Maya Organic

MAYA, a Karnataka-based development organisation, was initiated in 1989 with the primary focus of eradication of child labour, working with communities across slums and low-income areas of Bangalore Urban & Rural districts.. The early years focussed mainly on enrolment of children to formal school and interaction with parents and other community members to facilitate an enabling and supportive environment. Over time however, the organisation realised that while direct relief measures are necessary, a long-term and effective solution is only possible if systemic causes of poverty and child labour are addressed.

 

MAYA ORGANIC is a programme initiative of MAYA that has evolved from these experiences, seeking to address livelihood issues of the working poor within a systems perspective.

 

The MAYA ORGANIC team includes full-time staff members at MAYA who are closely engaged in building the institutional capacities of the worker-owned enterprises in the different sectors (presently garments, lac-ware and construction). A centralised team of MAYA ORGANIC Support Services offers marketing and design support to the various sectors.

 

In keeping with its focus of building institutional partnerships, MAYA ORGANIC also encourages interested professionals and students to volunteer with the initiative; thereby enhancing their learning horizons and contributing to the development of the informal sector.

 

Maya Organic is a livelihood development Initiative that helps micro-entrepreneurs build a network of sustainable enterprises that makes impeccable quality products by collaborating and partnering with umbrella structures to manage supply, product development, design and marketing. Maya Organic aims to create wealth and build capabilities of poor informal sector workers and their families.

 

Maya Organic designs and produces lifestyle products such as home and institutional furniture made of solid wood, wooden organic lac coloured toys and Apparels from natural fibre. The products are sold under the brand name of MO.

MAYA ORGANIC is a systemic initiative to address livelihood issues of the working poor through an institutional approach that focusses on organising the informal sector workforce into worker owned enterprises.

MAYA ORGANIC perceives poverty not only as 'not having enough' but most importantly as not being able to respond with what one has. Over many years of working with livelihood issues, MAYA has attempted to understand how can support human beings, without having to become incapable or helpless in order to avail such support.

 

MAYA ORGANIC follows the capability model wherein it holds that building inherent capabilities of individuals and institutions eventually makes them competent to respond to future challenges of markets, social conditions, environment and politics. Realising the capability model, MAYA ORGANIC has taken into account the inequities of access, opportunity and the inherent inequities formed out of caste, gender, and other exploitative practices and is attempting to create a platform that provides opportunities for people to partner with each other; and in the process learn to build and succeed as an enterprise by developing the required skills and capabilities.

 

MAYA ORGANIC also partners with markets and develops designs for products and services so that the efforts of the worker-owned enterprises are dovetailed with professional inputs, backed with contemporary and relevant designs and market approaches.

 

MAYA ORGANIC recognises that merely with inputs of finance/ technology or even some kind of knowledge, little is likely to change since it may not be possible for people to depend on these continuously. Building capabilities thus not only becomes essential but is perhaps the most sustainable and effective way to alleviate poverty.

 

Within the MAYA ORGANIC approach, building capabilities primarily involves

• Learning - skill development of the workers in an ongoing manner, based on the existing situation of each worker/ enterprise
• Institutional partnership - in terms of facilitating support to the various stakeholders in an institutionalised manner.

 

In the initial phase, MAYA ORGANIC is focussing on the following sectors, representative of the predominant occupation of adults in its working areas: The lac-ware sector • The garments sector • The construction sector

The context

Channapatna, a taluka of Bangalore Rural district, is located approximately 60 km from Bangalore City on the Bangalore-Mysore highway. For the last several decades, the lac-ware industry has been a traditional occupation and the means of livelihood for the majority of male adults in Channapatna town; and for a few surrounding villages.

 

The past few years have seen a steady decline in the lac-ware industry caused by various factors that include a lack of investment in the industry, lack of initiative and skill to introduce new products/designs, poor quality products & raw material, etc leading to a decline in demand of products and therefore static markets and low returns for the artisans. A critical impact of this slump has been on the employment and livelihood patterns of those working in the industry.

 

The absence of new designs coupled with the utilisation of unseasoned wood, irregular power supply among several other factors has ensured that majority of the manufacturers in fact engage in price cutting to such an extent that is no longer competitive but detrimental to their own business. Consequently, there has been a shrinking of markets to include only tourists and passers-by which in turn has limited the skill level of artisans; Despite the fact that most of them have worked in the industry for the last 20-25 years, there is a reluctance and resistance to new designs and techniques.

