Cambodian indigenous people learn marketing skills to boost handicraft sale

Ratanakiri Province – Handicraft weaving is part of the cultural identity of residents of Ta Gnach village in Ratanakiri province in the northeastern corner of Cambodia. The art of weaving has been passed on from one generation to another. But recently, the villagers have begun learning new entrepreneurial concepts where they see quality control and marketing as key to selling their products.

“Whenever we receive the orders for scarves, we make sure we weave exactly according to the measurement required. There must not be any bump of threads and the scarf surface must be smooth. That is how we can keep buyers interested in our products,” said Planh Proleav, a 27-year-old woman.   

Planh Proleav is of the Kroeung indigenous group and one of the 195 villagers in 10 villages that the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is helping find a better way to sell their handicrafts so that they can improve their family income.

The UNDP’s intervention is part of the Creative Industries Support Programme (CISP), a multi-agency initiative of UNDP, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the International Labour Office (ILO) and the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO). Supported by the United Nations-Spain Millennium Development Goals Achievement Fund (MDG-F), the programme works to preserve and promote Cambodia’s cultural heritage and support the livelihood of more than 800 indigenous and Khmer artisans. The programme works in four provinces: Kampong Thom, Preah Vihear, Mondulkiri and Ratanakiri.

In Ratanakiri, UNDP has supported the Cambodian Non-Timber Forest Product Development Organization (CANDO), a non-governmental organization, to assist the indigenous villagers to find markets for their handicrafts. The NGO also helped facilitate training for the villagers on business planning, financial management, costing, quality control and marketing – knowledge that helps them access wider markets.  

“In the past they did not understand about how market works,” said Heng Socheath, 28, a staff of CANDO.

“But through the training they now understand better the relationship between buying and selling. They know how to factor raw materials, labour and production tools in input costs and use that to set the price to sell their products,” he added.

The villagers weave textiles to supply to CANDO which sub-contracts them to other producers who turn them into finished products. The raw materials have to pass through a thorough inspection to ensure quality standards are met. The producers, who are mostly women and people with disabilities, use the materials to make designed products such as notebook covers, shopping bags, laptop covers and wallets to sell at tourist outlets, including a shop in the capital Phnom Penh that was established with the CISP’s support.

Between October 2010 and March 2011, sale of the products increased by 18 percent   compared to the same six-month period in 2009.

Heang Sarim, CANDO’s director said that since the villagers also have to work on their farms, the average income they earn from making handcrafts varies from US$30 to US$120 a month and depends on how much time they spend on weaving. The amount may seem small but has proven very useful for the villagers when they face emergencies such as food shortages.

“Our sale was not as good as after we joined this enterprise. We are quite happy that more people are interested in buying our products,” Planh Proleav, the Kroeung villager, said.  

“And because of that we are able to earn more money for food, medicine when we are sick and books for our children to study,” she said. “Life used to be harder for us and many of us had to work as plantation laborers to survive.”

In addition to trying to make a difference in people’s lives, the programme also helps to preserve the cultural heritage of the Cambodian indigenous people.

“Many indigenous communities have already abandoned their weaving tradition. That is because they couldn’t find market to sell their products and didn’t have support to improve product quality,” Heang Sarim, CANDO’s president, said.

One way to help preserve cultural identity of the indigenous people is through incorporating their traditional weaving knowledge with entrepreneurial skills. “This helps them be more creative in their design and improve quality to meet the needs of the market,” he said.

Word about the benefits of the marketing skills is slowly spreading. Neighboring villagers are now eager to learn from those who have received training from CANDO.

“They have asked the communities we have been supporting to help them in forming producer groups and teach skills to improve design. They have seen that their neighbors are enjoying the benefits, in terms of work and income generation, from this project,” he said.

And many women too were able to rise out of their husbands’ shadow because of the training supported by CISP.

“Unlike in the past where they depended on their husbands to provide for them, many of them are now able to make money for their families,” he said. “From a gender perspective, this programme is very important in helping promote gender equality and empowerment of women.”