Hazara is an area in the northern part of Pakistan comprising of five districts: Haripur, Abbottabad, Mansehra, Batgram and Kohistan. Towards the north, Azad Kashmir, Baltistan and the district of Swat border Hazara. Towards the south are the districts in Punjab which consist of Attock and Rawalpindi and of course the nation’s capital Islamabad. Hazara is mainly a hilly region which, these days, is mostly lush and green.
One of the explanations for the word Hazara is the fact that it means ‘thousand’. It is believed that a thousand tribes came and settled here creating the distinctive blend of influences from different regions and cultures found here today. As a result, the people of Hazara have inherited a rich and unique cultural heritage incomparable to any other.
The people settled in Hazara are quite diverse, there is no ‘typical’ Hazara waal. The type of people one encounters varies incredibly, beginning with Haripur, Abbottabad and Mansehra where the people are very hospitable, pleasant and mild mannered, to Batgram and Kohistan were they can be quite hostile. A woman’s nose is cut off (although this practice is decreasing) or she is simply shot if she is suspected of having a relationship which is not according to the family’s wishes. This drama in the life of a Hazara waal is continued in the form of hand crafted products where there is a lot of colour used. There are a number of crafts that have been traditionally made but embroidery is the most widespread. While old pieces of ‘wal wala tanka’ and hurmuch are seen in some villages, phulkari is the most common embroidery seen on old pieces from all different locations of the area.
Phulkari kurtas and chadders were, until the 1970s, available for purchase through vendors going from house to house in small towns in Hazara. I had witnessed this practice in Abbottabad town. Mainly Kurtas made of handloom cloth and embroidered with pure silk were marketed. However, by the late 1980s such vendors were no longer seen in Abbottabad and at this time my infrequent interaction with village communities of district Haripur had started. I had, during these visits, informally started to enquire about whether anyone knew about phulkari; I got positive response as far as knowledge about the work was concerned.
Most had seen some relative in their mother’s or grandmother’s age group embroidering. Almost all of the women had sold their old pieces to vendors who would barter them for plastic and tin utensils. There was no interest among women in actually working on the craft.
Over a period of time I also found out about vocational centres set up by, among other organizations, the Welfare Ministry and Family Planning Association of Pakistan. Along with other forms of embroidery they also taught the basic technique of embroidering phulkari. This particular traditional stitch was not popular as the fashions had changed. The younger generation was more interested in satin stitch, shadow work, Sindhi tanka (hurmuch), cross stitch etc. Also hand-woven cloth or cotton cloth was no longer popular. Synthetic crepe and georgette were the more durable cloths in demand.
In villages, phulkari patterns were being made with wool on thick cross stitch material. The traditional pillow covers for the bride’s dowry were still being made but in most cases, with wool. The introduction of wool also brought electric neon colours into the phulkari colour scheme. Tussur (natural fiber) thread had replaced the pure silk obtained from silkworms. Chemical dyes were being used on tussur and the colours popular in wool were also seen in tussur. Cushion covers as a saleable product were being encouraged by some of the Family Planning-supported vocational centres to be sold in government craft shops. There were two forms of payments being practiced: The crafts person would be supplied the cloth and thread for embroidering and once the product was sold in the market the payment to the craft person was made. Another set practice was weighing the tussur minus the weight of the cloth and payment was made at the same rate as the cost of tussur.
In 1994, taking advantage of Sungi Development Foundation’s outreach programme and interest in exploring craft as a means of income for the village community, I started work with one village and one person in the village, who in turn, would further distribute the work to other crafts women. In a few months the female village organization wanted to work collectively with me as a craft-specific group on phulkari. They negotiated the rates as being double the cost of tussur used. I agreed initially as we needed to first build-up trust between us. This agreement was very difficult for me at the time as the work was so beautiful and I knew that I could sell the work easily. After the very first payment I suggested that they leave the setting of rates to me as I would like to pay for quality and design too and not on just the weight. This extra would be an inaam (reward) for the quality, design and setting of colours. By getting paid for the weight of tussur the only incentive the craftswoman had was to use as much tussur as possible, thus increasing the weight. The quality and design was of no consequence to most of them.
The cliental I was focusing on were only the local Pakistanis of the larger cities as the quality needed to improve before the foreign customer could be attracted. The working pattern which developed from this relationship was that the older generation (over 35 years of age) took on the role of designing while the younger girls, learning from each other the basic embroidery skills, did the actual work. I believe the increase in our work was mainly because I was working through a rural development organization with a strong belief in empowerment for the marginalized.
Only those crafts persons could become members of the craft group if they were first members of the village organization and were committed to start saving money. Each member had to save in her own name. Only the person who had done the work could receive the payment for the work she had done. The young girls were very excited and became motivated with this; with the money in their hands they were now able to buy what they desired without having to ask or wait for their brother or father to provide for them. The families could now consider sending their daughters to school too, along with their sons. The widows could now earn enough to feed and educate their children. Since Sungi was at the same time, working with the male village organization, the empowerment of females was also supported by the males.
