On October 18th, twenty-four women participated in a group discussion concerning the history and future of artisan production in Zaouiat. Initially, we began the meeting with our questions in Tamazight. However, the women suggested we conduct the meeting in Darija. Although the change in language proved challenging, we were able to progress through our questions with the assistance of our LCF.
Following our meeting with the artisans, and informal ones with members of the community in Zaouiat, we had two Needs Assessments. The first was a formal one we compiled by asking the weavers directly and the second was our impression of the current attitude and state of mind of the women, obtained through informal discussions and speaking with our families at home. While the first may have been closer in form to the ideal we will strive for in service, the meeting was difficult to control and we felt that the list we ended up with was neither reflective of the artisan’s needs, nor realistic for us to implement. The women did agree that, among other things, they would be interested in workshops on natural dyeing and forming organizations, but the predominant demand was for community amenities.
However, since our informal analysis had shown that attempts at forming a cooperative in the past had simply ground to a halt, and attempts at selling to Al-Akhawayn University or setting up pricing systems based on output had failed and often cost the women money, we were hesitant to approach large projects or make promises. Rather, we felt that the most important thing was to give something concrete and, in some way, helpful, rather than uncertain hopes. We ultimately decided to hold workshops with guest speakers, since it was realistic and more beneficial, given our limited language skills and time frame. Amina Yabis led the first about natural dyeing, as the women would be able to use natural materials around Zaouiat for their own work. We also decided to invite a speaker from the Artisana in Azrou, Hossein Zahri, because we felt that the majority of the women were not aware of either the benefits or pitfalls of Nedis, cooperatives, and associations, nor of the steps necessary to create them.
Preparing for these workshops was relatively simple; we invited Amina for the day of Sunday, October 26th, and Hossein for the afternoon of Monday the 27th. The week before we bought wool for demonstrations from the suq in Azrou, and prepared it for dyeing as well as we could, based on our research of the process. We invited the weavers who had seemed most interested in serious discussion of their work at the meeting, and ones who had particularly impressed us with their skill. We met Amina in Ifrane, and although she was somewhat late so were most of the women, and after a brief scare that we were going to throw a party and no one would come, we finally had our speaker, a medium-sized but interested audience, and all the materials necessary.
Amina, a practiced speaker, did very well transferring knowledge of how to dye with natural products and which materials produce specific colors. As an attempt to leave concrete reminders, we bought a book from her to leave in the community, which explains the whole process and gives more details on the materials. Furthermore, we made bundles of the samples for each household attending, which was simple but pleased the women. Overall, they seemed happy and several at least said that they would use the skills in the future. As they left, we reminded them of the meeting on Monday.
The next morning, we called to confirm with Hossein that he would be attending that afternoon, and then went around the community reminding those we had marked as interested and motivated. At 3 o’clock, a few women showed up exactly on time, and more trickled in until we had a good-sized audience of about ten. At 3:30, we called Hossein to confirm that he was on his way, and learned that he was patiently waiting for us in the Artisana in Azrou. After he explained that he had a meeting in Ifrane, and could not come to Zaouiat that day, we spent a few frantic minutes discussing our options and ultimately decided that since we had the women there, we should discuss their experiences with working together and with weaving as a business.
The discussion was essentially a more rational and focused repeat of the first one, in which we were speaking with women who took their work seriously and wanted to explain it to us. We found that they enjoyed working together and felt more productive in small groups. Furthermore, they sometimes shared the responsibility of purchasing supplies or selling goods when a few could not go to the suq or markets. Concerns about more formal production arrangements seemed to be about lack of productivity in large groups, or misunderstandings such as believing that many women would be required to share one loom. Regarding general business practices, we found that some of the women had difficulty pricing their products and recording the costs of inputs, and would occasionally sell for less than they had paid for materials. The meeting ended with no real conclusion, but at the least the women did seem interested in forming an association or cooperative in the near future.
Following our meeting with the artisans, and informal ones with members of the community in Zaouiat, we had two Needs Assessments. The first was a formal one we compiled by asking the weavers directly and the second was our impression of the current attitude and state of mind of the women, obtained through informal discussions and speaking with our families at home. While the first may have been closer in form to the ideal we will strive for in service, the meeting was difficult to control and we felt that the list we ended up with was neither reflective of the artisan’s needs, nor realistic for us to implement. The women did agree that, among other things, they would be interested in workshops on natural dyeing and forming organizations, but the predominant demand was for community amenities.
However, since our informal analysis had shown that attempts at forming a cooperative in the past had simply ground to a halt, and attempts at selling to Al-Akhawayn University or setting up pricing systems based on output had failed and often cost the women money, we were hesitant to approach large projects or make promises. Rather, we felt that the most important thing was to give something concrete and, in some way, helpful, rather than uncertain hopes. We ultimately decided to hold workshops with guest speakers, since it was realistic and more beneficial, given our limited language skills and time frame. Amina Yabis led the first about natural dyeing, as the women would be able to use natural materials around Zaouiat for their own work. We also decided to invite a speaker from the Artisana in Azrou, Hossein Zahri, because we felt that the majority of the women were not aware of either the benefits or pitfalls of Nedis, cooperatives, and associations, nor of the steps necessary to create them.
Preparing for these workshops was relatively simple; we invited Amina for the day of Sunday, October 26th, and Hossein for the afternoon of Monday the 27th. The week before we bought wool for demonstrations from the suq in Azrou, and prepared it for dyeing as well as we could, based on our research of the process. We invited the weavers who had seemed most interested in serious discussion of their work at the meeting, and ones who had particularly impressed us with their skill. We met Amina in Ifrane, and although she was somewhat late so were most of the women, and after a brief scare that we were going to throw a party and no one would come, we finally had our speaker, a medium-sized but interested audience, and all the materials necessary.
Amina, a practiced speaker, did very well transferring knowledge of how to dye with natural products and which materials produce specific colors. As an attempt to leave concrete reminders, we bought a book from her to leave in the community, which explains the whole process and gives more details on the materials. Furthermore, we made bundles of the samples for each household attending, which was simple but pleased the women. Overall, they seemed happy and several at least said that they would use the skills in the future. As they left, we reminded them of the meeting on Monday.
The next morning, we called to confirm with Hossein that he would be attending that afternoon, and then went around the community reminding those we had marked as interested and motivated. At 3 o’clock, a few women showed up exactly on time, and more trickled in until we had a good-sized audience of about ten. At 3:30, we called Hossein to confirm that he was on his way, and learned that he was patiently waiting for us in the Artisana in Azrou. After he explained that he had a meeting in Ifrane, and could not come to Zaouiat that day, we spent a few frantic minutes discussing our options and ultimately decided that since we had the women there, we should discuss their experiences with working together and with weaving as a business.
The discussion was essentially a more rational and focused repeat of the first one, in which we were speaking with women who took their work seriously and wanted to explain it to us. We found that they enjoyed working together and felt more productive in small groups. Furthermore, they sometimes shared the responsibility of purchasing supplies or selling goods when a few could not go to the suq or markets. Concerns about more formal production arrangements seemed to be about lack of productivity in large groups, or misunderstandings such as believing that many women would be required to share one loom. Regarding general business practices, we found that some of the women had difficulty pricing their products and recording the costs of inputs, and would occasionally sell for less than they had paid for materials. The meeting ended with no real conclusion, but at the least the women did seem interested in forming an association or cooperative in the near future.
No comments:
Post a Comment