Sadhna A Women’s Handicraft Enterprise, handiwork services in jaipur, sadhna.org

 

Sadhna A Women’s Handicraft Enterprise registered under the Mutual Benefit Trust Act, was started under the income generation programme of Seva Mandir (an NGO) in 1988, with the aim of providing an alternative means of livelihood to the women of rural, tribal and urban slum areas in southern Rajasthan. Starting with just a small group of 15 women, now it has grown to a large family of 714 women artisans. The ownership of the organization lies in the hands of these artisans and the entire surplus earned goes to these only.

 

Organisation Structure

All the member owners are part of the General Body, which meet once every year to discuss issues, find solutions and share their experiences. Apart from being an integral part of the general body, the artisan members have elected representatives who constitute the managing committee. At present the management committee consists of 43 members, who meet every quarter. The quarterly meeting is an open forum for discussions and helps in deciding on various issues of concern.

 

The members of the managing committee play a very crucial role in the day-to-day functioning of Sadhna. These managing committee members or group leaders have at least 10-15 women members under them. The main role of the group leader is to co-ordinate with its members at field level, production center in terms of quality, production, delivery and deadlines. These group are a vital link between the center and the artisans. They are also responsible for the quality of work that is delivered from the field.

Apart from the managing committee, two of these artisans are also a part of Sadhna, Board of Trustees. These are elected members from amongst the managing committee members. They are active participants at the Board meetings, which are held twice a year. Sadhna believes that such representative structures add value to the organizations operations and decision making, apart from empowering the women themselves.

Volunteering opportunities at Sadhna

Since Sadhna works with livelihood generation activities with women – mainly in the field of garments, we welcome persons working in this field.

• Design: Designers working on product lines similar to ours may pitch in with our designing team and develop designs for the women to work on.
• Production: We have Production centres in Udaipur as well as Delwara around 30 kms from Udaipur while the patchwork and other crafts are undertaken in nearby villages.
• Sales and exhibitions: We regularly conduct exhibitions across India, We also participate in trade fairs. Would you be willing to help us during these exhibitions?