Innovation one pager statement, Traditional Artisan Inclusion model by African Continental Crafts

We are piloting “Traditional Artisan Inclusion” which is a new model scalable across Africa. Traditional artisans are the poorest production group where individuals live on less than US$ 2 per day, undefined and forgotten in the mainstream economy yet their artisanal heritage is the only resource they have. In Africa, cultural assets and artisanal skills are largely trapped in informal practice, lacking capacity support for market. Globally, 60% of the workforce is in informal sector as ILO estimates 300 million people to be underserved as home workers who predominantly include traditional artisans. Handmade heritage universally provides the first and basic livelihood skills, shared and transmitted within communities and across generations and remains a fallback when human technical and physical vibrancy fails. It is universally biggest basic livelihood sector, second to agriculture but it is superior to agriculture in overcoming effects of deprivation and technical, literacy and physical limitations and hence it embodies the highest possibilities of human socio-economic resilience. By innovating inclusive artisanal mobilization strategies and training tools to reclaim productivity and social relevancy among the most incapacitated like the elderly, the chronically ill, the illiterate and persons with disabilities and the most resource-deprived like the stateless, the refugees, the landless, the displaced, the indigenous people and the underserved remote rural and urban slum population, the model demonstrates undiscovered potential of the artisanal sector to drive universal economic inclusion. A natural space that maximize human imagination and creativity, the model unfolds the hidden potential of artisanal sector to provide a springboard for inclusive and grassroots-based innovations. The overall goal of the model is improving incomes, livelihoods and resilience of market and industry excluded and bypassed traditional artisans in Africa, reclaiming and adapting them to the mainstream creative manufacturing and global market through innovative mobilization strategies, training tools, digital marketing and international trade strategies. Major actions rotate around development and implementation of innovative and customized mobilization and training and implementation of customized digital marketing and international trade strategies. It is a hybrid model implemented by a coalition led by African Continental Crafts, an early stage mass social enterprise and is involving nonprofits supported by grants, focusing on capacity development, socio-cultural research departments of academic institutions for implementation of supportive studies and for profits social enterprises supported by equity financing to advance digital marketing and international trade components of the model. Moving to piloting in Uganda, Congo Brazaville and Tanzania, the model is planned to scale in several other countries and reach 3 million people along the artisanal value chain in 5 years after pilot. US$ 205,015 is required to pilot in each of the three targeted countries within a duration of 36 months. Stephen Rwagweri Founder & CEO, African Continental Crafts Published on 4th January, 2025, Kampala - Uganda Email: srwagweri@gmail.com, WhatsApp: +256772469751