MarketPlace Information

MarketPlace: Handwork of India is an innovative fair trade, not-for-profit organization which combines the experience of running a business with a variety of support programs designed to effect real, meaningful, and lasting change in the lives of low-income women in India. We work with 480 artisans who are organized into 14 independent co-operatives which produce high-quality women's apparel and home decor. Being in charge of their own businesses, the women learn valuable skills and are able to earn a living and support their families. In addition, programs offer educational and enrichment opportunities designed to help the artisans overcome personal, cultural and financial obstacles. Empowered with independence and self-confidence, these women become agents of change. And they find the courage, with the support of their cooperative members, to fight for what they believe in. Asserting themselves as decision-makers in their families, they have kept their children in school and out of early marriages, thus ensuring them a better future. They have also become social activists, using the skills they have learned in the workplace to improve conditions in their communities. In MarketPlace's comprehensive and creative organization, economic development is only the first step for these brave and resourceful women.