GUWAHATI: Karbi tribe women from Karbi Anglong areas of Assam are known for their weaving skill, which can very well be converted into a sustained source of livelihood and a tool for economic their empowerment.
Aaranyak, a leading biodiversity conservation organization of Northeast India with an objective to hone the skills of Karbi women weavers from Kohora River Basin area in Karbi Anglong, organized a two-day training programme on cutting and tailoring for product diversification using clothes weaved by Karbi women in their traditional ways.
The Kohora River Basin is part of greater Kaziranga landscape where Aaranyak has a strong presence in respect of its continued biodiversity conservation efforts.
The training was held at the Community Resource Centre, Chandrasing Rongpi Memorial High School (CRMHS) on August 20-21 in the Chandrasing Rongpi village managed by Aaranyak and local communities.
Aaranyak has been working with the communities of four villages in the river basin for sustainable development of the indigenous Karbi community through Participatory Natural Resource Management models. A total of select 15 women artisans participated in the training where they learned how to use a sewing machine, cutting of traditionally weaved clothes for product diversification (bags, pouch, satchel), designing and sewing of the products and value addition to the products.
Post-training, the enthusiastic women participants exuded confidence that they could now produce a diversified range of quality products from traditionally weaved cloth.
One of the participants, Ms. Kareng Rongpipi expressed her happiness saying that now she knows how to produce different products from the cloth she weaves. “I am confident that with support from Aaranyak, we will be able to get some additional income for the family as our existence has been only live hand to mouth,” she said.
The basic training course covered some important aspects of cutting and tailoring like importance of accurate measurements, different techniques of sewing a traditional bag, checking the quality of weaving and stitching and giving out a quality final product.
The training was conducted by Achinta Kr Sarma, an accredited trainer of NER and proprietor of the Sristi Jute Product, Nagaon and Sankar Roy from Nagaon. Dr. M Firoz Ahmed, Dr. Jayanta Kumar Sarma of Aaranyak and Mr. Swapan Nath, teacher of CRM High School, were also present in the programme to guide and motivate the participants.
Sarlongjon Teron of Aaranyak coordinated the training. “Aaranyak is committed for facilitating sustainable livelihood opportunities to the communities living in the four villages of Kohora River Basin through its Community-based Natural Resource Management Programme currently supported by the US Fish and Wildlife Services,” Dr Firoz Ahmed said.