Projects

Over the past two decades, Traidcraft in India has done pioneering work across many areas, such as Climate Resilient Sustainable Supply Chains; Business and Human Rights and working conditions; Supporting Producer Collectives; Research, Monitoring Evaluation and Learning; and Supporting Programme Design for Development Initiatives.

Examples of our key work are:

Mapping value chains and designing market-focused value chain interventions

1. Market Assessment of Non-Timber Forest Produce and designing inclusive value chain based intervention planning :

Jharkhand State Livelihood Promotion Society (JSLPS)
2018-19
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2. Action Research on impact and growth potential of the backyard garment sector in Saidpur, northern Bangladesh

TRAID
2019
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Establishing socially responsible, transparent and fair supply chains across farm and non-farm sectors

1. Pahadiya Samriddhi – promoting sustainable livelihoods for Pahadiya community in Godda Jharkhand

Oak Foundation
2019 – Contd
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2. Muktee project – fighting forced labour with Dalit and Adivasi communities in South Asia with inclusive livelihoods

EIDHR, European Union
2019 – Contd.
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3. Sustex and Going Green Programmes:

Sustainable Production & Sustainable Consumption of Handmade Textile EU – Switch Asia Program
2015-19
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Supporting producer collectives, capacity building and market access for economic growth and women’s economic empowerment

1. Sustainable Farms and Suatainable Futures Programme

Big Lottery Fund
2015-19

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2. Equali Tea Programme

European Union
2012 – 15

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3. Promoting FPC led inclusive seed system replication for pulses

International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA)
2019-20

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4. Empowering Women from Marginalised communities in Mewat, Haryana

UNDP and Vishwas Sansthan
2018-19

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Ensuring Best practices and policy-making to uphold human rights in large, medium, small and cottage industries - assuring dignity in labour

1. Hidden Home Workers Programme

European Commission
2019 – Contd

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2. Toolkit on Child Labour Prevention

European Union and Home Workers Worldwide
2015
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3. Improving working conditions for Cashew shelling unit workers

Importaco
2019-20
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4. Improving working conditions for informal workers in hardgoods sector in Moradabad

Ethical trading Initiative, The White Company, Oliver Bonas
2019-20
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Generating learning through programme monitoring and evaluation

1. Evaluation of pilot Programme elimination of forced and child labour in Apparel sector

C&A Foundation; GoodWeave
2018
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2. Summative evaluation and learning assessment for FIVE Programme in Kenya

Big Lottery fund and Traidcraft Exchange UK
2017

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3. Evaluation of EU funded inclusive livelihoods project for persons with disabilities

Leonard Cheshire
2019

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Jharkhand State Livelihood Promotion Society (JSLPS)

2018-19

For the Jharkhand State Livelihood Promotion Society, Traidcraft mapped key forest-based supply chains such as honey, lac, tamarind, mahua, chironji, medicinal herbs such as ashwagandha, tulsi, lemon grass etc., and horticultural products such as jackfruit. The mapping study also assessed the dependence of the forest dependent communities on these supply chains besides understanding the key markets, value addition potential and recommendation to enhance the income potential of the producers

TRAID

2019

With the support from TRAID, we undertook an action-research study in Bangladesh and India to understand  the potential of the backyard garments sector to reduce poverty and waste in South Asia. As part of the study we conducted a value chain analysis and market assessment for upcycled clothing products from scrap cloth-pieces, which contributed to the cluster development plan for Saidpur cluster in Bangladesh. We also provided capacity building support to SMEs, informal workers and industry associations in Saidpur cluster.

Oak Foundation

2019 – Contd.

Under “Pahadiya Samriddhi”, supported by OAK Foundation, Traidcraft is supporting 3000 Pahariya households in the Godda and Pakur districts of Jharkhand state. The project aims to enable communities to adopt sustainable and productive resource management regimes and empower them to access entitlements and engage with markets to enhance nutrition and incomes. The project looks at bringing primary processing and value-addition facilities to the community level through the collective enterprise model, so that the local unique produce of the forest-based tribal communities can be processed and marketed locally improving both food / nutritional security, as well as enhancing the income of the tribal households.

EIDHR, European Union

2019 – Contd.

In “Muktee” supported by European Union, Traidcraft partners with Jan Sahas in Madhya Pradesh, India and with ASSEDO in Rajshahi Bangladesh to facilitate an enabling ecosystem to support vulnerable Dalit and Adivasi communities who migrate for labour work in agricultural supply chains and are exploited under forced labour or bonded labour situations. The project involves facilitating community institutions, alternative livelihoods models and working with duty bearers of the local administration to ensure that they protect the rights and provide access to the entitlements for the community.

