Until 2001, the Khasi women of Kenbah Syntien, Meghalaya, waited hours in the local bazaar to sell a basket. Now after training under the UNDP’s Cane and Bamboo Technological Upgradation and Networking Programme, their coasters, lamps and fruit-trays fly off the shelves at major national stores

For the Khasi women living in the villages around Mawsynram, Meghalaya, India, the world’s wettest place, life is definitely not all sunshine. Remote and inaccessible, lashed by heavy monsoons for over eight months in the year, the villages of Syntein lie deep in the valley, surrounded by treacherous and difficult terrain. No roads survive the onslaught of water, agriculture is difficult, and the non-stop rains encourage a multitude of insect life and disease. Life is pretty dismal.

Essentially forest gatherers, the people of the village collect broomsticks, herbs and spices from the surrounding forests and also work on pineapple and orange plantations. During the monsoons, cooped up inside their homes with the tin roofs resounding to the incessant beat of the falling rain, women and young girls spend their time weaving baskets with locally available bamboo. Known for its brilliant green colour, the bamboo is finely split and woven into rain shields, large conical baskets, winnowing trays and small storage baskets. These products are made for self-use and the surplus sold off in the nearby weekly market for nominal profit or occasionally, through government emporia or private traders.

In 2001, under a training programme supported by the United Nations Development Programme’s Cane and Bamboo Technological Upgradation and Networking Programme the women basket weavers of Kenbah Syntien began weaving a brighter future for themselves. With the help of project coordinator Shahriyar Choudhury, the women started working on a range of new products geared towards wider markets. A product designer specialising in natural materials, Choudhury observed that the type of basket weaving practised by the women here could be transformed into functional items such as trivets and coasters for the table, waste-paper baskets, lamps, boxes, spice baskets, pencil cases, bags and fruit trays. It was clear to him that the demand for the traditional products, both in the local and wider market, would be limited as compared to the larger national and international market for the new products, which were both unique and utilitarian. The new products were designed in such a way that they would be easy and cost-effective to transport. The women were extremely receptive to the new designs, keen to understand what the different products were going to be used for and eager to produce the best samples.

It was clear that the demand for the traditional products, which were both unique and utilitarian, would be much higher in the national and international market than they would be in local markets.

Creating new designs is always the easier part but translating them into sustained production is difficult, especially when the markets are far away and there are cultural and language barriers to overcome. In order to establish an effective programme, the project coordinator initiated a mentor programme under which a few of the craftswomen would be first trained extensively and each of them would then mentor more women. This would give the women ownership over the programme and also foster greater linkages within the community. The training workshops on production methodology by the coordinator and a ‘barefoot trainer’ Ashok Kumar enabled the first batch of 13 women to master not only the new designs but also standardised production methods, the use of jigs and moulds, proper treatment and finishing processes. The women also undertook costing exercises, realising that products are not priced arbitrarily but in a manner that all expenses, obvious and hidden, are accounted for.

The women’s enthusiastic response to the programme resulted in 38 new products. These were then test marketed in the urban market and designs that were not popular were eliminated. As part of building market linkages, the project coordinator contacted a national chain of stores which showed great interest in the products and was supportive of the women’s work. Today, the village women of Kenbah Syntein supply to stores across India and their products, especially the lamps, trivets, coasters and baskets, fly off the shelves, a far cry from the days when they sat with their products in the bazaars or waited for government sources to order. The response from overseas buyers has been positive but there are many roadblocks to exporting their products, such as the poor infrastructure system in the northeast and the lack of a large enough workforce to ensure high-volume production. Fortunately, the women are highly motivated to weave a brighter future for themselves and many younger women are joining the core group. Their craft, which was once a seasonal part-time activity, is today the key to a more stable future.

You can get in touch with the weavers and project coordinator at shahriyar@vsnl.com or write to:

The Earth & Grass Workshop
S-203, Greater Kailash Part I
New Delhi – 48






Contributed by Minhazz Majumdar, who works with communities in India on craft development, environment and income-generation programs. Reprinted with permission from Infochange.

To read another success story, see A Hand Up, Not a Handout in Kabul, Afghanistan.