COLLABORATIONS – Soolkaama

CREATIVE DIGNITY, India

Soolkaama — Tue, 27 Oct 2020 07:49:48 +0000

Creative Dignity is a movement that has brought together diverse creative producers, practitioners and professionals to energise the ecosystem that Indian artisans need in this time of COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 impact. The focus is to provide relief, and rejuvenation of the artisans in a bid to ensure their sustained prosperity

Trainings

Soolkaama’s Sandeep Dhopate, is part of the governing council, working with other organisations to mobilise resources in a bid to train artisan’s in digital literacy. Through the pandemic and the lockdowns Soolkaama has conducted several online workshops with artisan’s in rural towns to teach them product photography. Unlike, several online workshops where the tutors talk through a presentation, we conducted live, practical classes of showing how one could produce great product photos using cheap and locally available resources. Following are some of the results of these workshops

Social Media Strategy

Early on during the movement in May 2020, Soolkaama led the efforts to develop an advertising strategy and collaborated with an advertising agency to set up a content publishing process to promote the work done by Creative Dignity. We set up and managed a digital tool that allowed several volunteers from all over the country to share content with the agency. Soolkaama also curated the content to ensure each post was optimised for maximum impact. The tool gathered analytical data on posts published to further fine tune content quality and maximise audience reach. In just 1 month, we were able to clock nearly 15000 impressions per post and since then, the teams that have taken over the tasks have been able to take that number even higher.

Technology

Another area where Soolkaama provided support to the movement was in setting up the technical tools required to several activities such as –

Vendor Management system – This system allows artisans to set up their own personal e-stores on creative dignity’s website. Artisans and volunteers create their individual user id’s and through an easy to navigate user interface upload the product data onto the website. Online market places have their representatives set up as wholesale buyers who can browse through the products and connect directly with the seller if they are interested in any of them. This way, creative dignity is able to provide the much needed market linkages to the artisans and that too at a scale that is manageable by a small volunteer team.
Project Management system – Along with unite external stakeholders, the volunteer teams also had to communicate internally with each other across state border to make sure there was some order maintained amongst the various activities carried out by different teams. Soolkaama help set up a project management tool, that allows project leaders to set milestones, create tasks and also automate the process of tracking the progress of individual tasks. The system allows everyone on the team to know about all the projects being worked on and gives visibility to the progress of the overall movement. It is also an important tool to document the important work done by so many people. This documentation helps new volunteers to get up to speed quickly and start being productive at the earliest.
Volunteer registration system – This was another pain point within teams as project leaders from different states had their own system of onboarding volunteers. Soolkaama developed a unified online registration system that allowed visibility to everyone on the total number of active volunteers and also the projects they were working on.
Event Management system – Soolkaama set up an online event management system to help the movement publish upcoming webinars, zoom calls etc. both for internal as well as external stakeholders. Users can create their own events and invite audiences to RSVP to them. Instead of having to send out emails, we now have a system that is public and displays the events one might be interested in. The calendar is also protected in that, external stakeholders have restricted access to events or meetings that are internal.
Custom scripts – Data collection at the grassroots level was done predominantly through MS Excel sheets. This was causing a lot of data to be erroneous or inconsistent (for eg. some spelt “mumbai”, while some spelt “Bombay”). Soolkaama developed scripts that checked standard data items for consistency and put relevant validations in place to ensure data entered by volunteers in the excel sheet required minimal correction by the central data management teams.

EKIBEKI, Mumbai

Soolkaama — Tue, 20 Oct 2020 11:43:37 +0000

EkiBeki

Mumbai, India

E-Commerce website, Content Development, Identity, Strategy,

Ekibeki works towards empowering traditional Indian crafts that are at the risk of extinction. They intervene to revive them through design, skills and market interventions with the aim to build self-sustaining artisan clusters

Soolkaama consulted with EkiBeki to help them restructure their value proposition by aligning their brand messaging to match with core activities. Soolkaama also provided photography services to develop high quality product imagery which include catalog images for online market places as well as creatively styled editorial images for brand promotions.

