Income-Generating Project for Tibetan Craftswomen

The official name and brand of this cooperative is Drong ('wild yak'). Drong is now halfway to being fully operational. It currently has eight full-time women and one man with tent-making expertise. All these workers are from impoverished families in local communities. Drong is now starting to realize its goal of providing families with a reliable and sustainable income while preserving endangered cultural traditions.

Knowledge and basic skills learned from the project are lifelong and women can use them to sew and embroider at home and while herding. Results of such activities could be sold and earn, and benefit their families in having appropriate clothing that need not be purchased. Most trained local women are now qualified to open their own shops, or at least be employed at handicraft enterprises, given the local demand for textiles.

Drong is also featured on Synergy Social Venture at:http://www.synergysocialventures.org/featured-ventures/drong/

Interviews:

Kontharkyid, 36 years old from Bonskor Village: “I was recruited into this textile craft-making cooperative in November last year and able to learn how to tailor. It was a big challenge for me for the first few days, but I did well later on. Now I can tailor Tibetan robes without much instruction and I earn 1,500 RMB a month.”

Dorjeetso, 56 years old from Gorudo Village: “This project has a great impact on local women. I was fortunate to be a trainer in Tibetan embroidery in this project. In the past months, I have trained about forty women. All of them are enthusiastic about learning and they attended the program with enthusiasm. With this skill [craft-making], they could make local ornamental embroidery and handicrafts in demand locally, sell them, and can work for some companies. Meanwhile, this great handicraft culture is preserved and skills are passed onto youth in a beneficial way.”

We sincerely appreciate the 41 donors that contributed 3,540USD that allowed this project to move forward.