The Community Groups

These young men supply products such as beads and buttons made from horn and bone. They source the raw material from carcasses of the giant horned African cow. By hand-carving bones of different hues from cream to tan, these artisans are also cleaning up a health hazard from Kibera, Africa’s largest slum.

Most of this group are single mothers. Skilled at many handicrafts, they have found a new talent; crochet using the plastic bags that litter their surroundings. Burning plastic waste is a widespread health hazard in densely-populated urban areas. This group is raising awareness, cleaning the environment and expanding their business.

These women are Internally Displaced People who fled civil war and had little choice but to work in a stone quarry. Now, they transform waste paper into coloured beads and can afford healthcare, education and housing. While they still sometimes work at the quarry, the more beads they roll, the fewer rocks they need to crack.

Recycled Brass - Kibera, Kenya
Thanks to demand from the fashion world, a growing number of men are involved in this initiative; to strip down old vehicles dumped in the slums, salvage the brass within, smelt it and then reshaped it into fashion insignia to decorate and brand accessories. Through their industry, leftover metal gets a whole new life.

Enduata means “vision”. These Maasai women are proving willing to shift the traditional aesthetic of their beaded ornaments to more fashion-based taste. For this community, who suffered immensely in recent droughts, the income from beadwork has allowed them to restock their cattle and win the respect of their menfolk.

Jiamini means “confidence”. Thanks to repeat orders, these are the specialists in sandal production and leather accessories. Based in the small town of Thika, they use leather leftovers, all 100% tanned in Kenya. In an area hit hard by unemployment and poverty, this group have become a stronghold in their community

One of the most diverse groups of artisans in the programme, these women use their local church as a workshop. Proven veterans of fulfilling orders for plastic crochet bags, cloth bags and T-shirts, their community also unites to address different social issues, empowering these women yet further.

Where plastic straws around a Coca-Cola factory used to be litter, now it is the raw material of vivid accessories. Women skilled in Ugandan basketry techniques wash, dry, shape, tie and weave these straws and by so doing, have found employment and more; for a social agenda also addresses HIV/AIDS prevention and family planning.

Korogocho is the site of a notorious dumpsite. For many, rag picking was the only job opportunity. With the help of EFAL, formal structures are being put in place to help these young artisans - expert at tie-dye, weaving, leatherwork and more - to overcome daily life-struggles so that, collectively, they can profit from their growing skill-base.

The majority of women in a rural town 110 km from Nairobi are Internally Displaced People who fled the violence that followed the disputed 2007. Community groups gathered under the Sanchat Charitable Trust now create everything from crochet to the decorative tassels used in key-rings and bag charms..

The name is amalgamated from Samburu, Turkana, Borana; the tribes of this far-flung pastoralist community who lost their livestock to the Lamina drought, so were burning charcoal to sell to survive. EFAL and the Zeitz Foundation united to direct orders to Satubo in a positive example of countering climate change.

This sizeable co-operative of about 150 members offers among the widest range of skills. All based around the town of Gulu in an area hard hit by civil war, distinct groups within this community are experts at making banana fibre, tie & dye, beaded jewellery, weaving and more.

These women live in the Banda area of Kampala, home to refugees from the war-torn north of Uganda. Most are single mothers, many HIV positive. They are proving committed, organised and dynamic artisans who create paper beads and a variety of appliqué work. Thanks to orders, this community has greatly expanded.