Crafts For Conservation

The ethnic communities of the Chittagong Hill Tracts have been master craftsmen for generations. Their intricately beautiful silver and beaded work has shone through especially. However, degradation, deforestation and lack of fertile land are steering the communities towards modernization to secure their livelihood, and the age-old crafts making skills are disappearing. To find alternative income sources and reduce the forest dependency of the forest reliant communities in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Crafts for Conservation is working to form community-based organizations (CBO) to create and market their traditional crafts. By capitalizing traditional indigenous crafts, we are providing alternative sustainable incomes sources for local communities, empowering women artisans, and reducing local dependence on forest resources. Proceeds from every purchase go directly to the communities through an ethical social business model where they can be applied for the development of the communities in a culturally-appropriate manner. By collaborating with local communities and other non-government organizations to train and engage a younger generation of artisans we are successfully reviving lost cultures, improving the standard of living and protecting the environment at the same time. Our traditional ethnic crafts were initially sold at Jatra and then at Aranya with the help of Bcraft Initiatives, in Dhaka, Bangladesh.