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1. Monetary support: SETU provides valuable financial support to artisans and their community whenever the need arises. We look after artisans’ needs regarding advance payments for procurement of raw materials and accomplishment of target production.
2. Fair Wages: SETU ensures stringent monitoring measures to prevent unethical monopolized practices of middlemen and ensures fair wages to artisans for their arduous work. SETU protects artisans from falling prey to pressure tactics of unethical buyers and disapproves their practices of cuts and exploitative bargains.
3. Resource Development and Technical assistance: SETU is well aware & has assessed the serious problem of lack of availability of correct raw materials and resource accessories, which causes the artisans to suffer and ultimately their entire standing risks obliteration. SETU tries to solve such problems by coordinating with other artisan groups, different information sources & other relevant resource providers to ensure accessibility of the required resources for the needy artisan groups and enable them to perform effectively.
We also provide technical support & updates to the artisans regarding design & construction details, fine manufacturing tips, stitching, dyeing & color schemes, latest trends, scheme selection, alteration, recycling, functionality improvement etc. so as to help them produce exceptional products.
4. Process Improvement: SETU relentlessly remains involved with artisans for their process improvement & development. We provide innovative tips and guidance for the development of the current processes involved in making a product.
5. Quality Improvement: SETU takes several steps for improvement & assurance of their artisans’ product quality. We assure intermittent quality checks through active and phase wise interactions with artisans during the entire production process so as to help them produce quality products. We also aim to help the artisans save valuable resources and in controlling their inventory and waste.
6. Product Design and Functionality Improvement: SETU aims to support artisans in learning more about product design and development. They are exposed to contemporary designs and global trends and encouraged to use their inner creativity to develop new & trendy products. We also provide them with latest designs & construction details for producing modern & functional products, at the same time keeping their ethnic beauty intact. Product designs are reviewed from time to time to improve their functional aspects with changing customer needs.
7. Market Opportunity: Art and Artisans are lost in oblivion due to lack of access to the market and isolation due to geographic and other reasons
Most of the artisan groups experience, to varying degrees, isolation and a lack of market linkages. A few of the producers have noticed a slight revival in the local market for traditional products but this is still not enough to make ends meet. Some tourists and other people are interested in purchasing the handicrafts but even there, the artisans find difficulty in connecting with them directly. For selling their products in local markets as well as in global markets, they have to face exploitation by several chains of middlemen.
SETU offers a sustainable and assured market to the Artisans for their products, a market that not only value their art and talent but also gives them a new identity at the global platform. We strive to strengthen the artisans’ community by assisting them in gaining access to international markets, which are larger and higher in volume than local markets and offer more potential & revenue to provide sales and income to large numbers of artisans and micro enterprise producers of handicrafts.
8. Market Feed Back: Many artisans lack the capacity to respond to changing market demand with new products. Many do not use product development techniques and have little access to market feedback. SETU updates the artisans with regular information about latest market demands, trends and practices and provides access to these. We act as a bridge between the producer artisan groups and potential buyers with ethical marketing practices.
We strive to equip our artisan partners with all the latest information & feedback that they need about the changing market scenario so that they are always well geared up to produce as per market demands only.
9. Cost Optimization: SETU provides all possible guidance to artisans for cost-effective solutions to hold market sustainability. We assist them to remain competitive and at the same time enabling them reap maximum possible revenue from their products
10. Capacity Building and Enhancement: SETU is formidably committed towards enhancing the production capacity of artisans so as to meet the challenging variations of the market demand. We build & strengthen the artisans’ capacity to meet quality and quantity standards in time framed environment to keep pace with the needs of the buyers.
11. Enterprise Building: SETU helps in bringing ardent changes in the unstructured outfits of artisans by influencing positive changes in their attitude and methodology to make their efforts more organized and synchronized to help them grow from isolated artisans to micro and macro enterprises. The aim is to make them eminent and influencing entities in the competitive trade market locally as well as globally. To meet this objective, we also provide guidance to our artisans regarding general business management (including finance, H.R. & marketing).
12. Conservation of traditional and extinct art forms and artisans: SETU plays an important role in conserving the traditional art forms and their creator artisans. Many of the traditional art forms are on the verge of becoming extinct. We make various promotional efforts to bring the richness of such art forms to the forefront at global level. We organize several training and workshop sessions for artisans also to substantiate the above cause. The craftsmen are encouraged to develop products for the local and tourism target markets also.