POTLI, New Delhi

Soolkaama — Tue, 20 Oct 2020 10:45:40 +0000

Potli

New Delhi, India

E-Commerce website, Content Development, Storytelling, Marketing strategy, Business strategy, Collaborations, Social Media Strategy

The organization behind POTLI , series of Indian art & craft kits, aims to reconnect children with traditional Indian art, thereby creating awareness and expanding markets for artisan communities that depend on their art for their livelihood while helping sustain the old art forms they practice. A Fair Trade product.Potli uses simple approaches like making the craft kits fun and easy, close to nature, and children naturally love hands-on projects, all of which makes it an appealing activity. A resource like a facts sheet on the art form, with information contributed by masters in the field, is a means to help instruct and educate kids

Soolkaama consulted with Potli to first analyse existing business growth and helped the organisation chart out a revenue growth strategy which involved reaching out to the export markets and also online stockists – the two areas less explored previously by them. As part of this strategy, Soolkaama designed and developed an e-commerce ready website (www.potli.org) and also instituted a social media strategy. The social media strategy was further bolstered by a custom social media manager tool to help plan and schedule posts. The tool also helps to analyse post performance and tweak future posts accordingly to gain maximum audience reach. Working with a less than optimal tech savvy team, involved developing solutions that the existing team members could learn easily and make them part of their daily job. From uploading new products online, creating blogs, planing post content and automating post schedules, the team now handles all this work in-house.

Since launch, Potli has already bagged several export orders and there are several more enquiries for B2B trade. Through the website they have been able to restore their brand image, promote in-house activities such as online workshops which have generated additional revenues. The rebranding also included developing content such as high quality product photography as showcased in this post.

Website – www.potli.org

ART ICHOL, Madhya Pradesh

Soolkaama — Sun, 21 Jun 2020 07:51:25 +0000

ART ICHOL

Maihar, Madhya Pradesh, India

Story based narrative development training

Soolkaama conducted a workshop with the youth of a tiny hamlet called Ichol in Madhya Pradesh to educate them to use the camera as a powerful device to enact change. The workshop was conducted in collaboration with The Green Hub, Tezpur, Assam and Dusty Foot Productions, Delhi

The aim of the workshop was to teach the kids to use a camera with a purpose and also to help them observe social behaviour from behind a camera and be critical of issues that yearned for a change in mindset.

The participants made video documentaries, including composing original soundtracks for stories found within the village that touched upon important topics such as recent river floods and its causes, challenges the villagers face with farming and the story of village women up-cycling gutka packets to make rugs!

When circumstances have stifled educational growth of children coming from less privileged backgrounds, alternative vocations such as filmmaking and photography can prove to a great option towards sustainability. The children love the mobile phone and to teach its use to affect change is a win-win, both economically and also socially.

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VIJANA AMANA PAMOJA, Kenya

Soolkaama — Sun, 21 Jun 2020 07:08:20 +0000

Vijana Amana Pamoja

Nairobi, Kenya

Story telling workshops to generate alternate income sources by fostering collaborations between social enterprises and non-profits engaged in youth empowerment. Content development workshops

At VAP, the programme aims to encourage a healthy, active lifestyle through football for young people and support them with future skills for life. The girls come from vulnerable backgrounds and VAP provides a safe shelter for them. The organisation supports them to continue education and learn new vocational skills that could help them generate a sustainable livelihood in the future. The workshop was conducted in association with Standard Chartered Bank.

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON (UCL) – Ethiopia

Soolkaama — Fri, 19 Jun 2020 11:05:15 +0000

Sherkole Refugee Camp

Assosa, Ethiopia

Designed and developed creatives including audio interviews and story based narratives using images.

A commission by a University College London student, conducting research on Communities of Practice (CoP) amongst teachers of refugees in Assosa, Eastern Ethiopia. The research took place in a camp where approximately 20,000 refugees have been living for on average 17 years. The refugees come from a diverse range of cultures including Sudan, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Eritrea. The teachers taking part in the research were all from the refugee population and have had very little formal input on teaching methodology. Soolkaama was commissioned to sensitively document the research taking place and record a clear picture of the context of the refugee camp and the primary school.

VIKRANT DAKHAVE – Pune

Soolkaama — Fri, 19 Jun 2020 09:08:21 +0000

Copper Craftsman – Vikrant Dakhave

Tambat Ali, Pune, Maharashtra, India

Identity development, business strategy, product design consulting, marketing and advertising, content development and digital property development.

