Women’s inclusion in the creative economy is advanced through the global artisan sector.
Artisan value chains mapped participatively in two pilot countries, through a visual language that does not require literacy — so artisans’ own lived experience shaped what the alliance came to believe.
Two
pilot countries, mapped participatively
6 months
to the toolkit’s formalization and global rollout
What was breaking
Behind agriculture, artisan activity is often the second largest employer of women in developing countries. Most of it sits outside official metrics.
Global demand for artisan goods continues to trend upward, with the uniqueness of craft as a strong competitive advantage, and the craft sector represents a real opportunity for women’s expanded economic inclusion. But most artisan enterprises exist in the shadows of the formal sector, as loose configurations of suppliers, producers and traders in informal networks. Because the challenges of artisan value chains are not well understood, interventions can be fraught.
A visual language where literacy is not required.
What we did
Focused a public-private alliance on two pilot countries and mapped specific artisan value chains collaboratively, rather than from a desk.
A participatory approach surfaced the highly specific, localized, sociocultural, historic and geographic dimensions artisans are situated within — capturing their own perspectives and motivations, and bringing clarity to both the barriers and the potential levers.
What we brought
- Strategy workshop — designed and facilitated to crystallize the alliance’s directional goals and select two pilot countries
- Alliance member and ecosystem partner stakeholder interviews
- Desk research team leadership; per-country synthesis and a briefing report ahead of field research
- Prototype artisan value-chain toolkit for learning and co-creation in the field
- Core team training to facilitate toolkit working sessions in the field
- Coordination with government, IO, NGO and private-sector partners for activities on the ground
- Roadmap articulating opportunities beyond the pilot
- Key message points for the global launch event
- Executive summary incorporating learnings from the field
What stayed with people
Letting every stakeholder see and understand the components of the value chain in concert — visually, together — allowed fuller participation, and made sure artisans’ lived experiences, local knowledge and worldviews were carried into the analysis rather than summarized out of it.
What came of it
- Each pilot countryhosted workshops with multiple artisan groups participating.
- Third-country retestfolded field feedback into the facilitator’s guidelines the following month.
- Six months laterthe toolkit and workshop guidelines were formalized and rolled out globally.