Artisans Associations of Cambodia

Artisan's Association of Cambodia (AAC) Summary

In keeping with the previous quarter, the Artisans' Association of Cambodia is undergoing a strategic planning process to identify the needs of the member organizations in order to plan for the next three years of work. The AAC's main goals are to facilitate the creation of fully sustainable social enterprises among member organizations through continued technical assistance, training, networking opportunities, and advocacy; to increase the amount of sales by AAC and member organizations, which will ultimately raise the compensations and, therefore, living standards of the workers; and to plan for AAC's own full future sustainability.

During the last quarter, there were notable achievements. To begin, AAC admitted two new members after conducting orientation visits.  The new members are Colour of Life and Pour un Sourire d' Enfant - Cambodia (PSE). This brings the total number active members as of the end of June 2015 to 43 member organizations, which consist of 2,041 producers and staff. Among those, 81% were producers, 56% were women, and 16% were people with disabilities. Moreover, 63% of the AAC member organizations were led by women.

With annual membership fees and income from shipping consolidation services for exports to buyers, AAC was able to cover part of our operational costs. Even though last quarter was a lean time and fewer buyers came to AAC members’ shops, some of the members were busy with sample orders and orders.  In terms of building our relationships with key stakeholders, AAC continued its networking with WFTO Global, WFTO Asia, HomeNet South East Asia (HNSEA) and line ministries mainly the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Industry and Handicraft etc.  AAC held a number of training sessions, which are outlined below. Lastly, three marketing volunteers from France have been working with AAC and its member organizations and AAC continues to seek additional volunteers from Development Sans Frontier.    

Highlights from April to June 2015

• International buyers from the United States, Japan, Australia and Hong Kong used AAC's services. For example, the AAC Director introduced one of the Hong Kong buyers to four of its members (Craftworks Cambodia, Rajana Association, Goel Community and A.N.D) based in Phnom Penh on June 18. During the visit the buyer bought samples and plans to place more order through AAC.  
• Those buyers have been importing products such as silk scarves, recycled jewelry, silk jewelry, name cardholder, dolls/toys, cattle horn jewelry, recycled paper journal, recycled plastic bag, organic soap, wood products, silk picture frame, silk journal, and silk bags.
• Many buyers worked directly with members. The countries that AAC members have been exporting to include: USA, Japan, Australia, Hong Kong, UK, Singapore, Germany and France.
• AAC together with more that 150 people including buyers, international buyers, foreign guests, non-AAC members and 50 cyclo-drivers celebrated World Fair Trade Day on Saturday May 9^th, 2015 at Watthan Artisans Cambodia. The Theme for the day was “Be an Agent for Prosperity” for Cambodia. Almost 200 people participated the Fair Trade Day, including 19 AAC members. AAC plans to celebrate World Fair Trade Day in Siem Reap city next year.
• In terms of collaboration with the Ministry of Commerce (MOC), AAC gained support for four standard booths and six kiosks for its members and Home Based Workers to exhibit the products at the Sankranta Fair in Siem Reap city from April 14 to 16, 2015. The ASEAN Design Center selected A.N.D to present its selective products at the Chieng Mai Exhibition Center, Thailand since May 2015.
• AAC Director led a delegation of four AAC member organizations to attend the Asian Women Social Entrepreneurs Network Conference, organized by the Association for the Promotion of the Status of Women (APSW), from May 20 - 22 at the Association for the Promotion of the Status of Women, in Don Muang, Bangkok. On behalf of the group, AAC submitted a small project proposal to APSW, which granted AAC in the amount of USD2,000 for the project on "Upgrading the skills of women social entrepreneurs in design and product development for market penetration”.  It is a four-month project begins from now until September 2015.
• AAC has collaborated with an organizer of the Cambodian Pavilion at the Milano World Expo in Italy. The collaboration has enabled a selection of AAC members to sell their products at the Expo through the organizer; the AAC members are Peace Handicraft and Silks, Ta Prohm, Watthan Artisans Cambodia, Rajana Association, Krawan, Artisans of Silver. The Milano World Expo began on May 1, 2015 and will end on October 31, 2015.
• The Ministry of Commerce Cambodia nominated AAC and Cambodian Living Arts as the "Boot Camp" co-organizers on Creative industry for the MOC Incubator Projects. It is Cambodia’s first state-sponsored incubator, entitled the MOC 101. This incubator comprises Cambodia’s best ideas, start-ups, micro and small enterprises that demonstrate the capacity to generate positive, scalable and sustainable economic impact, leveraging an e-commerce platform. AAC nominated five of its members to be part of the working committee/judges of the incubator project (Watthan Artisans Cambodia and Villageworks Songkhem Co., Ltd, Rajana Association, A.N.D, AFESIP Fair Fashion). The program includes showcase of MOC 101 entrepreneurs in Phnom Penh and introduces ten of those MOC 101 participants to banks, donors etc.      

