By: Ekatra Life

This year #GivingTuesday is more important than ever. Around the globe, countries face the challenges of managing a pandemic response, but also navigating a crashed economy and a broken marketplace. Several giant fast fashion corporations like Gap Inc, Forever 21, American Eagle, JCPenney, and even Walmart have failed to pay their artisans, primarily a women workforce, and have left them and their families on the brink of starvation. At this crucial junction several nonprofits and social enterprises continue to support women through livelihood opportunities and other benefits, even as they themselves battle economic hardship.  One such nonprofit is Ekatra Life - an organization founded by SIPA students to provide an online marketplace facilitating the sale of artisanal and handcrafted goods of India that are locally sourced, and ethically made. 

Nonprofits help women survive the pandemic

Dinesh Kumari is a tribal woman artisan in a small town in Madhya Pradesh. She continues to receive her monthly salary and health insurance benefits despite a crashed market working as a senior manager at Aid and Survival of Handicrafts Artisans (ASHA). Ms. Kumari is a skilled artisan who specializes in hand block printing, a process in which she uses a wooden mold to engrave beautiful designs on hand-woven fabrics. “Because of this sustained support I have been able to put my two children to school. The money has helped my family survive during this difficult time,” she says. 

Many nonprofits and mission-based organizations in India like Ruaab Self Employed Women’s Organization, ASHA, and MithilAsmita continue to support these artisan women despite having a huge pile of unsold goods. “We grew our team of 30 to 50 artisans earlier this year but after the pandemic induced lockdowns in March, we have struggled to pay them. Yet, we know that we are answerable to them. Therefore, we continue to pay their salaries even as the sales have slowed down significantly. But, each new sale brings us hope and pushes us to open our shop every morning,” says Rohit Rusia, the founder of ASHA. 

Recession hits India

The Indian economy has sunk into a recession for the first time in history, with a GDP contraction of 7.4% in the second quarter of 2020 and an employment rate of 36.2%. The situation is worse for India’s women workforce where 94% either work in the nonprofit and the unorganized sector, or are self-employed. These women go without any government sponsored welfare benefits, and are left unprotected during the pandemic and recession. 

The handloom sector, which consists of 57.6% of women artisans, has seen a sharp decline in business due to the pandemic. As a result,  4 out of 10 women were rendered unemployed, and those that retained work, lost access to markets to sell their products. 

The government recently dissolved both the All India Handlooms Board (AIHB) and All India Handicraft Board, that provided policy recommendations for the handloom sector. Worse, several large scale macroeconomic policies like demonetization (2016) and introduction of Goods and Services Tax (2017), created uncertainties within the market. The informal economy felt these effects starkly as compared to the formal economy because of longer credit periods and a higher incidence of cash transactions. Experts say that it will take a minimum of two-years for the market to recover.

Large retail brand leave workers on a lurch 

Retail brands in the US and Europe have significant apparel manufacturing operations in South Asian countries such as India and Bangladesh. These brands have withheld payments to the garment suppliers so far, or expressed an intent to make payments for orders in progress contingent upon a 40%-70% discount on contract value. 

In a report, Thulsi Narayanasamy, senior labour rights lead at Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, said "At the start of the pandemic, fashion brands said they had ‘no option’ but to cancel orders and protect their bottom line … Since then, garment workers have lost billions in wages, faced discriminatory layoffs in countries with no safety net, and factory suppliers are still being mercilessly squeezed by brands on prices, struggling to stay afloat or pay worker wages.”

This response has attracted widespread criticism from advocacy organizations, suppliers, garment worker associations and customers in the US and UK for being inadequate and exploitative of workers’ plight. The companies have invoked the Force Majeure clause identifying Covid-19 as an exceptional event, to withhold payments and cancel orders. In absence of social welfare policies and limited government aid, garment workers are struggling to make ends meet amidst a pandemic.

Customers and sales are the last hope

At this crucial juncture sustained sales and international customer support base are the last hope for nonprofits and women artisans. 

Such platforms enable artisans and nonprofits to imagine a new era of impact for dealing with job losses as the Indian economy fights the Covid-19 pandemic. Hence this #GivingTuesday, as the call to unleash the power of people grows louder, nonprofit organizations seek your help to transform their communities and the world.  

You can find the Ekatra Life shop here. One hundred percent of each purchase goes to the artisan who made it, Ekatra Life does not retain any money from this venture.

Ekatra Life is a social venture built by SIPA students Shruti Kedia, Lavanya Lal, Aparna Arora, and Raghuram Guda. The organization seeks to provide a platform to uplift some of India’s most vulnerable communities.