The Jute Works is a non-profit marketing trust for women that has radically changed lives. Approximately 5000 women are involved in producing The Jute Work's products.

read the CJW letter to Trade Aid regarding the floods in July 2007

read the CJW letter to Trade Aid regarding the cyclone devastation in November 2007

Bangladesh has a heritage in the production and usage of handicraft products although traditionally, rural poor women produced handicraft products for their household usage only. The Jute Works took the initiative to promote their livelihood with the provision of work at home

The Jute Works offers women much more than an income. It distributes primary health-care information, focusing particularly on pregnancy and early childhood. The organisation also works to provide deep wells for safe water, and sanitary toilets.

Producers get extra benefits through savings schemes and small credit loans that women can use to improve their houses, lease land to grow food, or buy livestock to generate income.

The Jute Works were hit hard in the recent floods in Bangladesh and then again with the cyclone and tidal wave that swept the region in November 2007.

Products:

Jute products: it is good to be reminded of the environmental advantages of jute, especially jute bags Jute is a natural product, which rots in the ground and acts as a fertilizer. Jute, which is grown in Bangladesh, provides employment for many who grow and process the raw jute, and thousands more who transform it into handcrafts The alternative to jute bags, polythene, involves the use of dangerous chemicals in its manufacture. Polythene does not disintegrate, but stays in the ground, preventing the absorption of oxygen. An interesting product from The Jute Works: Footscrubs The idea of foot scrubs made from terracotta was an idea introduced from Europe, and now many people in the Paul (clay worker) community make their living this way. Footscrubs in the form of pumice stone have been in use in Bangladesh for generations. In traditional society it was believed that a girl with beautiful feet would bring good fortune in married life. When a boy came to meet a prospective bride, she would have to show him her feet, and girls with ugly feet “remained very anxious before marriage” (in case they were not selected.) Today such systems for selection of a bride no longer exist, but young women still pay attention to their feet.