Inspiring Young Minds To Fair Trade

Venue: Indian Institute of Craft and Design (IICD), Jaipur, Rajasthan
(October 19, 2012)

October is the Fair Trade month and is celebrated by Fair Traders all over the world! SETU, in association with Fair Trade Form- India, conducted a one day workshop for the students of Indian Institute of Craft and Design (IICD) at their campus in Jaipur. The workshop was organized as part of the Campus Outreach Program to introduce the future craft designers & entrepreneurs to the movement of Fair Trade.

IICD is one of the leading institutes in the field of preparing designers specifically for the art & craft sector. The students are trained to work with artisans at various levels. Therefore we decided to choose these students as they are the ones who can help the artisans at the grass root level in raising their level of craft, improving their product quality and introducing them to latest market trends & requirements.

The basic objective of the program was to make these students aware of what `Fair Trade’ is and how it is a powerful tool to improve the socioeconomic standing of the people at the bottom of the economic pyramid.  Fair Trade practices can help alleviate poverty by providing sustainable livelihood opportunities to the underprivileged craftsmen & farmers. The young minds are ready to begin their journey as craft designers and can understand the challenges faced by the artisans and identify focus areas for improvement. They can contribute a lot through design development, skill up gradation, developing alternate resources & raw materials, and so on.

SETU team threw light on the various aspects of Fair Trade and the role of students in detail. The session was very interactive and students enthusiastically participated in the discussions. They put up a lot of queries which SETU team addressed to.

About 55 students and faculties participated in the workshop. The overwhelming response showed our success in the endeavor to promote the noble concept of Fair Trade. Many students want to come up with projects that can directly ensure their contribution to the Fair Trade chain. Many students belonged to artisan families and they were highly inspired with the session.

After the session, Hi-tea was organized for all the participants.