Community Friendly Movement, India
By adapting to globalisation through the creation of a global virtual market place for Indian artisans, without deviating them from their core capabilities, Jaspal is improving the livelihoods of grassroots communities.
1. The new idea
Globalisation can be seen as exploitation for unilateral gain or collaboration to share gain for overall development of workforce. Jaspal believes that everyone can gain in the global trade by creating a win-win situation, from the customer at the bottom of the supply chain to the local artisan. Community Friendly Movement (CFM) doesn?t intend to fight the system but work with it to induce changes. By selling quality handmade products at competitive prices in a virtual market place and by reducing the number of intermediaries, CFM is improving the livelihoods of rural artisan communities in India. It aims to create a system that is both sustainable and scalable.
2. The problem
India has a population of 1.1 billion people. The craft sector employs 9 to 10 million people, most of them poor artisans from rural communities. It is the second largest employment sector in India, after agriculture. It is nearly impossible for artisan communities to find a market that gives them the necessary volume to lift themselves out of poverty. While the industry is growing, especially in exports, the real wage of artisans is declining as the middlemen and the importers are retaining most of the wealth generated. CFM proposes a solution that can repatriate benefits directly to the communities.
3. The strategy
CFM is directly interacting with customers around the world thereby reducing the number of intermediaries and offering competitive prices. In the current retail model, products where the production cost is $1 are sold to consumers at prices that range from $5 to $7. CFM prices its products at $2.5-3.5. This win-win situation creates a value right from the consumer to the end producer at the grassroots level. CFM successfully hit its $ 100,000 sell turnover target for March 2007. The target for the year 2007-08 jumped to $ 200,000.
CFM uses existing technologies such as Google or eBay to create a distribution system. In addition to that, CFM has developed its virtual market place, Shop2Change, exhibiting products ranged from bags, notebooks, to wooden or metal bangles. CFM also decided to extend the concept of tipping by creating Tip2Change. Customers have the possibility to leave a certain amount of money when buying a product. This money goes directly to the worker who was involved in the production process. The online store is in its testing phase and they are hoping to launch it in May-June 2007.
From 6 artisan communities in mid-2006, CFM is currently working with 15 representing 870 people based in the regions of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, etc. The total number of days of employment generated by CFM reaches 591. As a facilitator and in order to best suit the market demands, inputs in terms of product adaptation are provided to Indian artisans. A design panel is in charge of developing products, blending fashion trends with artisans? skills.
Since May 2005, a monthly newsletter ?Toran? has been sent to CFM?s members and is available on-line. It echoes stories of ?good trade? from across the globe.
CFM started in 2005 with an initial seed grant from the Ford Foundation. Besides YSEI, CFM is collaborating with Hivos, Reuters, iCongo, Fair Trade Federation and Co-op America. CFM was selected by the World Bank in 2005 as one of the four innovative projects from across the globe using ICT and youth to make a presentation at the UN 60th Anniversary celebration in Washington, D.C.
4. The person
Jaspal has completed a BE in Computer Science and Engineering from SRMSCET Bareilly in 2002 and a Post Graduate Diploma in Forestry Management from Indian Institute of Forest Management in Bhopal in 2006. Before joining CFM, Jaspal worked with the Grameen Koota in Bangalore as a divisional manager.
Click here to see the article on CFM released in the Hindu Business Line