EU – Switch Asia Program

2015-19

In the handmade textile sector, with the support from European Union, we promoted sustainable production by improving working conditions leading to improved health and safety, reduction in the use of chemicals, and supporting development of eco-friendly products.  With the All India Artisans & Craftworkers Welfare Association, SMEs and technical partners, at least 30,000 artisans and weavers have improved their technical and business skills, occupational health and safety, and market linkages through our work in the Handcrafted Textiles sector in Rajasthan and UP. Effluent treatment and water harvesting systems are having a positive impact on quality of ground water, and reduced water usage.

Big Lottery Fund

2015-19

In cotton, our work led to the development of Fairtrade standards, and we supported the first cotton producer organisation to become Fairtrade certified. With Agrocel and Forum for Integrated Development (Chetana Organics), at least 25,000 cotton farmers (including large numbers of women farmers) from three states have benefitted from training on sustainable agricultural practices, fairtrade and crop diversification by becoming members of Fairtrade producer collectives. As a result, incomes have increased and health improved due to reduction in the use of chemicals. They now have access to organic and fairtrade markets in Europe.

European Union

2012 - 15

Traidcraft, the Centre for Education & Communication, and Bikash Bangladesh have worked to organise over 70,000 small tea growers (STGs) in seven states of India and Northern Bangladesh, through business skills, and providing technical assistance for environmentally sustainable tea production. As a result, STGs have increased their productivity, quality and achieved higher prices for green leaf, leading to over 50 percent increase in income. In addition, they have strong partnerships with tea factories, and have accessed a range of resources from the Tea Boards. Our tea programme provided identity to small tea growers in India through a process of collective action, technical training, access to resources and policy change.

International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA)

2019-20

A project with ICARDA aims to promote new and improved pulse seed varieties through strengthening and building institutional and business skills of three farmer producer organisations in select districts in Odisha.

UNDP and Vishwas Sansthan

2018-19

Traidcraft engaged in Mewat district in Haryana on a UNDP Disha project with Vishwas Sansthan helping women collectives to upcycle textile waste into useful produce and creating livelihood opportunities through this micro-enterprise for poor households in 2018-29. Our role in that project was to train the women collectives and key team members from Vishwas Sansthan on business planning skills; and undertake market assessment for the upcycled products in Gurgaon and Delhi market facilitating  market linkages for the collective enterprises.

European Commission

2019 - Contd

In Hidden Homeworkers, supported by European Union, Traidcraft is partnering with HomeNet South Asia and Home Workers Worldwide, to improve the working conditions of informal and homebased workers in Nepal, Pakistan and India working in the Apparel and Footwear chains. This project focuses on bringing recognition to the informal home-based workers, understanding the issues and challenges faced by them, and working with brands and buyers to improve their situation. Through innovation and the extension of multi stakeholder-led transparency and traceability systems to the lower tiers of garment value chains, the project aims to the improve working conditions and labour rights of hidden workers, such as homeworkers. 

European Union and Home Workers Worldwide

2015

With inputs from a range of UK based companies, the Ethical Trading Initiative and Homeworking Worldwide, Traidcraft has produced a Practical Toolkit for companies to address child labour issues in their supply chains particularly in home-based work.

Importaco

2019-20

With support from a Spanish buyer, Importaco, Traidcraft assessed the working conditions of cashew workers in two factories of their lead supplier in Kollam, Kerala and suggesting a number of areas for improvement. We are currently engaged in designing an ergonomically designed improved work station that reduces physical stress and improves productivity of women workers in shelling units of cashew processing.

Ethical trading Initiative, The White Company, Oliver Bonas

2019-20

With support from ETI Innovation Fund and two UK based buyers (The White Company, and Oliver Bonas) and their suppliers led by Indian Inc we are training workers, reducing the risks of occupational health and safety, and improving transparency in the supply chain thereby creating better workplaces for workers in the hard goods supply chains in Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh.

C&A Foundation; GoodWeave

2018

With the support from C&A Foundation, Traidcraft evaluated a pilot programme that addressed issues of child labour and forced labour within apparel supply chains, being implemented by their field NGO partner. The evaluation led to stronger programme design for the longer term programme investment by the foundation in this programme area with their partner.

