“If you invest in a girl or a woman, you are investing in everybody else.”
–Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Context

Rural community members cannot dream of bettering their situation if they do not have a source of income and a means to feed their children. The economy in Bhikamkor is male-dominated and relies heavily on agriculture. As a result, people suffer greatly during droughts or poor yield seasons. Bhikamkor residents do not have much education or job skills beyond agriculture and many men struggle with alcoholism and drug addiction, resulting in widespread poverty.

Conservative cultural norms in both villages restrict women from fully participating in the formal economy. Girls are married at young ages and are responsible for bearing children and taking care of the house.

Before IPHD adopted Bhikamkor in 2014, and Kaliberi in 2020, most of the women in the village were not allowed to leave the house, let alone seek employment. Research shows that women typically invest a higher proportion of their incomes back into their families and communities than men do, making the economic empowerment of women vital to community development.

Our work

IPHD founded the Skills Development Program in 2015 to learn the women all about handloom, natural dye and ecoprint, blockprint, embroidery, stitching and pattern cutting. They are being taught by Master Ji, a professional who teaches them all the tricks of the trade.

Once the ladies finish the Skills Development Program, we link them with the Saheli Women where based on her capacity she will join the work station where she can thrive. The Saheli Women is one of our benchmarks success in the villages. The Saheli Women is a fashion social enterprise that partners international designers with Bhikamkor and Kaliberi women to create ethically-produced clothing, accessories and homeware.

Skills development

HANDLOOM is a beautiful craft which we use to create fabric. The women can make fabric with bold colors, checks and stripes. We make our own designs but can also weave a unique fabric according to our partners wishes.

NATURAL DYE & ECOPRINT We have artisans specialised in working with natural dyes and tie dying. They can create artistic tiedye patterns as well as developing organic designs with natural dyes using different florals and matter. 

BLOCKPRINT We have a team of skilled female artisans who work on orders in our Kali Beri studio. Most of the printing studios in India only employ men. We offer a unique studio space created by women for women.

EMBROIDERY was the first co-creation skill available to our clienst. Our artisans are specialist focusing on tradional Indian an Rajastahni embroidery techniques (shisha, rabari, zari and sindhi) as well as contemporary embroidery. Embroidery is a skillful craft offering a luxury high end finish. We strongly believe in preserving traditional craft therefore all of our embroidery is done by hand. 

STITCHING AND PATTERN CUTTING Our ladies are experts in stitching and use industrial modern machines that offer the best stitch quality possible. They are able to make a variety of garments from dresses to trousers or blazers. We primarily use natural fabrics only such as cotton, linen and silk. Our one exception to this is when we use second hand saris with unknown fibre content.