Association for Craft Producers (ACP)
Purpose
The goal of the Association for Craft Producers (ACP) is to provide the full cycle of services - design, technical, management and marketing - to low income craft producers in general and women craft producers in particular, resulting in regular adequate wages to supplement family incomes and improve their overall standard of living.
Their aims and objectives include:
- providing jobs for low income producers that will provide an acceptable level of income
- improving the confidence and feeling of self-worth of producer members through participation in decision making; informal education addressing the issues that affect women and families; product development; skills training and development of foreign markets to increase the earnings of members
- implementing producer-benefits programmes.
Producers
ACP has 1200 producers in 15 districts, all low income; 27% are from minority ethnic groups. Of the producers, 90% are women. Men make mainly copper and ceramic products. ACP group members include:
- non-governmental organisations (NGOs)
- organisations with social objectives, (e.g. working with disabled)
- Fair Trade Group Nepal (local market)
- family businesses
- community groups
- groups of migrants
- informal groups of producers.
There are about 100 artisans on ACP's site in Kathmandu. In 2003 they worked with 22 producer groups in 17 districts, with numbers 2 - 60. Of these, 85% were women. More than 50% of the top and middle management staff of ACP are women; on the Board of 9, 7 are women.
Group leaders are selected by members of the group of producers. This person, who is herself an artisan, is responsible for managing the group, collecting raw materials and orders, quality control, money management etc. - and for this she receives from ACP 15% of the total earnings of the group. This amount is not deducted from producers' earnings - it comes from ACP.
Benefits
Benefits for producers include:
- training in design and product development, quality control, management and marketing
- counselling services
- informal education
- emergency allowance
- cafeteria and social programmes
- financial benefits such as approximately 50% above minimum wage, performance rewards, a retirement fund, educational allowances for girl child, work incentives, paid maternity leave, clothing and medical allowances, festival allowances, a savings programme and in 2009 producers and staff received a 10% wage increase in recognition of increased living costs.
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