Our Work
How We Help
Our Focus
The Association seeks to promote the local production and use of locally woven fabric in Zambia and beyond thereby creating employment creating employment, reducing poverty, and improving the living standards of the underprivileged.
Capacity Building
We provide our members with training through our centres of excellence in order to increase their the capacity in production and marketing skills
Technical Support
We provide technical support in terms, product branding, promotions, advertisements, market linkages and marketing contracts
HOW WE
Provide Service to our Members
HOW WE
Facilitate for our Members
Set up infrastructure
Assist our members with setting up infrastructure such as showrooms and equipment (handlooms, Spinning wheels)
Contractual Ginning
We facilitate member seed cotton value addition (lint -seed separation) via farmer owned and or regional ginning facilities on contractual basis
Textile Production
We facilitate our members with access to yarn producing facilities. This includes from coarse and fine yarn transformation (tie, dye and looming), basketry and artistic products, garment and, apparel production.
Product Marketing
This includes product branding, promotion, exposition and market access through links and trade contracts
Our main activity is to train women and youth in fabric formation using the cotton they grow
Weaving has helped me in a lot of ways. In 1999 I lost my sister and took up the responsibility of raising her kids. I have sponsored them to school and now they are all graduates. All this is through my weaving business. I have also bought a house and even extended it and now helping other relatives through weaving.
ITC also came in and helped us improve our skills by taking us to other countries for training which helped is be exposed and see how our friends work in groups. ITC made us realize the potential that really is in weaving and it’s because of that that we are here now, we have seen different kinds of yarn and machine which we hope to have one day here in Zambia
Martha Zulu
Master Weaver
Weaving has helped me in a lot of ways since I started. I have educated all my children and I have managed to build a house too. My family now considers me a bread winner and I help by keeping and sponsoring them to schools.
From the time ITC came my skills have improved and I have been exposed. I have improved on garment making and quality control as we were also trained in design of bed spreads. I have also benefited from ITC through the training in India where I learnt how to use different machines such as the jaka and fly shuttle even though we don’t have them in Zambia
Loveness Musonda
Master Weaver
My name is Racheal Phiri, I come from Mkopeka village in Nyimba District of Eastern Province.
I stopped school when I got pregnant and decided to get married. Now I want to develop a skill that can help me sustain my family. I want to learn how to weave and make fabric and will later want to do tailoring so that I can also be a fashion designer and make different things for my community member in exchange for good money.
Racheal Phiri
Weaver
Our group is a registered women cooperative, actively involved in weaving and savings. We took up weaving as an extra income generating activity and have been weaving for income since 2020.
We managed to mould bricks for our shelter and lobbied for roofing sheets from the District Commissioner. We are now planning on starting to supply local lodges in the province with our products. We are also now mentoring a small emerging group of youths in the village in weaving and savings.