Development practitioner Sehyr Anis who has read at SOAS and LUMS, currently works at TEVTA (Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority). These days she is busy running Quirky & Co Compassion, an NGO securing artisans’ livelihood that have been affected by Covid-19. Seyhr is making sure to bring these gifted women’s talent to urban areas and ensure they get fair wages for the time and effort they put in creating the masterpieces. Sehyr talked to TEdit about the steps she has taken to support and empower these local artisans in Pakistan.
What is the chief objective and goal of this project?
Quirky & Co Compassion is solely geared towards enabling local artisans in low income community areas to earn their livelihood during an unprecedented pandemic that is adversely affecting our economy. It’s a platform for these artisans to have a wider outreach to sell their products.
How did you plan to find a way to give these strong, talented women a way to economic empowerment in their villages and towns?
With my background in working for a non-profit organisation working towards empowering women entrepreneurs in 2005, I was contacted by a few women who already have clusters in KPK, Haripur, interior Punjab and Sindh with their own uniqueness in product development. These artisans due to the lock down and inaccessibility to the market were in dire need of income generation hence they approached me for help. We through our existing platform of Quirky & Co gave them a chance to sell their products. It is a not for profit venture and we are open to all artists in need for showcasing and selling their designs.
What in your opinion hinders the development of rural women in Pakistan?
There are a couple of challenges which range from training, quality assurance, lack of knowledge of costing and pricing principles, lack of awareness of new trends etc.
How do you plan to combat issues like absence of quality raw materials, poor production facilities and limited marketing capabilities for these women?
During the lockdown our first instinct was to help sell the existing stock available with the artisans and we have been overwhelmed by the positive response because the quality has been very good although prices have been low and with time we would encourage these women to value their products. We have realised that some issues of quality have arisen and we haven’t included these products in our range at Quirky & Co Compassion and have made these artists aware of it as well so that they work on their weaknesses. With time we plan to expand our team and liaison with organisations such as TEVTA who under their current mandate is providing enormous opportunities for skills trainings. We also would like to liaison with other similar organisations for enhancement of skills and productivity for our artisans.
Pakistan has a long and unique history of craftsmanship, how do you plan to rediscover and revive these beautiful heritage craft through their designs?
It is amazing how culturally and historically rich and diverse our country is with respect to arts and crafts. From the platform of Quirky & Co Compassion we would like to market the beautiful craftsmanship of our local artists. We are already in talks with a few US and Canadian based organisations which are interested in joining hands for this cause and this will be a small step towards promoting our skills to a global audience.
How did you harness the talent of rural women in Pakistan?
These women are exceptionally talented and have been in this craft for generations - we just provide them with marketing advisory services so that they are up to date with the latest trends in the market so that what they work hard towards actually does have sale and commercial value.
Any future plans to take this initiative forward?
Right now we are taking it one step at a time and selling the existing stock as we haven’t actively started seeking funding for our non-profit initiative as yet. 2020 is a surreal year so one doesn’t know when businesses can be fully operational but in 2021 we hope to streamline the production of the identified artists and gear them towards optimising their design and production capabilities and help them generate income which they deserve. We will be open for collaborations and funding streams so that skills development and capacity building can be incorporated in this vision for optimal results.
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