UNDP funded Project E-Business Piloting & Readiness for Rural Women Artisans and Entrepreneurs in Bhutan.

November 2007 2 Introduction The titled project E-Business Piloting & Readiness for Rural Women Artisans and Entrepreneurs in Bhutan was signed in August 2003 with funding from the Women in Development Fund (WIDF) and UNDP with a total fund allocation of US $ 212,180/-. The project has extensive collaboration with National Handloom Development Centre (NHDC), Handicrafts Emporium of the National Womens Association of Bhutan and the community weavers of Khoma and Radhi villages. The project intends to assist the rural women weavers in terms of quality improvement, product diversification, packaging and product branding of the hand woven textiles so as to have better access to local and international markets. Objective The main objective of the E-Business project is to empower rural women handicraft producers through training and network building, strengthening of the intermediary level of handicraft trade. (Favoring women entrepreneurs) The project also aims to facilitate the creation of an enabling environment for e-business within the handicrafts sector by building capacity in the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the regional offices. Further, the project will study the possible e-business modalities within handicrafts (textiles) and following the result an experimental e-business application for the handicraft sector will be carried out. By supporting the piloting of e-business, the project is expected to enhance the economic empowerment of rural women through expanded economic opportunities. UNDP Bhutan assistance is aimed to support the RGoB at three outcome levels: - Strengthening the capacities of rural handicraft producing women;

- Strengthening the capacities of handicraft entrepreneurs; - Facilitating the creation of an enabling environment for e-business in Bhutan. The project has been divided into 4 out puts with clear cut objectives and activities planned under each out put. A Pilot e-business Plan to enhance the market for handicrafts producers in East Bhutan formulated. Support provided to MTI/RTIOs to implement the e-business action plan. The Pilot E-business Plan carried out. E-business Policies examined and strategies identified. Project implementation scheme: Although overall objectives and out puts were specified in the project document, a detailed field visit was felt necessary to ascertain the needs of the communities. Subsequently a needs assessment exercise was carried out by the project team1 with the objective of selecting a relevant project site (s) and also to develop a detailed work plan which addresses the needs of the communities. The project team visited 4 eastern Dzongkhags2 and based on the needs assessment, Khoma Geog in Lhuntse and Radhi Geog in Trashigang was chosen as the Pilot project sites. Some of the important findings or problems faced by the rural weavers during the needs assessment were as follows: I. Limited product development or product range II. Lack of skills for product development or diversification III. Limited of information on market access IV. Problems in accessing finance and raw materials V. Need for a vegetable dyeing training VI. Irregularities in pricing of the products VII. Lack of mechanization The needs and problems of the rural artisans/stakeholders were discussed and incorporated into the

work plan of the project during the UNDP Learning Session in June, 2004, and approved during the Project Steering Committee Meeting in late June 2004. However some of the activities had to be targeted at an intermediary level to make it logical and beneficial. Based on the discussion with