Funders & Projects

ATA just completed a study of the need for promotion in the artisan and tourism sectors in the medinas of Fes and Marrakesh, Morocco. ATA worked in collaboration with Solimar International to coordinate the close links between craft and tourism. Financed by the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and implemented with APP (Agence du Partenariat pour le Progrès) and the Kingdom of Morocco, the study will lead to a five-year project to develop the artisan and tourism sectors around the historically and economically significant medinas of Fes and Marrakesh. While a large portion of these funds are devoted to large-scale production assistance for pottery and leather manufacture, literacy training, and the restoration of foundouks, it is the promotion project that carries the highest visibility in the local and international arenas.

Within this study, ATA and Solimar  created five linked, but independently feasible promotion plans:
“¢ Mono artisans and tourism
“¢ SMEs and tourism
“¢ SME export pilot for North America, the Middle East and Eastern Europe
“¢ National branding
“¢ Tourism plan linking tourism circuits to artisans

The plans will be used as the basis for the actual promotion campaigns to be implemented during the two year period from July 2011 to June 2013. They were created to revitalize traditional craftsmanship and will include a broad spectrum of promotional tools, such as advertising, trade show participation and PR, as well as a comprehensive market access campaign.

ATA in Colombia: The Wayuu Artisan Women’s Initiative

Aid to Artisans has received funding from the Walmart Foundation to support its Wayuu Artisan Women’s Initiative to provide economic opportunities to more than 800 Wayuu women in northern Colombia.

“Support from the Walmart Foundation will enable ATA to provide sustainable income generating opportunities and export development for hundreds of creative Wayuu women artisans in northern Colombia, one of the poorest regions in the Western Hemisphere,” noted Eric O’Leary, Aid to Artisan’s Board Chair. “The Wayuu initiative builds on ATA’s eight years in Colombia, providing sustainable income generating opportunities and export development for the creative Wayuu women artisans who are not yet well known in international markets.”

Walmart Foundation is committing more than $2.5 million in grants to projects aimed at improving the lives of women in Latin America. Through the Latin America Women’s Initiative, projects funded in six countries will help empower more than 9,000 women, building their capacity to rise out of poverty, support their families and improve their communities. Support from the Walmart Foundation will enable Aid to Artisans and its Colombian partner, CREATA, to develop income opportunities for Wayuu women artisans through business training, product design support, new market development and direct linkages to buyers throughout Colombia and North America.

“Handmade in Egypt” – A Hand in Supporting Economic Development

 ATA’s “Handmade in Egypt” program, a three-year poverty alleviation initiative funded by USAID, has continued uninterrupted since the initial protests in Cairo’s Tahrir Square.

“Handmade in Egypt” is focused on providing economic opportunities for women, through the support of entrepreneurship and income generating activities in the handcraft sector. ATA expects to generate US $1.5 million in artisan sales, benefiting some 3,000 artisans.

“Most of the artisans and producers have good products, but they aren’t that sellable. One of the major problems for poor artisans in Egypt is that they don’t understand pricing,” said Perihan Samy, ATA Product Development Coordinator on the ground in Egypt.

Perihan is teaching many producers in Cairo how to market their products globally. With training sessions in both design and marketing, they are learning how to calculate their profit margins and direct costs. The true “glory and beauty,” she says, happens when everything comes together for them at global exhibitions such as the recent Home Deco held in Egypt. It was there that artisans working with ATA saw first hand the scope of the marketplace, as well as how their designs and hard work attracted interest from North American and international retailers, including Anthropologie and ABC Home.

 ATA’s Eco-Friendly Global Initiative

The A&A Fund has awarded ATA a grant to support its initiative: Greening Textile Production: Mitigating Environmental Impact of Wet Textile Operations in Developing Countries. The project seeks to reduce the environmental impact of textile production and dyeing on artisan workers, households and communities in developing countries.

There are millions of textile designers and producers in developing countries in Latin America, Africa, Middle East and Asia using wet textile production techniques. Inefficient textile production and dyeing techniques can have adverse effects in developing communities including overuse of water, electricity wastes, and chemical, dye, or pigment seepage into water sources or agricultural areas.

Support from the A&A Fund will also be used for the development of a training module on eco-friendly textile production and dyeing techniques through ATA’s new distance learning center, which is a fee-based online training course.