On 18th November, an evaluation took place in Delhi of the partnership between Women on Wings and Fabindia / AMFPL. AMFPL is a subsidiary of Fabindia and stands for Artisans Micro Finance Private Limited. The COCs, Community Owned Companies, are part of AMFPL.
Ellen Tacoma says about the evaluation: “Fabindia / AMFPL have experienced their collaboration with Women on Wings as very positive. And the results are evident from the substantial growth in jobs at the COCs in Jaipur and Hyderabad, with whom Women on Wings works. Fabindia / AMFPL are now entering the second phase of their development of the COCs. Currently, only the artisans who work for the COC are shareholders. In future, they want it to be possible for other people within the community to become shareholders too. The COC can use the invested money to work on improving water and health facilities, for example, for the community.”
Last November, experts from Women on Wings worked with two of the COCs: Desert Artisans Handicrafts (DAH Jaipur) in Jaipur and Krishna Weavers in Hyderabad. Matthijs Rosman and Kiki Kamsma worked with DAH Jaipur on core competencies and on the objectives of individual managers as well as those of the team as a whole. Experts Jan Engels and Jenny Hudepohl explored export opportunities with Krishna Weavers with a view to increasing production.
The collaboration between Women on Wings and the two COCs in Jaipur and Hyderabad has continued with specific focus points per COC. In addition to this, Women on Wings supports Fabindia / AMFPL on a strategic level. Ellen: “To further continue the expansion of the COCs, they will look into sales opportunities with parties other than Fabindia. Women on Wings supports Fabindia / AMFPL with the development of a vision and strategy and a two-day workshop for the directors of all 14 COCs. The workshop will take place in the spring of 2012 in India.”
