Artisan Training for Women in Madagascar

Donors and Supporters, Happy Thanksgiving! 

Before we get started, we'd like to take a moment to thank the people who make this project possible. 

• Our Team. Each year we fall further in love with our team in Madagascar. Mamy and Lalaina, our director and assistant director on the ground, and our staff, now 11-strong, never cease to inspire us with their dedication and creativity. This talented group has been able to grow and adapt in remarkable ways and has always kept their eyes on the prize: creating a sustainable future for as many people as possible. 
• Farmers and Artisans. Hard-working is a given, but the wonderful farmers and artisans who work with our project are also some of the most hopeful, open-minded, bravest pioneers in their communities. They take chances on our projects, steer us in the right direction when we falter, and have seemingly endless patience. Our hats are off to them. 
• The forests, of course. Sometimes we forget to mention the actual environment of Madagascar, which, along with its people, inspired it all. With mind-blowing diversity, stunning beauty and secrets yet to be discovered, we hope to help keep it vibrant for generations to come. 
• Our Board Members and Volunteers. Passionate and dedicated, this hard-working group makes it all come together. Their generosity helps us keep our financial attention focused on Madagascar and their skills keep us on track to reach our goals.
• Docey Lewis. If you don't know who this is, you might have missed us gushing about her in all our other reports. Docey Lewis is an international design consultant who just... rocks. We hope to bring her back in 2017 for "Phase Two" of artisan trainings, product design and marketing support. 
• You! Every year we say it, but we can't say it enough. None of this would be possible without your support! Yes, we are developing a business, but we are also investing in Madagascar, investing in people, and providing a stabilizing force in a place where most livelihoods are a mess of volatility. Your kind, loyal support is essential to everything we are able to achieve and it means the world to us. 

A look back:

This year brought significant growth for our project. We brought in full-time artisans, providing steady work and steady income for their families. We added two new team members to our staff. We grew our product line more than three-fold, including product designs, colors and inspiration from Docey Lewis. We invested in professional training for our artisans, built confidence, skills and a wider repertoire. We assisted with education programs for children in our communities, including an art-program with Rogue Gallery and a children’s book by Tim Barclay published in Malagasy. SEPALI farmers also became our ambassadors, expanding our network to three new Ceranchia apollina silk communities in Mandritsara, Antsakabary and Matsoandakana.

Work yet to do:

While we are encouraged to see the work at the Maroantsetra office going strong, the project is designed to reach rural communities as well. The Ceranchia apollina silk program certainly achieves that and continues to thrive and expand in the satellite communities around Makira where the habitat is suitable for that species. As market pressures continue to favor Ceranchia apollina over Antherina suraka, however, the original farmers in the Maroantsetra district have seen demand for their suraka silk dwindle and have had to start investing in other parts of our project (insects for protein and silk processing) in order to stay involved.

Solutions and investments for 2017:

Luckily, we have already started on a solution: raffia. Raffia is harvested from a native palm, abundant in the Maroantsetra region. The strong, smooth fiber is used for making hats, baskets, mats, textile and twine. It can also be cultivated. Best of all, farmers in our region have been using it for generations and are already familiar with its processing technique. This year, the SEPALI office started a pilot raffia program, adapting local knowledge to raffia weaving techniques for textile. The results have been promising: the raffia is a natural complement to the silk program, the buyers are interested and the artisans are excited about going forward with the program. 

Bring Docey Back Again:

There’s only one woman for the job. The design workshop that Docey Lewis led last year proved to be one of the greatest investments we could have made in the future of SEPALI. Her valuable trainings and vast marketing knowledge helped the team to expand their product line with new products and 64 dazzling color-dye pattern combinations. She helped shift our customer base from largely individual retail purchasers to bigger companies with large wholesale accounts, a much preferred marketing style for our team in Madagascar.

This year, we want her back! In addition to her vast marketing and design knowledge, Docey is an expert in weaving natural fibers, including raffia and has offered her skills to us yet again for both the silk and the new raffia program. A small grant we recently won from the US Embassy in Madagascar will help us with some of the equipment expenses, but we will still need to get Lewis to Madagascar, fund the workshop and design and construct the first raffia loom in the area!

Once the prototype loom is constructed and lead artisans trained, the team will continue the work, constructing more looms from the prototype, installing them in the rural communities of our farmer network, training each artisan group to weave and planting raffia nurseries. Training workshops are always expensive, especially on this scale and we hope you can help fast-track us to success!

Giving Tuesday:

Any day is a great day to give, but today, November 29^th, Global Giving is running a massive matching campaign, matching 50% of all donations up to the first million dollars raised on Tuesday! It’s a great chance to increase your impact. You can donate in your own name or order a tribute card at checkout to give in someone else’s name for the holidays. As always, the SEPALI team also made gifts for donations over $50. This year, they are raffia bookmarks!

Thank you for thinking of us!

All the best,

CPALI & SEPALI