboo. This will require a trained team of field level functionaries as well as support of community based NGOs working with the artisan groups.

This orientation was indeed an enriching experience and a very important step forward towards our vision of developing bamboo based livelihood economy in Uttaranchal.