The month that was…

May was a great month for celebrations!
Sasha celebrates Dipali Pramanik’s honour in winning the Woman Exemplar award and is proud to be associated with her!
Somnath Bhadra also deserves warm congratulations for winning the Craft Council of New Delhi award!
Here’s hoping all our producer partners and artisan colleagues will achieve greater heights in times to come.
From May we are also being featured on Facebook and Twitter. so do look out for news and comments there!
Last month also saw the launch of the savings scheme. Read all about it below…
And now, here are some of the other headlines for May…

Congratulations to Dipali Pramanik & Somnath Bhadra!

Sasha SFTMS Pilot Project

• The second SFTMS Orientation workshop was held in early May at Bhubaneshwar for the producer partners outside Bengal. Three groups from UP and seven groups from Orissa participated. The workshop covered areas as before in… The workshop threw up interesting points and involved stimulating discussions. The meeting was  attended by Mr. Debasish Ray Choudhuri, CEO and Mr. N.K. Mahapatra of Sasha Craft Services Pvt. Ltd.
• The third SFTMS Orientation workshop was held in mid May at Kolaghat Socio-Economic Welfare Services, Midnapore. Producer partners located in Midnapore, Burdwan, Serampore districts participated in the workshop. The sessions were interactive and interesting.    The facilitator for both workshops was Mrs. Devasmita  Sridhar
• Other Workshop News Sasha designers went to Bishnupur in mid May to attend a design development workshop for wood artisans of Karuudayan lead by Gautam Modak. It was an interesting experience and new bag handles were designed!
• Swagata also provided the participants with design inputs for products that will feature in the next Sasha CD.

Happenings in the Field with Producer Partners

Dyeing unit at Mahamaya Weavers Handloom Society

Mahamaya Weavers Handloom Development Society was established in 1985 with 15 weavers. The Society wanted to set up a common facility centre for the support of the weaving community in the locality.
Mahamaya has been closely associated with Sasha since it started and Sasha has been accessing markets for Mahamaya, it has also been instrumental in providing design, skill & technical upgradation inputs to its dyers & weavers through training.  In 2009, a dyeing workshop was held at Mahamaya. This provided the artisans an opportunity to learn improved techniques of dyeing and made them aware of quality related issues that are required to work in the competitive market.
A well-equipped dyeing unit was an unmet need for Mahamaya. Through grant support from Sasha this is almost ready at Birabarpur and will be completed by June.

Panchannagram Mahila Samiti

Panchannagram Mahila Samity set up in 1983, has been closely associated with Sasha over the years. There are about 30 women who comprise the core team and all work on kantha. These women were refugees and poor to begin with but have made great strides to improve their lives.
They had a small work shed with a kutcha roof, which had been constructed with Sasha support and now wanted it to be upgraded to a cement roof. A flat cement roof is a versatile space as all kinds of work can be done on it - drying, washing etc Also, a cement roof can also double up as a  work space too !
Sasha’s Australian partners, Lisa Redmond & her team from Global Conduct visited this group in February 2009 and decided to help garner the funds required for this improvement. They purchased and donated a beautiful embroidered silk wall hanging and organised a raffle with 500 tickets. The proceeds were donated to this project! Sasha and the women themselves also chipped in and now the Panchanngram women have managed to complete most of the construction work. The rest will be completed in three months with the funds they have kept aside.
This story is a vivid example of how grit and determination helps those who help themselves.

Producer Group Savings Scheme

Sasha is an active member of a network of partner organizations named National Alliance for Financial Literacy (NAFIL), promoted by Indian School of Microfinance for Women. Through its Citi Center for Financial Literacy (CCFL), the School takes financial literacy as a movement across the country.
To encourage and drive group saving among the members in producer groups, Sasha initiated an innovative scheme of group savings.
The model is three-tiered and demands cooperation & participation from all stakeholders. Artisans have to start a group savings initiative through a collective process of joint decision making and  joint resolution.  They have to save a particular amount of money regularly and the organisation/unit makes a specific contribution. On completion of  one year of regular savings and contribution from the unit, Sasha would contribute an amount subject to a ceiling. Members are eligible for loans after one year
Currently, eight producer groups have commenced group savings and three have applied for contribution from Sasha.

Trips & Visits

Swagata Ghosh visited Anjali, a centre that is involved in the well being and care of the mentally disturbed. Anjali is working on a government initiative, which requires mentally ill patients to use arts and crafts as therapy. Swagata saw the products they had made and has selected some. These will appear in the Sasha CD.
If any of you know of such organizations/people who are trying to uplift the lives of those less privileged or fortunate through arts/craft therapy please get in touch with Swagata or Mr Patra. Sasha would like to know about such efforts and extend support.

Sasha Store

World Fair Trade Day 2010 was celebrated at the store on 8th May. This year, the theme was Fair Trade and inclusive development In this context, presentations were made on FT groups in Africa and work in progress in India. Participating producer groups spoke about their on going engagement with Sasha, their experiences and lessons learnt
Guest speakers were Mr Chanchal Sengupta from Silence and our own Debashish Raychaudhuri. Producer partners also spoke.
Antare jantare provided music, CTM products and cottons from Dhaka and Tangail were on display and sold well, snacks and refreshments crowned a happy event.

Awards & Honours  

 Sasha congratulates Dipali Pramanik on winning the Woman Exemplar award from the CII in May. This is a great honour for Sasha and Dipali. Watch the ceremony on the CII website!
The news is also on the Sasha Facebook wall. Dipali was accompanied by Swagata Ghosh, who was justly proud of her protégé!
Conch shell artisan Somnath Bhadra received an award for his outstanding craftsmanship from the Crafts Council of New Delhi, in March. The award comprises a monthly stipend of Rs 500 for one year. Congratulations to Somnath Bhadra !

Upcoming events

Watch this space for details on a forthcoming grand exhibition of African handcrafted products at the sasha store in mid July 2010.