MAYA ORGANIC & the Lac-ware sector

It is against this context of the industry's decline that MAYA ORGANIC began work with the lac-ware industry in Channapatna. Taking advantage of the existing knowledge and skills of the artisans, MAYA ORGANIC seeks to address the issues faced by them within a systems perspective, viewing the interrelatedness of various factors, rather than addressing the issues in an isolated manner.

 

Having spent time to understand more closely the issues faced by workers and markets and based on its earlier experience of providing vocational training for young girls in lac-ware, MAYA ORGANIC has over the last 20 months initiated processes to organise artisans into collectives. There are presently 60 such artisans working in groups of 10-12, to execute orders provided by MAYA ORGANIC.

 

Simultaneously, MAYA ORGANIC has initiated efforts to create a niche market for a new brand of wooden educational toys called Moogli Toys . Marketing over 50 such toys for the 0-5 yrs age group, this brand has begun to develop a visible market presence due to its strong emphasis on safety, quality and the use of natural vegetable dyes. While marketing has been strong in Bangalore City, inroads have also been made in export markets. Participation in exhibitions and fairs in other states and outside the country (the most recent and current being the Barcelona Forum 2004, promoted by UNESCO) has also been an effective channel in establishing a market presence. Through a process of test marketing and initial market responses, it has been clearly found that there is a large market for good quality wooden toys, despite the proliferation of plastic substitutes for children's toys and educational materials.

 

MAYA ORGANIC also serves as a viable channel for interested and committed designers to utilise this platform to effectively showcase their skills, while actively contributing to addressing livelihood issues of the working poor. Simultaneously, MAYA ORGANIC has also begun interacting with other stakeholders including the Government and other financial institutions to utilise the existing infrastructure and resources for widening the scope of this sector.

The context
The international garment manufacturing scene, like many other industries has undergone a radical change during the last two decades in order to cut down on costs and be competitive, this resulting in outsourcing practices to developing countries. Similarly, cost cutting measures have been initiated in developing countries to outsource to the informal sector, certain process of a garment through middle men who are responsible for the distribution of garments into individual households and the delivery of the same back into the factory. Today, a significant part of job work –stitching, hand embroidery, finishing processes - is done in homes under highly exploitative situations. The absence of labour standards in the informal and ‘invisible' part of the industry brings in an opportunity to freely out source work without the additional cost factor or social protection; however the flip side of this is that quality standards of industry have progressively declined as most cost cutting is done at the expense of the workers' safety and skill development.

 

During the last few years, there have been some efforts to change this. Reports about companies employing child labour and sweatshops have caused significant damage to otherwise established brands that are now in the pursuit of creating their own social compliance and labour standards in order to re-build and protect their images. Today, a vast number of labels and code of conduct policies have entered the markets, which work towards achieving these standards in their outsourcing companies (buyers). In practice however, it is almost impossible for buyers to monitor and control each manufacturer's employment practices, given the fact that a significant part of the production is out-sourced and dispersed into the informal sector.

MAYA ORGANIC & the Garments sector

The MAYA ORGANIC Garments Initiative, presently active in Bangalore Urban & Rural districts has encouraged women to shift from beedi and agarbathi rolling (highly hazardous forms of home based work, where there is a high incidence of girl child labour) and other forms of homebased work (stitching-embroidery) to embroidery work and stitching away from home and the community, where women meet and work under one roof, in a professional environment that encourages continuous learning and reflection not only about their work but also about their status in the family and society. This has entailed identifying linkages to the formal sector,(garment export houses that outsource to the informal sector for cost saving purposes). The women are supported to gradually organise as a group and manage their own collective enterprise – initially in the premises of MAYAORGANIC and later, in their own set up. Their work includes various forms of hand work such as bead work, chamki, aari work, crochet, knitting, fabric button making, etc.