13. Common Platform: We aim to provide a common professional platform to the entire artisan community (known & unknown both). A common platform is the need of the hour to promote & popularize art forms globally, besides developing artisans in a competitive environment.
We also endeavor to provide a unique opportunity to the ambassadors of various art forms by facilitating interactions amongst them to develop various innovative fusion arts, mutual exchange of techniques and improvement in their manufacturing processes.
14. Employment Opportunities: By providing larger Marketing & business opportunities, we also help in generating employment opportunities for more & more artisans. The main aim is to ensure transition of legacy of art and craftsmanship from old generation to the new generation, in order to protect the ethnic and traditional art forms from extinction. When the art skills get linked to employment opportunities and income generation, they become even more fulfilling & appealing to the new generation. We, therefore, make consorted efforts to generate new employment opportunities for the younger generation of the artisans and to keep their traditional livelihood alive.
15. Fair Working Conditions: SETU ensures fair working conditions for the artisans in following ways:
SETU assures that the working environment surrounding their work place is safe & healthy, decent and free of exploitation and stress. We also try to extend personal and community based help to improve subjective working conditions of artisans. Time-to-time visits are conducted to assess and reinforce our objective.
At the same time, SETU absorbs high work pressure generated due to the challenging demands of buyers and does not allow it to percolate down to the artisans. They are rather facilitated to function in a stress free and flexible working environment which helps them to generate and preserve the real beauty of the art form.
16. Enhancing Self-Confidence and Self-sustainability: SETU exerts to provide generous feedbacks to artisans, backed with repeat orders, which in fact generate immense self-confidence amongst the artisans. They develop a sense of adaptability towards the feedbacks regarding improvements & new developments, which ultimately strengthen them to produce better and to attain sustainability.
17. Sustainable Relationship: We nurture a respectful relationship with all our partner artisans. They are considered as equivalent partners in our growth. Mutual trust and transparency are maintained for a long-term relationship. We look forward to networking and providing better opportunities to our partner artisans.
18. Environmental well-being: SETU provides guidance to artisans regarding well-being of the environment. SETU believes that good working conditions and protection of the environment are pre-requisites for good Fair Trade. We strive to combine our strategy along with our commitment to environment and social responsibility. Our manufacturing partners and our employees are trained to work safely, to value time, energy and raw materials and to follow environmental waste, chemical and emission management procedures.
19. Socio-economic Development and Community Welfare: Besides providing fair wages and fair working conditions, SETU is also involved in several social and economic welfare projects and programs for the betterment and development of our artisan communities. SETU Consortium (consisting of SETU Fair Trade organization and SETU non-profit Society) realizes its corporate social responsibility and hence, is dedicated to serve the cause of underprivileged, marginalized & weaker sections of artisan community and sections of other such communities and masses in general by running social projects to address their vital issues of
‘SETU-The Bridge To Artisans’, through its act of promoting and marketing various art forms, generates resources to serve the above mentioned causes. We provide health insurance cover to our artisans, provide relief aid against floods and other natural calamities, organize health check-up camps with free distribution of medicines, HIV/AIDS prevention campaigns, health and family planning awareness camps, spread education, general awareness and motivational sessions, conduct trainings and workshop sessions etc. SETU is currently aimed to undertake solar lighting project to bring artisans to illuminated state of living from the present state of darkness, in the desert areas of Barmer.
To know more about the details/upcoming projects, please click here
20. Infrastructure Development: SETU believes in the philosophy of “grow and let others grow”. To make this happen in real terms, comprehensive infrastructural development in surrounding areas of artisans and artisan community is the need of the hour.
SETU is striving hard to promote this cause before the government and resourceful private agencies, too. We are of the opinion that independent artisan entities, in comprehensive developmental terms, will automatically take care of the vast and rich art and craft heritage of India.
SETU Consortium is striving hard for value based fair trading to serve following causes of substance, which ultimately uplifts the living standard of the underprivileged & marginalized artisan community and builds a great image for Indian Society around the world.
SETU Consortium also endeavors Environment protection by prevention of animal cruelty, by using only cruelty free leather derived from naturally dead animals, adopting procedures of manufacturing which tend to protect environment, by minimizing environment waste, chemical and emission hazards and working relentlessly to protect flora and fauna on the planet Earth.