Another important aspect to highlight here is that working on craft for the purpose of an increase in income was only attractive to those persons in the villages who were considered poor in the village poverty ranking. There was a lot of hard work involved therefore those females who had a comfortable income coming into their homes were not interested in making the required effort. If they were interested in embroidering they would rather make it for their own home. Also, at this level of society, the family structure would put pressure and not allow the daughter-in-law to earn.
We were working directly with the crafts person and strongly discouraged the involvement of any middle person not connected with the actual work on the craft. This was possible as Sungi’s social organizers held regular monthly meetings with both male and female village organizations and played a motivational role for craft persons. The payment days would also coincide with these meetings, payment was handed over in front of the whole group and signatures/ thumb impressions were received on the register.
In 1995 I visited Dastkar in Delhi and then Brac and Proshika in Bangladesh and all of them were kind enough to share their lessons in the field of craft. This helped me in further developing and improving the Jisti project according to the reality of Sungi’s working area.
By 1997 my work for Jisti had increased to over 11 villages of Hazara located in districts of Mansehra, Batgram, Abbottabad and Haripur. These were mostly villages in remote mountainous areas. I had named my project Jisti to distinguish it from phulkari or Swati work. Upon my interaction with the crafts persons I came to know this word as being the most commonly used among the four districts for this form of embroidery. The word Phulkari however, was also used in villages nearer the Punjab.
However the success in work was not at the same level in all four districts. Due to different factors ranging from extreme suppression of younger females to the programme’s own financial inability to continue work on a regular basis in the more remote areas, the level of success of the programmes varied.
The social organizers in Sungi would do the initial organization of crafts persons in particular villages where interest was visible. As a result, demand for spreading the project to more villages was being seen. Sungi then decided to adopt craft promotion for income generation as a permanent programme. Sungi’s craft programme has worked in over 75 villages and has two shops promoting mainly jisti embroidered products. Now a number of other individuals/organizations are also promoting jisti embroidery so Sungi has also not restricted itself and is offering partnership to them in sharing our experience of empowerment of the crafts person.
Objectives
Most of the area where jisti craft is seen is very conservative and restriction upon the mobility of females is common. A number of strategies were and are used to achieve the objectives set for the promotion of craft as a source of income. Some of these include opportunities for direct contact with the customers during sales e.g. exhibitions and melas, trainings on quality improvements etc. Several objectives have been identified for fulfilment by Sungi:
1. Sungi adopted the Jisti programme as it had adequate funding to do so with the objective to empower the crafts persons. A lesson in this is that in order to use craft skills to create an income for the rural craft person, bearing in mind the view towards poverty reduction, it is important first to empower the craft person. This is specifically done by reinforcing fair trade practices with Sungi’s partner craft persons.
2. Another important objective of the programme is the assurance that quality products are produced at the village/town level. It is essential to instil and reinforce the concept of the importance of quality in the crafts person. It is also important to introduce the concept of colour and design and its relevance to the crafts person’s skill pertaining to the relevant market requirements. Along with this, the programme hopes to revitalize the centuries old sense of colour existing in the previous generations of the area, where traditional embroidered craft existed.
The question “why crafts?” has been asked of the programme as the successes are not immediate enough for some development practitioners and also when translated into figures, do not seem as impressive as some alternate programmes. We have some very valid answers in that:
a. It compliments and supports Sungi’s vision and mission which work for the marginalized community. The craft person can become self- employed: The craft person can make craft into a sustainable business while remaining in their own village/town. Other craft persons are locally employed in their own village/town, and work with a skill that is indigenous. The basic design skills are available in the craft person as this is their traditional craft. The skill has been inherited through centuries of craftsmanship coming down from generation to generation.
b. It revives cultural history: a number of traditional crafts are on the verge of becoming extinct as the younger generations are looking to move towards more lucrative income sources. Since there are not many jobs available, we have an increasing ratio of unemployed youth. With improvement in quality of the craft, finding a market has not been vdifficult. There is a gap in the market for good quality indigenous craft. In the market in Pakistan quality crafts are not visible. In limited up-market stores only, one can find some reflection of the potential that is there. Market forces require and are in search of unique functional products as the demand for new and different products is constant. In the world market uniqueness is a value-added quality which helps in marketing a product. There are over 36 different crafts which are being practiced in Pakistan which are to a great extent unique. Sungi believes in and works at making the craft person aware of the value of her/his craft.
c. it is not gender biased: Craft is one occupation where the majority of both male and female are marginalized in Pakistan. On the other hand if they have quality and skill there is no distinction made and females have been seen to match up all requirements of leading a productive life.
d. it results in the empowerment of the female craft person. The following aspects have been seen in female craft persons who have mastered the requirements of the market: Socially, their involvement in decision-making on issues within the family as well as the community has increased. Mobility has been seen to increase and restrictions become sporadic, which the females try to manoeuvre around with the incentive to achieve their objectives. Economically not only the basic embroidery skill but designing, setting of colours and marketing skills are also developing. Having funds available for the education of the girl child has given a new energy to communities where craft is adopted as a means for increase in income. With economic gain, improvements in living standards are visible. Needless to say, all this brings a psychological advantage to the individual as well as to the area in general.
