Artisans Associations of Cambodia

Dear old friends and new friends of the Artisans Association of Cambodia,

Old friends know of the tremendous difference the Artisans Association of Cambodia (AAC) has made in the lives of Cambodian artisans who had come to the program from backgrounds of high disadvantage due to disability, widowhood and other factors creating poverty.  We hope that you will continue to support this effort and that new persons just becoming aware of this program will be moved to help us continue this effort. Created by the World Rehabilitation Fund some 15 years ago with members consisting of some 42 grass roots organizations, AAC supports some 2,700 artisans and staff, most of whom are from disadvantaged backgrounds.  Over ¾ of the workers supported by the project are women, and women direct over half of the member organizations of AAC.  

Member organizations of AAC have presences in 10 different provincial areas of Cambodia.  Members are striving to becoming social enterprises, having missions that involve both entrepreneurship and promoting social and economic benefit.  Another major focus of members is to promote the use of ecologically friendly methods in creating products.  

Employees of member organizations include large numbers of persons with disabilities (which was the main focus originally of the program), persons with HIV, and victims of human trafficking.  Many of the groups have a strong focus on meeting the needs of women from vulnerable backgrounds and many members also have a major focus on the betterment of youth from impoverished backgrounds.

In our first year, AAC's four members showed sales of $250,000.  This year sales are over $4 million, far higher than the $3 million predicted for this year.

Through support from donors like yourselves, AAC will continue to provide training and technical assistance to further the design, production and marketing of member products.

Significant events of the previous period include the conduct of training in the following areas:

• making products more fashionable based on current international trends
• using photography to enhance promotional materials
• preparing textile collections to meet the interests of European markets
• utilization of the internet and, especially, Facebook to promote products
• setting up effective business practices in starting and improving a business enterprise

Technical assistance provided by AAC staff and consultants included:

• strategies to becoming an effective social enterprise
• complying with international safety and health standards
• packaging products to maximize buyer appeal
• strategies for ensuring proper export forwarding
• developing effective displays for stores and trade fair presentations

Please check out the World Rehabilitation Fund website and examine the AAC catalog (link below) to learn more about the project and see the extraoridnary handicrafts created by AAC artisans. 

Thank you once more for your continued support!  We look forward to sharing more about AAC's activities in the coming quarter.   Until then, please know that we are most grateful for your generous support.

Warmest regards,

The WRF Team

Links:

• AAC 2016 Catalog

Dear Friends of the Artisans Association of Cambodia,

We hope that this update finds you well.  At the Artisans Association of Cambodia, we are happy to be in touch with you to share a few updates, and to give you more detail about how AAC is making a difference in the lives of thousands of vulnerable people. We hope that this update makes for inspirational summer reading!

The Artisans Association of Cambodia (AAC), a Fair Trade Association which benefits and is vastly represented by women, was formed by WRF in 2001 to support the development of crafts as a viable way of economic improvement of disadvantaged and disabled Cambodians, especially for women who are disabled, victims of trafficking, HIV positive, or single heads of families. The project supports 45 social enterprises in Cambodia who pay wages to over 2,700 Cambodian artisans, 76% of whom are women. Over half of the AAC member social enterprises have women Directors.

While the AAC was initially established to support persons with disabilities, the scope of the association rapidly expanded and the AAC began integrating persons with disabilities with other vulnerable communities in Cambodia, including single women, female headed households and landmine survivors. Consequently, the AAC has grown from a four-member group in 2001 into a 45-member umbrella association today. International sales have grown from $25,000 per year to over $3.1 million in 2015. Consequently, the increase in sales has led to higher incomes and greater economic independence for the AAC artisans. Moreover, we have witnessed an increase in the capacity and confidence of the AAC member organizations in terms of managing these social enterprises and networking locally, regionally and internationally with other artisan organizations and buyers.

By bringing the member organizations together, the AAC has opened possibilities for lower prices on raw materials, training programs to improve production and design, new marketing possibilities though public relations and participation in trade fairs, as well as technical assistance (TA) that assist the AAC member organizations to restructure as social enterprises and better manage their operations. Some of the areas of TA are export licensing, pricing, product display, purchasing, accounting and inventory control. These areas are especially important in helping to empower women who are traditionally far less exposed to management, business and financial education than men in Cambodian society.

This summer we have also seen:

• More applications for AAC membership, with 45 active AAC members.
• Growth in sales of all members (we are tabulating exact figures for June 2015-July 2016 but we estimate over $3,000,000 in sales).
• AAC successfully consolidated shipments for buyers who placed orders from the members through AAC.
• Those buyers have been imported products such as silk scarves, silk placemats and coaters, silk jewelry, cardholder, cattle horn jewelry, recycled paper journal & plastic bag organic soap, wood product.

Lastly, please see the WRF website and check out the amazing AAC catalog (link below)!

Thank you for your continued support!  We look forward to sharing more about AAC’s activities in the coming quarter.  Until then, please know that we are most grateful for your generous support.

Warmest regards,

The WRF Team

Links:

• AAC Catalog