NRSP

Rohi Handlooms Project

INNOVATION FOR DEVELOPMENT AND ECONOMIC SECURITY.

Introduction

The Rohi (desert) Handloom project was initiated in July 2006, by the Bahawalpur Regional office of Pakistan 's National Rural Support Programme (NRSP). Rohi Handloom was established to address the extreme poverty, deprivation and lack of earning opportunities experienced by women and men who live on the edge of the Cholistan desert in Pakistan 's Punjab Province . The start-up contribution for the first year came from Government of Pakistan initiative known as Aik Hunar Aik Nagar (“one skill, one village”), which provided 19 Million to pay the remuneration of trainers and cash for work for the weavers where as NRSP provided 72 Million to pay the cost of looms, training, boarding, lodging and transportation.

The Rohi Project does three things: (1) It teaches project members how to use a large handloom, to maintain consistent quality in producing the cloth and to incorporate new designs for an upscale market. (2) It gives the weavers interest-free loans, repayable over 24 months, to buy a modern handloom to use in their homes. (3) It provides long-term, high-value markets for the cloth.

The looms cost approximately 10000 to 17,000 Rupees depending quality of wood.

Community Benefits

Many of the men had been unemployed and ‘sitting idle' while their wives worked in the cotton fields. This Project gives them a means of earning a steady income, restores their sense of self-worth and enables them to contribute to supporting their families.

Rohi Project members are able to earn significantly higher incomes. And in future they will no longer depend on working in the fields to earn an income. In time, as incomes rise, families will be able to save and to invest in improving the quality of their lives. Children will be able to go to school, as their families will not need them to work in the fields.

 Benefits of the Rohi Handloom Project

•  The Rohi project addresses a significant development problem: traditional livelihoods, most of them village-based, are being devalued, leaving people with no option but to engage in low-paying physical labour.

•  The Project encompasses an entire ‘value chain'. It meets a need identified by the weavers. It adapts ancient skills to modern demands. It connects traditional skills and high-level expertise in textile production, design and marketing. It provides interest-free micro-credit for enterprise development.

•  The project allows people to earn a living at their homes, which means they do not have to migrate to the edges of urban centres to earn, and can hold onto the few assets they own (a small amount of land, a house and/or animals).

Progress of Handlooms under NRSP/AHAN