The Ethical Fashion Programme is committed to empower communities of marginalised artisans, particularly women, with fair and dignified jobs. In parallel to this pure aid-for-trade initiative, we run various activities as part of the social agenda, with the aim of improving the livelihoods of these communities. Thus, in collaboration with different partners such as the Fair Labor Association other specialised institutions, we regularly organises workshops, seminars and training sessions on the field, in the communities. Here are some of the latest events:
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Kibera Going Dust Free! - Oct 2010
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Last June, the FLA President Auret van Heerden visited our key groups in Kenya and Uganda to familiarise with our work. Of course, our workshops are far from being perfect and like in many workplaces in Africa, health & safety is a top issue. That is the case in Kibera (Alfpon), where the workers spend the day sand-blasting bones and spreading clouds of dust all over the workshop and by consequence, breathing it. Simply instructing them to clean it wasn’t going to be a sustainable solution, so we did some research and found out that the dust could be used as manure. Yes! Now that they know there are two good reasons to clean up the workshop, Alfpon regularly bags up the dust and sells it to local farms. In fact, during our last monitoring activity we noted that the levels of dust had decreased by 70%. Well done Kibera!
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Bone artisans in Kibera, wearing masks at work |
Social Impact Assessment Workshop - Sept 2010
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One of the key activities of the Ethical Fashion Programme is the Social Impact Assessment in the communities we work with to better understand how the project influenced their livelihoods. This is quite a challenging task, as there are only a few studies of this kind in a context like ours - working with groups of artisans from the informal sector.
This is why with our partners of the Fair Labor Association, we decided to co-organise a workshop, inviting a group of Kenyan institutions, experts and academics to help us redefine the existing Social Impact Assessment tool. The event was a success and our guests participated dynamically, sharing precious information from their fields of work: labour, nutrition, anthropology, health etc. At present, the Ethical Fashion Programme social worker is conducting a pilot assessment on a sample of communities, results to be shared soon… |
Discussing the issues
Announcing the event! |
Health and Safety Workshop - Aug 2010
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As part of our activities with the Fair Labor Association, we plan to organise regular workshops for community leaders and participants to the project to inform and brainstorm together on how to make their workplaces the best possible places to work at. This first session started with a general introduction to the FLA and a presentation on why we are so commitment to implement their Code of Conduct (COC). After lunch, all leaders teamed up in different groups and took part in a range of activities themed on Health & Safety, a key component of the FLA COC. During these exercises, group leaders came up with their own solutions to some of the issues and presented a remediation plan.
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Each community leader presents their workshop |
Community Life Skill Training - July 2010
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The training was held at the ACK Church in Dagoretti, one of our “mini-hubs” on the outskirts of Nairobi.
The objective was to equip members of the community with basic life skills, including leadership and conflict management skills. Participants were guided through the standard process to form a group and the facilitator focused on four specific themes: registration, objectives, rules and regulations and non-conflict. |
The AMREF centre in Waithaka |
Leather and Stitching Techniques - June 9 2010
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| The training targeted micro-leather producers and facilitated five major groups: Safaribead, Champions shoes (Thika), Bidii shoe makers (Nairobi), Machakos Training institute for the Blind (Machakos), Orthodox clinic and Ethical Fashion Africa (Nairobi). The two-week programme included courses on stitching skills and environmental sensitization, with an emphasis on processes considering carbon footprint using recycling techniques (use of off-cut and canvas).. |
Jaros Cabak, leather expert trains the artisans |
Management Training - June 2010
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| An in-house training for professional development and the improvement of general working conditions for the staff. 40 staff members from Ethical Fashion Africa, supervisors and leaders from other groups gathered at the GoDown to attend this course. Elements discussed included the importance of communication at the work place, stress management, time management and conflict resolution. |
Dr. Gitau, from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa at the GoDown Centre |
Shipment Terms and Conditions Workshop - May 2010
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| The forwarding officer of Airconnection freight agency came to the Hub to train 20 people, including guests from other organizations, on shipping goods from Africa. The trainer covered a very large range of topics, including the specifics of sea and air freight, cardinal points in shipping, emergencies, volumes, costing and charges, routes, procedures for import/export, terms and abbreviations involved and much more. |
Elias Odhiambo from Airconnection teaching common abreviations in shipping |
Read more stories about the ethical fashion social agenda: Paper Bead group investing in chicks, Maasai Jackie gives an interview...
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