Community Products

Many villages in Sri Lanka are well-known for producing handicrafts or specialized products made from natural, locally available materials. In the past, skills and techniques for producing these products were transferred from generation to generation, and trade with other regions provided a stable livelihood. With the globalization of Sri Lanka?s economy, cheaper factory-made imports began to replace traditional products. Families have tried to preserve their traditional livelihoods, but they now find it difficult to make a living. Their children are leaving the village to find alternative employment.

Sewalanka works with communities where a large number of households are involved in the production of specialized community products like terracotta pottery, coir crafts, handloom cloth, reed mats and bags, rattan baskets and kithul jaggery or treacle. The purpose of our handicraft and community product program is to help producer groups utilize their skills and resources in a way that increases their access to viable markets, ensures the sustainability of traditional livelihoods and improves their quality of life.

Examples of our community product and handicraft support services include:

• Linking with professional designers to develop updated, market-oriented products that utilize traditional materials and techniques

• Supporting producer groups to purchase inputs collectively

• Coordinating training to increase awareness about market demand, improve quality and add value

• Introducing techniques to increase environmental sustainability and improve production (e.g. fuel-efficient stoves for kithul production, natural dyes)

Making clay pots for IKEA

• Organizing retail facilities for collective marketing

• Assisting producer groups with quality control and collective marketing

• Facilitating links with national and international buyers

• Establishing production, processing or collection facilities to increase ability to fill orders, control quality and market collectively

• Using increased production and marketing capacity to improve other aspects of community life (e.g. paper production in Knuckles region is funding solar system installation)

For more information about Sewalanka's community products and handicraft activities, please contact handlooms@sewalanka.org or visit our newsletter page to see recent articles about our work.