AHMEDABAD: For the past two weeks, around 40 women artisans from Ghana and Ethiopia have been learning to weave a variety of products at National Institute of Design (NID) with natural fibre native to their respective countries. They are here for a design workshop that will teach them how to add design to different products they make using their basketry skills. The African women have come to India under the aegis of Indian ministry of external affairs, supported by the department of industrial policy and promotion, ministry of commerce and industry.

Following the 2011 India-Africa Forum Summit-II that was addressed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, it was decided that the NID will work on empowerment of women engaged in weaving of baskets in 5 African countries: Zimbabwe , Ghana, Ethiopia, Zambia and Malawi.

"We will engage with the craft sector, bring design intervention at the grassroots level and work to improve the livelihood of these marginalized craftspeople," said Shimul Mehta Vyas, activity chairman of the outreach programme at NID.

Shubhra Singh, joint secretary, dept of industrial policy and promotion, had come to NID on Thursday to see the work done by the women weavers from Ghana and Ethiopia. Sources said she was thrilled at their progress and suggested exploring more possibilities.

For the first time, NID travelled out of India to initiate a three-level design intervention programme to improve the lives of African craftswomen. The first level involved the visit by an NID team to the African countries for a field assessment of skills, strengths and product possibilities. Later, 20 weavers and five craft managers were sent to NID to learn how to weave diverse products and incorporate new materials and colours in their creations.

"These artisans will go back to Ghana and teach hundreds of others," said Diana of Aid to Artisans Ghana (ATAG), an organization that works with artisans at the grassroots level in Ghana.

Elizabeth Adungo from the ministry of culture, Ghana, said that the government of her country wanted to make bigger, better products from the available raw material.

"Weaving is primarily done by women but, at the workshop, we realized men could assist them. Learning to work with leather was a revelation too because in Ghana's villages, only men work with leather," Adungo said.

The third level of this partnership will unfold in the two African countries in a few weeks' time. New products created by the African women will be further refined, and more weavers will be involved. "We also took these craft managers to Gramshree, Sewa, Manav Sadhna etc to understand the design culture of India. This will help them gain knowledge to support the weavers ably," explained Vyas.

While weavers of Zimbabwe were given training at a workshop in 2012, Zambia and Malawi will be introduced to the design lessons in the coming year. "We will also build a brand identity for the products developed under this project in India," she said.

