SEWA Paper Products Pilot Program in India

1. Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) Pilot in India Presentation by Arathi Laxman WEConnect International November 2010

2. Some Statistics… • According to The World Bank, women-owned businesses represent 25-33% of all private businesses in the world, but represent less than 1% of all vendors to corporations and businesses • Women do 2/3 of the world’s work, receive 10% of the world’s income, and own 1% of the means of production • Women make 70% of purchasing decisions in the home so their impact on value chain creation is key • Women represent 50% of the world’s population, but they are almost invisible in the global value chain as suppliers to corporations and governments

3. About SEWA • Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) is a trade union registered in 1972 • Organization of poor, self-employed women workers • Of the female labor force in India, more than 94% are in the unorganized sector and since their work is not counted, their work remains invisible • SEWA has many sister organizations focused on specific activities like crafts, insurance, food products, and agro • SEWA organized women rag pickers into a group called Gitanjali as a union focused on the needs of rag pickers

4. Rag Pickers – Their Story • Rag pickers pick up waste from the roads, door-to-door collections, and landfills • A day’s worth of labor results in collecting 3-5 kilos of waste, which post segregation yields 2-3 kilos of saleable waste giving them a per day wage that ranges for Rs 10-50 • With the privatization of garbage/waste collection their livelihood is being eroded

5. SEWA Pilot and Stakeholders • The pilot brings together the World Bank Private Sector Leaders Forum, Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA), WEConnect International, UN International Trade Centre, Walmart, Ernst & Young, Accenture, Staples and Giftlinks. • The objective of the pilot is poverty alleviation through business opportunities for cooperatives of women entrepreneurs

6. SEWA Gitanjali Pilot Goals • Demonstrate the business case for a more inclusive value chain in the clean and green paper products industry • Document a process that can be replicated across industries and geographies

7. SEWA Pilot Launch Status • Pilot was launched in India in August of 2010 • In order to provide sustainable income to the waste paper picker members of SEWA, SEWA provides training to its members on how to make paper based office products • Paper based products include: pens, paper bags, folders, registers, box files, spring files, notebooks, bookmarks, letter boxes, pen stands, CD covers, envelopes, etc. • SEWA has organized 31,505 waste paper pickers with 125 women working on developing paper based products

8. Opportunity • Create an initial group of products that meet the quality and quantity requirements of key buyers • Set up a means for products to be marketed and distributed through the preferred channels • Evangelize SEWA paper products throughout pilot network • Create production centers with repeatable processes for consistent production, quality control, and mechanisms for reliable business communication with buyer organizations • Create learning centers and repeatable processes for training of women workers to ensure sustainability

9. Major Challenges • Developing reliable and affordable sources of paper input • Hygiene of the products produced from recycled paper • Literacy of the workers and the management • Ability to scale to meet the quality and quantity requirements of large buyers • Ability to offer competitive pricing • Packaging and marketing

10. Contact • For more information, please visit: www.WEConnectInternational.org