Local and regional artisans come together to strengthen creative industries

Press Release Monday, 22nd October 2012

Immediate Release

Leading Pakistani artisan stakeholders have been invited to dialogue with successful regional players to develop a well-rounded strategy for promoting artisan livelihoods in Pakistan. The Indus Heritage Trust (IHT) and the World Bank have been working together to bring stakeholders from the region together with Pakistani organizations for a dialogue that will lead to greater learning and understanding of the Creative Industries. This has been with a view to establishing greater impetus for Pakistans Creative Industries and the artisans who are struggling to make two ends meet. The objective of the Regional Creative Industries Stakeholder Consultation is to clearly identify the strengths and the constraints of the artisan sector, conduct a detailed value chain analysis, and explore and suggest innovative tools and mechanisms to address these constraints that can be piloted through a project. Rural communities, especially in remote areas, despite being rich in traditional craft, remain the poorest and the most vulnerable. They are constrained by poor infrastructure, lack of market information and linkages with mainstream markets, absence of institutional support from the private sector, difficulty in obtaining raw materials, and financing facilities. Hence, they often have to sell their products to middle men and traders at marginal value or produce products for local markets only. Youth unemployment and lack of livelihood opportunities for those at the lower end of the income scale - the landless and the most vulnerable community members - is emerging as a major issue, especially since traditional industries are no longer able to adequately sustain their livelihoods. Through interactions with identified key stakeholders, especially artisans, it was felt that there is a strong need to re-visit and re-examine earlier and current approaches to take stock and learn from regional experiences and best practices. Run of the mill efforts such as only strengthening one link in the value chain will only result in marginal impact and not be sustainable. It is strongly felt that the entire craft value chain needs to be strengthened and innovative out of the box approaches for design led development needs to be introduced, with tailored marketing support. IHT has invited craft organizations, NGOs, microfinance organizations, bilateral and multilateral donors, designers, artists and craftspeople to meet the regional players from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka and the discussions are centered on topics that impact this field. The attempt is to bring artisans into Pakistans mainstream market because successful creative industries can contribute millions to the economy and strengthen socio-economic stability.