Issues which need constant work
Quality Controllers
The procedure that Sungi followed initially was of employing people who were then trained as quality controllers (QCs). The QCs would be responsible for improving the quality of work in craft groups belonging to the village organizations. Since the quality controllers were responsible for, at times, over 20 craft groups, what was happening was that the originality of jisti in each village which was seen in the earlier days was getting compromised. Also in the enthusiasm to improve quality, the size of the stitch became very small and started to almost resemble the Afghan embroidery. Along with this, the number of craft groups was increasing and it was not possible to employ more Quality Controllers (as they are not easy to find either due to the skills required as well as the hard work). As the finishing of products was being undertaken by Sungi too, work here was also increasing and it was getting difficult for Sungi to take on more villages. A shop in Islamabad had been set up mainly as a tool for the encouragement of the craft person. They were able to test their products here and realize the worth from the initial sale.
The need for Finishing Units at the village level was felt and after a month-long training from Thread Net of Karimabad, Hunza, the first three finishing units were set up. Two were in district Haripur and one was in district Abbottabad. Supervisors were trained for running the units. Now quality controllers have been trained at the village level. These are craft persons who have been nominated by the craft group of the village. Usually two are selected, one for record keeping (here she must be literate), the second, for her ability to design and teach the craft. The craft persons Sungi has been working with have understood that they have to assume the role of quality controllers if they seriously want to pursue craft production. The important aspect for the craft person as well as the quality controller is to believe and understand the value of their own work to be able to successfully bargain the right price for their work.
Quality and Product Design
Local Pakistani designers have played an important role in product diversity. Sungi had, from the start, encouraged local designers and facilitated their interaction with the craft persons. What products to make in order to know what will sell is a constant demand of the craft person. The local designers could contribute to the programme in that they realize the importance of product innovation and the need to be aware of the trends and changes in the market. Sungi has experimented with employing a designer and having them work periodically on different crafts. This seems to have been successful and is an ongoing process and needs to be sustained. Sungi is advocating for designing units to be set up at a district level, which would be accessible to all crafts persons in the district. In the last decade a number of art colleges have come up in Pakistan and every year, a batch of designers’ graduates from each of them. They have served as assets to the programme as they allow us to introduce new products and designs which is a concept that also needs to be stressed with the craft person.
Some crafts persons have shared their experience that they had been exploited by designers and had decided to take on this role by themselves. This is a mistake and as far as product diversity is concerned will not let the full potential of the craft be realized. This is not to say that the designing ability of the crafts persons cannot be developed but this is a slow process which is achievable with constant feedback and interaction with designers and the market. Having said that, I believe that designers should give as little input as possible where the traditional aesthetics of the craft are intact. As far as traditional motif and design is concerned, this should remain the domain of the traditional craftsperson/designer.
The Importance of Colour and Design and its Application
Three days with practical work on mixing colours and their results was an initiative by Sungi to establish a sense of colour in the craft person. An artist is engaged to introduce the concept of colour to the crafts person. Three days of practical work where what colour is and the importance of colour in our lives is discussed while the participants are practically engaged in experimenting with a brush and paint, the forms of colour and how to mix the colours to get the best potential. Primary colours, secondary colours and their shades are seen demonstrated by each participant on there own paper. The different shades developing from mixing of black or white at different proportions are also seen. Here the visual impact of soft and dark colours is shown while also, in the same context, warm and dark colours are identified by the participants in there own works. Contrasting colours and their application are practically developed by the participants along with other shades when they are asked to cut up squares of different colours and match them to show their learning.
Understanding the placement of design is also practically demonstrated to the participant by first motivating them to draw with a pencil on paper different designs free hand. After selection of one design each, they are asked to fill in the colours. A slide show of different crafts is also part of the workshop at this stage to identify colour and design faults by the expert and the participants. Sample embroidering on cloth according to the colours learnt is demonstrated by the participants. Placement of design and its embellishment along with the colour on paper on the planned product is also practiced by the participants.
Record Keeping
An important aspect of business is record keeping; however the importance is not enforced enough. With education level at its minimum especially where females are concerned, record keeping is an up-hill task which needs to be re-enforced again and again. The different levels at which record maintenance is required for accountability to be visible is focused on at all interactions with the crafts persons. The craft persons are made to practically work through the record keeping documents.
A sample of estimated pricing of a product according to fair trade is shared and discussed. Coding of products is also introduced as an important part of business. Sungi’s coding list is shared. Sungi’s participation in workshops and seminars sponsored by UNIFEM has helped develop understanding on fair trade practices which have been transferred to partner crafts persons. Sungi is a member of Home Net Pakistan and is involved in raising awareness among the crafts persons about the possibilities of forming a social security net if they can come together as associations or cooperatives.
In conclusion, I would like to emphasize the importance of the human rights of the crafts person. As much as I love the craft that they produce I have to care for the hands that produce this craft more. To achieve this end, all sections of society are needed starting from the crafts person to the social activist, to the designer, the government departments, the museum experts to the consumer. Each has a crucial role to play in this holistic process where an all-encompassing revival is only possible with input from all of these quarters.