AUTHOR: PARAMITA SARKAR MAZUMDER
Renu Nanoty, student of Master in Design from NIFT, was awarded the Best Creative research project in her final year. FDS is thankful to her for sharing her abstract and the brief about the project for our Research category.. I hope this article will benefit the fashion students working with Cluster Development program and NGOs in the field of Research, Sustainable Design, Women Empowerment,
Project title: Development of rural clusters by identifying their available skills (focus group: women and girls)
The project was conducted to understand the skills of an identified rural women cluster and develop the women as self- help groups (SHG’s) and recommend new ideas of women employment by using their available skills and minimum investment.
Empowerment of women has emerged as an important issue in our society in recent times. The economic empowerment of women is being regarded as the base of progress of a country, hence the issue of economic empowerment of women is of paramount importance to political thinkers, social scientist and reformers, women activists, politicians, academicians and administrators.
In the project, a group of women was identified who had some embroidery and stitching skill. This group was working at local level and was unaware about the market outside. They wanted to work but were not having methodical guidance.
For this purpose waste fabric was chosen as a material to recycle. The material was collected from a boutique. Products using waste fabrics were made which are in demand in urban market. Final product selection was done on the following basis:
-They should be able to mass produce
-Women should not have to design new motifs and pattern every time while making a product.
women were given the basic knowledge of colour combination and final products were made which includes; range of cushion covers, wallet, bookmark and hair accessories.
They were guided how and where to sell the products. This gave rural women a profitable entrepreneurial opportunity to support their families instead of wasting free daytime and also generated a feeling of self reliance and self confidence.
This project can happen on larger scale in the area which is near to a garment manufacturing industry or a cottage industry. The major issues of the rural women and girls can be sorted out for their socio economic development which involves
-A process of enhancement of quality of life
-Services with people's choice and participation
-Conserving the environment
.... which sustains the whole process.
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