Soolkaama also works towards identifying highly skilled artisans in India and, by telling their stories, connects them to people who value the traditional philosophy of “Making by Hand”.

Our belief is that once customers are allowed to know the person who’s hands made their product, they value their possession even more. As such, we aim to simplify the marketing of hand made products by simply telling a true and honest story of the craftsperson

Vikrant Dakhave – We are documenting the life of Vikrant Dakhave, one of the youngest remaining coppersmiths from the community of the Tvastha Kasar Samaj. We work with him to promote his work and also provide guidance on design. Through this education, we intend to encourage Vikrant to create contemporary designs that are also rooted in his family’s personal journey of being part of this craft for centuries. We engage with him on a revenue share model, as opposed to labour wages, to sell the wares with Vikrant’s branding.

SATNA JAIL – Madhya Pradesh

Soolkaama — Fri, 19 Jun 2020 08:59:27 +0000

Prisoners as weavers

Satna Jail, Madhya Pradesh, India

Collaborated with local village women, prisoners of Satna jail, and a designer duo from Australia to design, develop and document a line of locally produced furnishings. Strategised development of a sustainable model to generate premium income opportunities.

Soolkaama worked with two textile designers from Australia – Trish and Nathan Bygot on this project and together we visited Satna Jail where prisoners are taught to weave rugs made from locally sourced wool. Local women in the village of Ichol, MP then embroidered motifs on them. The motifs were inspired by local designs found in and around the village and which were rooted in the cultural history of the place.

Soolkaama was engaged as a liaison between the designers and the artisans. They worked with the designers to help them document and understand the cultural history of the area. They worked with the artisans to help them realise the economic potential the knowledge they had of their local heritage. Furnishings created during the collaboration were presented in an exhibition in Delhi. They were priced at a premium and were sold out before the end of the 3 day exhibition.

SOUL OF AFRICA – Ethiopia

Soolkaama — Fri, 19 Jun 2020 08:47:38 +0000

Soul of Africa – Ethiopia

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Collaborations with local talent, content development, workshops with local talent to ensure continuity of advertising content that is in line with the brand image

Founded by Lance Clark, from the famous Clark Shoes, SoulOfAfrica (SOA) makes shoes in South Africa, Tunisia and Ethiopia, generating much-needed earnings. Run tightly, as an efficient business, it has generated over £481,100 – all transferred to the Soul of Africa Trust that has invested the funds in projects to help almost 18,000 African orphans.

By making African inspired light and flexible shoes in Africa, SOA runs as an efficient social enterprise and invests the profits to create further jobs in the continent and to support local communities.

Soolkaama was contacted by Dulma Clark, the MD of the company to help produce marketing collateral for the brand. Apart from documenting the work she required, we also conducted workshops in the charities supported by Clarks shoes. We taught product photography to young students so that they could continue to produce the content for the company and also earn revenue while doing so. Photography is a difficult business, but when companies are willing to support local talent it can become a source of sustenance and also an exciting vocation for young minds.

SOOLKAAMA – Madhya Pradesh

Soolkaama — Fri, 19 Jun 2020 08:30:10 +0000

Soolkaama

Soolkaama, Madhya Pradesh, India

Content Development, Storytelling, Marketing strategy

A tiny hamlet of around 30 huts in MP, about 50 Kms from Maihar MP, there lies a village of sheep and cattle herders called Soolkaama. A visit to this village is one of the first reasons why the founder of Soolkaama decided to do something about rural crafts in India. Every household here is involved in weaving rugs made of sheep wool. Organic, hand made, exquisite rugs. Sold for Rs. 400 a piece to customers in adjoining villages.

Soolkaama, the village, has no external intervention of any kind. They have no access to a marketplace. Their culture and artistic history is beautifully preserved in these hand-made rugs. The youth are not interested, as 400Rs for something that takes 10 days to make is, understandably, not a worthwhile effort. Most of the young men from the village work menial jobs in Maihar.

At Soolkaama, with minimal intervention and by documenting the craft and telling the story about the weavers, we were able to sell the products at a premium of Rs. 2000. Although not a perfect case study for Soolkaama, the positive take aways from this project gave us the purpose to do what we do today.