Additional Accomplishments towards Reaching AAC's Goals and Objectives

• The total amount that buyers imported through AAC during the last quarter was $5,386.85 and AAC earned $269.34 for its services.
• AAC and a selection of its members discussed on the Country Fair Trade Network as the World Fair Trade Global requires each country has to formally established. As of today there are 3 standing members of WFTO Global and Asia. At least 5 AAC members (Watthan Artisans Cambodia, Rajana Association, A.N.D., Women For Women, AFESIP Fair Fashion) are willing to become the member of WFTO. The minimum requirement for forming Country Fair Trade Network is 5 WFTO members.
• AAC has been working on the WFTO Self Assessment Report. AAC has submitted the application and the next steps will be a peer visit and audit.
• The collaboration with Ministry of Industry and Handicraft were two AAC members selected for Jewelry competition in Bangkok, Thailand.
• AAC has collaborated with an organizer of the Cambodian Pavilion at the Milano World Expo in Italy from May 1^st to October 30^th, 2015. As of June, the organizer of the Pavilion had directly selected the products from Peace Handicrafts and Silks, Ta Prohm, Kravan House, Rajana Association, Watthan Artisans Cambodia, Artisans of Silver.
• In collaboration with MOC (1) AAC gained support six Home Based Worker Groups and four AAC members for attending the Sankranta in Siem Reap from April 14-16, 2015 (2) The Ministry of Commerce of Cambodia Government has nominated AAC Director as one of the Executive Committee members and together with another Executive Committee member to host the boot camp. This boot camp is specially geared toward start-ups and micro/small-enterprises in the handicrafts, design and performance industries.
• Angkor Handicraft Fair: AAC continues to prepare for the Angkor Handicraft Fair (AHF) in January 2016.
• Angkor Handicraft Market: AAC has been looking for a common place to open market for its member organizations to sell their products in Siem Reap city.
• AAC is ongoing its networks in the region and international such as World Fair Trade Organization Global and Asia, HomeNet South East Asia etc.

Trainings and Workshops

Three major training workshops were conducted during the last quarter, Design and Product Development, Design Color and Communication.

• Design and Product Development Training: The two-day session, held in Phnom Penhn on April 27^th - 28^th 2015, provided in-depth design and product development training for 23 persons from 13 AAC member organizations.
• Design Color Training: AAC conducted two-day trainings on Design Color from June 4^th to June 5^th, 2015 24 participants came from 17 AAC member organizations. The aim of the training was to enable participants to understand the color, color inspiration, color combination and apply, utilize of the color technology to apply color on the papers and new concept on applying color with new products.  The trainer, from the Royal School of Fine Art, also teaches design students at SETEC Institute in Phnom Penh city.AAC issued Certificate to all trainees at the end of day two; please access to AAC Facebook at Artisan Association of Cambodia.
• Communication Training: 28 participants from 21 AAC member organizations attended one-day training about “Communication” on June 16^th, 2015. A Communication and Web Marketing Volunteer provided this training with the aim of enabling members to (1) understand what is communication and its characteristics 2) create your own communication strategy 3) know how to do a communication planning 4) use specific tools for each action of communication. More photos in AAC Facebook at at Artisan Association of Cambodia.

Overseas Conferences

As mentioned above, the AAC Director and four women entrepreneurs (AAC members) participated in the Asian Women Social Entrepreneurs Network Conference that held from May 20^th - 22^nd, 2015 in Bangkok, Thailand. Two notable outcomes of the conference were: 1). KIVA: Kiva is very interested in AAC and its member organizations’ work and offers free-interest loan to AAC members for expanding their business or supporting their producers; and 2). ARUN, LLC: ARUN is the organization that provides capital to enterprise or business, also is interested in lending money to AAC members with low interest rate.

Local Media Exposure

AAC Director was interviewed by The Phnom Post Newspaper on June 22^nd, 2015 and publicized on the Phnom Penh Post Newspaper and its website on June 23rd, 2015.   

Goals for Next Quarter

• Work with a representative from the World rehabilitation Fund (WRF) to develop a three year Business Plan in July 2015
• Document AAC success stories
• Conduct Training on Social Media
• Implement the project with Asian Women Social entrepreneurs Network
• Conduct marketing training
• Seek training support from the Ministry of Commerce or Industry and Handicraft for training on Intellectual Property/Copyrights
• Co-organize Creative Boot Camp with Cambodian Living Arts
• Maintain the AAC website for all members
• Update AAC’s common product catalogue of all AAC members
• Sustain the ongoing export of AAC members’ products
• Continue to work on its market place and Angkor Handicraft Fair
• Look for more design and marketing volunteers from volunteer organizations

• AAC Design Color and Communication Training Photos (PDF)