Creating a micro-economy where pure aid has failed
Little Trove’s Weaving & Sustainable Food Project: Helping victims of leprosy create a sustainable business and food
source.
“The inhabitants have received charity for decades but are still poor, hungry and lack employment prospects. Our sustainable
weaving and food project is designed to create an economy where none exists”
Little Trove, a UK fair trade business, is assisting a group of villagers at Bethany Leprosy Colony (India) create a weaving business to produce
high quality handwoven products for the Western market.
The project creates employment, income and restore self-confidence and dignity.
Initially focusing on bags, Little Trove uses their traditional weaving skills and adds design advice and mentoring to create appealing items
for the West.
Prior to Little Trove’s involvement in 2013, the inhabitants were largely unemployed, but now receive an income and supply their bags to
retail shops across the UK and Finland.
The weavers have started building a workshop to employ 14 – 16 women to weave bags and other home furnishing products.
Income for these families will also ensure that children remain in school, to ultimately break the cycle of poverty.
Many families are destitute, scrounging for food and begging in nearby towns, when they once received charitable aid.
Little Trove, in collaboration with UK charity Operation Orphan have also launched a sustainable food project to create a “renewable” food
source for the village.
“The inhabitants have received charity for decades but are still dirt poor, hungry and lack employment prospects due to
stigma attached to leprosy in India. Our sustainable weaving and food project is designed to create an economy where none
exists” says Ramona Hirschi, Founder of Little Trove.
The sustainable food project involves the rearing of chickens and planting of banana trees to feed the poorest families and once successful,
the renting of land for cultivation of potatoes, vegetables and watermelons, by the villagers themselves.
The villagers will be able to work the land, feed themselves and sell any surplus food in the nearby market.
Little Trove is a UK fair trade business seeking to empower people in developing countries out of poverty, through trade.
For more information please contact Ramona Hirschi, Founder & Managing Director
Email: ramona.hirschi@littletrove.com
Tel: 01782 922536
www.littletrove.com