Building Sustainable Rural Women Entrepreneurs in Handloom Value Chain

Assam leads the handloom sector, with 99% of weavers being women. Despite this, rural women entrepreneurs face structural barriers such as lack of raw materials, infrastructure, and market access.

In order to address the challenges and shortcomings of the rural women weavers, CEC initiated a pilot intervention in Assam in 2022 which paved its way to a 4-year initiative- Building Sustainable Rural Women Entrepreneurs in Handloom Value Chain, starting from June, 2023, aiming to support rural women entrepreneurs in Kamrup Rural, and Goalpara districts of Assam. 

This program is part of a larger initiative “Udyamini- Rural Women Entrepreneurship Program”. It is a joint initiative co-implemented by six Indian non-profit organizations with distinctive sectoral/thematic focus, to build a robust environment for RWEs working in select value chains in the states of Assam and West Bengal. 

CEC’s interventions in the handloom value chain are focused on-

• Strengthening village level production systems and enhancing business management skills of the RWEs through tailored handholding support;
• Building RWE’s resilience against socio-cultural barriers for effective engagement across business processes, RWE networks and ecosystem stakeholders; 
• Developing collectives of RWEs towards building village level collective enterprise models by strengthening leadership within a collaborative framework, and building their brand identities towards improved visibilities as entrepreneurs; 
• Facilitating financial and market linkages for RWEs to promote scale, growth and sustainability 
• Enabling the ecosystem to gain improved awareness for effective responsiveness, and strengthening local infrastructure for RWEs through creative collaborations and partnerships with key stakeholders.

Through these interventions, CEC will provide tailored guidance and assistance at village level across different stages of their business such as introducing value-added production, market oriented regular design inputs and exposure to market opportunities.