World Fair Trade Day is an initiative of WFTO that falls on the second Saturday of May of each year and has developed an overarching theme for World Fair Trade Day celebrations: ‘Be an Agent for Change’. Sasha joined WFTO members across the world to celebrate the World Fair Trade Day in an endeavour to bring about a positive change in livelihoods of producers, in attitudes of consumers, in trade policies, in the approach of business and retailers.
World Fair Trade Day 2016
Sasha celebrated World Fair Trade Day with Craft Resource Centre (CRC) at the Dhakuria Lake in Kolkata with a gathering of 80 participants comprising of producers and staff members of both the organizations. All the participants formed the Human Chain and artisans of both the organizations shared their inspiring stories. Mohammad Khalid Ahmed & Protik Biswas, (artisans of CRC) spoke about their journey through troubled times to now – when they have a steady income. A couple of them chose poetry as a medium of expression. As Agents for Change, Shukla Sarkar & Bharati Ray(artisans from Sasha) recited deep poems with a message on the power of positive change! Sasha celebrated World Fair Trade Day at the Stores in Kolkata and Delhi as well! While an exhibition on Black & White was opened at the store, this day also marked the opening of the Café at Sasha. The Delhi store and our colleague Raminder Khan organized a Human chain with craft organizations at the Nature Bazaar, Kisaan Haat, and New Delhi.
Also hear Sasha CEO’s message on ‘Agent For Change’ on the occasion of World Fair Trade Day 2016
https://www.facebook.com/sashafairtrade/videos/1028230553881068/
Black and White Exhibition
On the World Fair Trade Day Sasha also inaugurated the inauguration of Black and White Exhibition, highlighting the work of our producers; unravelling It was a stunner of an event & a tribute to all the gifted artisans- our Agents For Change!! The exhibition showcased a wide range of handcrafted textiles, sarees, clothing, fashion accessories, home linen, ceramics, candles, decorations, masks, paintings, toys, cushions, gifts etc. – all themed on “Black & White”.
Producer Group interactions
A series of workshop with different producer groups e.g. embroidery groups, weaving units, stuff cotton hanging groups, natural fiber units and leather groups was facilitated by SSA in May. The agenda for these workshops were addressing any issues through mutual dialogue, quality concerns, production capacity mapping, fair trade awareness & social security benefits. These workshops were done before Annual PG meet to assess their present status and difficulties they are facing while working with SASHA as well as within their groups.
Varanasi Weaver’s exposure visit
An exposure visit for the master weavers and dyers along with technical person from Varanasi Weaver’s hub and representative of AIACA was organized by SSA with the objectives of providing a hands-on experience on dyeing –both mixed fabric and mixed yarn; improved understanding on safe dyes, chemicals and processes by direct interactions with subject specialists; knowledge exchange with producers and unit engaged with Sasha and visits to local markets. It was an extremely successful exchange for both the Varanasi Weavers. A technical person from AIACA and The three producer groups at Sasha. Roshni Mukherjee & Karobi Chowdhuri facilitated this programme.
Snippets
Sasha Café – And we knew that the World Fair Trade Day was a great occasion to open our quaint little café inaugurating little Cafe at the Sasha Store. The Cafe offers you a lovely place for an unhurried cup of coffee while browsing at a variety of quality handcrafted lifestyle products, at the Sasha Shop- a haven for beautiful and affordable; traditional and contemporary crafts. A must visit for everyone.
Sasha at Magasins du Monde de – World Fair Trade Day is not over yet! Roopa Mehta, WFTO Board member & director of SASHA, was invited to the main event at Lausanne as an Agent of Change.
Fair Trade Federation Conference – Sasha CEO Roopa Mehta was at the FTF Conference held in Burlington, USA with WFTO President Rudi Dalvai. Roopa Mehta is an independent Director on the board of WFTO.
Sasha on Jaypore.com – Sasha Kantha accessories were featured on Jaypore.com.
https://www.jaypore.com/black-kantha-cotton-clutch-p167889
Pearl Academy organized summer camp and for Modern High, Laxmipat SInghania & Mahadevi Birla school students and partnered with Sasha for their exposure visit. Sasha’s in-house designers- Chitra Sirkar and Soheni Arora provided orientation to the students about designing and Roshni Mukhejree spoke about Sasha. They also visited to the Sasha store.
‘Women Transforming India’ initiative – NITI Aayog launched the ‘Women Transforming India’ initiative on, March 8, International Women’s Day, in partnership with the UN in India and MyGov. The theme of the campaign is Women Transforming India. CII Foundation nominated 15 Exemplars for the campaign. We are happy to that Dipali Pramanik, one of our key producer partners, was amongst the 25 chosen ones.
Upcoming events and programme – Watch out for more exciting news from the Sasha Shop as we celebrate ‘Eco-friendly’ fortnight next month!