 

Central to MAYA ORGANIC is a . This draws from a bottom-up approach where the compliance is evolved by the collectives themselves through a process that seeks to continuously improve labour standards and social protection, looking at developmental aspects beyond the workplace and towards the family and community. Over the last 8 months, this has supported MAYA ORGANIC to gradually make definite inroads into the highly competitive garments outsourcing setup. MAYA ORGANIC has become a key partner, ensuring social compliance demanded by international buyers abroad; this includes hand embroidery work produced here in South India for companies such as GAP, Mondial, H&M, etc.

 

The Context
The construction industry is one of the largest employers of the informal sector workforce in the country, particularly in the urban scenario. The nature of activity here is predominantly seasonal and intermittent with the location, duration and quantum of work varying widely for each project. Work is highly labour-intensive though the workers are largely unskilled and primarily migrant agricultural workers from surrounding rural/semi-rural areas.

 

The predominantly informal nature of this industry is further characterised by a strong dependence on intermediaries, little scope for skill development of the workforce, lack of organisation and professionalism in a large part of the industry, and the inability to monitor fair labour practices and therefore social compliance.

 

Ironically, despite its role as one of the largest informal sector employers in urban areas, there exists no formal system for training and assessment/ skill certification for workers in the industry. Moreover, the reality of the inseparable nature of work and life particularly for the workers, the irregularity of their work and therefore income-insecurity, makes conventional methods of classroom-based training processes, almost a futile, irrelevant and unaffordable exercise. The high turnover of workers poses a considerable barrier to formal training in the construction industry. Workers are reluctant to invest in their own training because of insecurity of employment and high levels of unemployment.

MAYA ORGANIC & the Construction Sector
Given its approach to addressing lievelihood issues of the working poor, MAYA ORGANIC has recognised that in the construction industry and other similar sectors such as domestic work, agro services, etc, the inconstant nature of the existing setup precludes the possibility of the labour force to work collectively. Due to the extreme irregularity in the nature and location of work, particularly for the construction industry, the workforce in these sectors is unable to perceive either the relevance or any functional advantage of organising themselves.

 

In this context, prior to organising these workers as collective enterprises, MAYA ORGANIC perceives a primary need to prepare the workforce and markets in these sectors, by introducing the workers into a cycle of consistent employment first and enabling the markets to respond to this set-up. During this period, income, work-culture and clientele-enquiries would attain certain stability; thereupon supporting their investment in long-term possibilities such as the formation of collective enterprises. Also, what is imperative is building a network of the workforce and markets that facilitates an exchange of vital information on the availability of work on the one hand and on the existing skill-sets of the workforce, on the other. This, MAYA ORGANIC proposes to facilitate through the LabourNet - an institutional network of markets and the informal sector workforce to jointly address broader issues impacting the industry through transacting information and offering a legitimate framework for skill development and fair practices

 

For the sub-sectors such as carpentry and sheet metal fabrication that are essentially product-related, MAYA ORGANIC would initiate processes to form worker-owned enterprises at the onset itself, similar to the garment and lac-ware sectors.

Though the informal economy presently comprises 90% of the working population in our country and contributes to 60% of the GDP, it is well acknowledged that majority of the efforts to ensure skill development of the informal sector workforce have been largely outside the formal training system; Whether initiatives of the State, NGOs or private, these have been limited to one-time training programmes, traditional forms of skill-transfer through master craftsmen or training within the family/community. By this means, such training tends to be repetitive and is limited in its ability to incorporate market trends, new technologies and to enable learning in a manner that can be 'applied' to other life-spheres. On the other hand, the formal system (primarily the Industrial Training Institutes - ITIs) is unable to effectively provide even this, since it is not structured to take into account either traditional skills or emerging trends and technology.

MAYA ORGANIC's approach to skill development for the informal sector has therefore evolved taking the current scenario into account and drawing from MAYA's experience over the last 15 years of working closely with communities in slums and low-income areas on addressing structural causes of poverty. It is strongly believed that mere upgradation of skills would do little to change the situation either at work or to improve the quality of life of the informal sector workers; unless capabilities are developed so that the individual makes effective use of such skills and relates this learning to other life-spheres. The need therefore for an institutional framework to build capabilities of the informal sector workforce such that they are able to relate the skills acquired to changing market needs, utilise ongoing interactions with markets and the formal industry to further enhance their skills and capabilities; and are enabled to make conscious decisions based on critical reflection in any area of operation: at work and other life spheres. Such a framework would need to take advantage of existing skills and integrate these with newer methods and techniques.