Big Lottery fund and Traidcraft Exchange UK

2017

Traidcraft conducted a mixed methods, summative evaluation of Farm Concern International and Traidcraft Kenya’s FIVE project supported by Big Lottery, UK. This study generated learning for effective planning for the next stage of programme expansion for working with the small producers in semi-arid region of Kenya.

Leonard Cheshire

2019

In 2019, Traidcraft undertook the final evaluation for the European Union funded project ‘Increasing equitable access to livelihoods and employment for persons with disabilities in India’, implemented by Leonard Cheshire and its partner organisations. Across three geographies, the evaluation assessed whether, and the extent to which, the project had succeeded in increasing access to improved livelihoods and employment, and improved the employment environment for persons with disabilities.

Pawan Kashyap

Business Associate

Pawan works at Traidcraft India as Business Associate. He is a development professional with 4 years’ experience of working on livelihood having expertise in sustainable agriculture supply chain, social enterprise development & Women, economic empowerment.

He is an MBA in Rural Management from Xavier Institute of Social Service (Rural Marketing as specialized subject). Previously he has work with BIRSA, a social organization on Forest Rights, Livelihood & Sustainable agriculture in Jharkhand

Subodh Kumar

Sr. Business Associate

Subodh works at Traidcraft India as a Sr. Business Associate. He is a young development professional with 6 years of experience. Subodh is an Agriculture graduate from Allahabad Agriculture Institute, Allahabad, Master’s in Development Management from Tata Dhan Academy, Madurai and Post Graduate Certificate in International Organization Management from the University of Geneva. Prior to joining Traidcraft, Subodh has worked with TechnoServe India and Aga Khan Rural Support Program India. Subodh holds expertise in Institution building, capacity building, sustainable agriculture, value-chain development, and market linkages of the various agriculture crops. He has worked in various states including Gujarat, Maharashtra, MP, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Odisha.

Priyashri Mani

Associate Consultant

Priyashri Mani is the Associate Consultant (Women’s Economic Empowerment) in Traidcraft India. She has 10 years of experience in the development sector working with marginalised communities in the areas of livelihood, women’s empowerment, and indigenous people’s rights. She has a Masters’ degree in Development Studies from the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) University of Sussex, UK and a Bachelors’ (Hons) in Sociology from Lady Shri Ram College in Delhi University.

Jyoti Prakash

Market Engagement Expert

Jyoti Prakash works with Traidcraft as Market Engagement Expert and has more than 15 years of experience in strategy formulation, implementation and management of “Livelihoods, Enterprise development & Market Engagement” projects. His professional strengths include conceptualising and facilitating implementation of innovative strategies and methodologies in the areas of Livelihoods , Enterprise promotion, Market Engagement, Value Chain Development, Institution Building and Development Research.

Rohan Preece

Manager – Business and Human Rights

Rohan Preece is the Manager – Business and Human Rights at Traidcraft India. He has around 15 years of experience across private sector, government and third sector contexts in India, including work with youth, in India and the UK. He has worked on gender-related monitoring and evaluation and documentation assignments for a range of organisations including Save the Children India and, while at Praxis-Institute for Participatory Practices. In his work with Partners in Change, he led a number of projects on business and human rights and corporate responsibility. His work contributed to the establishment of Fair Finance India, a civil society coalition that engages constructively with the financial sector. He has experience of addressing human rights issues in factory settings and in supply chain settings in India and of working with grassroots organisations. His sectoral engagement experience in India encompasses the financial sector, textiles and apparels, footwear and electronics. He holds a MA (Hons) degree from the University of Cambridge and a University of London MA in education and international development.

Dipankar Sengupta

Supply chain expert

Dipankar Sengupta is the supply chain expert at Traidcraft and has a PGDABM (Post Graduate Diploma in Agribusiness Management) from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and a PGDRD (Post Graduate Diploma in Rural Development) from Xavier Institute of Social Service. Before joining Traidcraft he worked with Rallis India where he focused on creating agri-solutions. His work experience includes assignments at Bayer CropScience Limited and Tata Chemicals.

Maveen Pereira

Director programme

Maveen Pereira has over 35 years of development experience working at different levels from grassroots to senior management.  As the Director programme, Traidcraft Exchange, she leads strategic planning, program development and management across South Asia and East Africa. Having worked directly with workers, small producers, she has a sound knowledge of the challenges faced by them in their bid to access markets sustainably.  She helped launch the first Fair Trade label in India – Shop for Change – using a multi-stakeholder approach. Prior to joining Traidcraft, she was faculty in the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. She is a graduate from TISS and holds a PhD in Sociology from University of Mumbai.