The reality of the inseparable nature of work and life particularly for the workers, the irregularity of their work and therefore income-insecurity, makes conventional methods of classroom-based training processes, almost a futile, irrelevant and unaffordable exercise. Furthermore, the strong influence of the immediate living environment on the work-skills and life-perspectives of people in this context ensures that they remain insulated from changing skill and quality requirements of the market.

MAYA ORGANIC facilitates a continuous skill development process for the worker-owned enterprises that emphasises systemic changes for skills enhancement at the macro level and self-directedness at the group and individual level. Periodic skills audit, group reflection of orders executed, market feedback and other such ongoing processes of reflection support the groups to identify their own learning needs with regard to market requirements and dynamically respond to the same, through accessing resources to enhance skills. This approach intends to create a new learning environment, where learning and not mere qualifications/certification is promoted and where learning is institutionalised through a resource network, a learning audit system and continuous reflection within a group and between individuals. Yet, learning is sensitive to the learning needs of the individuals and groups, beginning from where they are.

MAYA ORGANIC Designs are made keeping in mind not only existing skills of workers but also current and emerging market needs, to cater to the interests of the end-consumer. Children's products, for instance, are designed with an eye for ensuring safety. The attention to design extends beyond products and services to also include the packaging of the products.

 

MAYA ORGANIC seeks to provide a unique platform for designers not only to explore, innovate and evolve new ideas but also see the fruition of these ideas in partnership with the large base of informal sector workers, facilitated by MAYA ORGANIC.

 

Identifying designing and sample-making stage as a core area for quality products, MAYA ORGANIC has in place a sample-making setup (that includes a dedicated team and required infrastructure) to translate designs into samples and to identify possible areas for further improvement, through trial production and test marketing.

 

Working with MAYA ORGANIC would entail a commitment for developing the design and working with the MAYA ORGANIC team to ensure trial production. Design briefs would be provided by the MAYA ORGANIC team to enable smoother operationalisation of the process. Simultaneously, MAYA ORGANIC is also open to working with designers to jointly develop design briefs, if necesary. When designs adopted by MAYA ORGANIC become successful in the market, MAYA ORGANIC would offer a royalty payment on the designs.

 

MAYA ORGANIC invites professional and training designers (working either on specific product types/ materials or on integrated products) to utilise this platform to share their skills and experience and become active partners in addresing livelihood issues of the working poor.

 

Interested designers are welcome to mail us Email: getinfo@mayaorganic.com or get in touch at » MAYA ORGANIC INDIA PVT. LTD.

For interested retail showrooms, lifestyle stores, bookstores, gifts/accessories stores, fair trade organisations, export agents, exhibitors, corporates, & others, MAYA ORGANIC presents the dealership of MAYA ORGANIC Products & Services as an interesting possibility for partnership. Individuals and institutions could utilise this opportunity in the form of franchising, retailing or institutional sales, using their existing infrastructure.

 

MAYA ORGANIC is a registered not-for-profit company and all transactions/contracts made, would be appropriately documented for the benefit of both parties. Terms for dealership would be mutually agreed upon and would include specifications of duration, product category, pricing, payments and necessary obligations required by both MAYA ORGANIC and the respective individual/institution.

 

MAYA ORGANIC Products & Services have currently made their entry to the market and is looking at various avenues to expand the scope. Several corporates have also come forward to partner in the process through organising events at their office-locations. Crafts exhibitions/fairs both within and outside the country are also utilised as a useful means to display and distribute the products/services, while simultaneously emphasising the objective of MAYA ORGANIC (the most recent and currently ongoing exhibition is the Barcelona Forum 2004, promoted by UNESCO).

 

Partnering with MAYA ORGANIC in this manner would entail, among other aspects:

• willingness of the interested party to invest either time, finances, infrastructure or other resources, a significant portion of which would be recompensed. Defined dealership and retail margins, depending on quantity of sales would be provided. Area exclusive dealership could also be offered if MAYA ORGANIC is assured of a certain quantity of sales.
• if already a part of a chain store or equipped with adequate infrastructure, MAYA ORGANIC would welcome the offer of an outlet for the sale if its products/services
• MAYA ORGANIC would offer training to prospective dealers/distributors on understanding the concept of MAYA ORGANIC and what its products stand for.
• MAYA ORGANIC works closely with dealers as partners to seek regular and accurate feedback on the products/services

 

Dealership related enquiries are welcome »

MAYA ORGANIC operates from the central premise that addressing livelihood issues of the working poor in a systemic manner is only possible through building mutually beneficial partnerships between the various stakeholders. In this regard, it presents a wide range of opportunities for interested individuals and institutions to involve themselves as active partners in this process:

As a designer		As an advocate for livelihood issues		As an end-customer
You could utilise MAYA ORGANIC as a unique platform to ideate and translate your ideas into tangible products more		You could get in touch with us to further the cause of the working poor by writing about their experiences and mobilising support for changes in the existing system.		You could buy MAYA ORGANIC Products & Services and support marketing efforts by promoting the same in your circle of acquaintances. more

 

As a technically qualified individual		As a donor		As a company
You could get involved by supporting the skill enhancement process of the workers through sharing your skills/experiences in developing tools for production, databasing and data processing of the various collectives.		You could support MAYA ORGANIC to reach out to more number of informal sector workers by visiting us and providing funds for the initiative.		You could support the skill enhancement process by providing an exposure visit for the collective members or could organise a sale of MAYA ORGANIC products & services at your office location.

For further details on how to get involved, MAYA ORGANIC invites enquiries from individuals & institutions.

Central to MAYA ORGANIC is a labour and social compliance that draws from a bottom-up approach. The compliance is evolved by the worker-owned enterprises themselves through a process that seeks to continuously improve labour standards and social protection, looking at developmental aspects beyond the workplace and towards the family and community. Such development compliance works to improve each collective from its current level, rather than attempting to achieve a top-down absolute standard.

MAYA ORGANIC believes that though well intentioned, monitoring a compliance code introduced by international buyers for ensuring decent working conditions of the workers is extremely difficult, if not impossible, when it comes to outsourcing practices. Therefore, the code of conduct or other social standards often become tokenistic, since it is externally imposed and not inherent to the existing work-culture.

 

Carefully considering experiences of existing labels and social compliance efforts, the development compliance proposed by MAYA ORGANIC is an inbuilt and organically grown practice that seeks to ensure the wellbeing of each worker owned enterprise and its members. It also seeks to improve each enterprise from its current level, rather than attempting to achieve an absolute standard. The goals set by the people themselves, for labour standards improvement, in the manner perceived by them are more achievable and honest, rather than lofty external standards, which are very often proclaimed only to please international clients, much to the detriment of the workers and sometimes the industry, since there are already several labels existing.

 

Furthermore, the efforts of MAYA ORGANIC development compliance are towards continuous improvement rather than be restricted to merely achieving the minimum compliance an enterprise has to fulfil; for instance, the compliance MAYA ORGANIC propagates goes beyond minimum wages, and the minimum level of protection set by legal provisions. The development compliance standards include a commitment for continuous learning & regular assessment of group performance, enrolment of their children to school (no child labour), working at a common workplace, regular contribution to membership, contribution to social security where possible and percentage share of profit to collective.

 

All the members of the worker-owned enterprises are self-employed and shareholders of the enterprise; therefore entitled to the profits and benefits generated through the work executed. Even in other small private enterprises that MAYA ORGANIC interacts with, the employer and workers are supported to form self-help groups and initiate small savings. Over time, this ensures that the individuals are able to break their cycle of indebtedness and become increasingly self-reliant.

 

Job orders are paid on the basis of quantity and quality of production as individuals within the group. MAYA ORGANIC ensures that increasingly the income earned even for low skilled members within the collective will go beyond the minimum wage prescribed, as their training investment and learning will increase their productivity and skills levels. Though most often, the workers are reluctant to engage in training as they see it as wasting productive time or irrelevant, this has gradually changed since MAYA ORGANIC integrates skill development (technical, entrepreneurial, etc) with their ongoing work.

 

In terms of a work environment, all the worker-owned enterprises are supported to function from common worksheds, equipped with basic facilities (including water, toilets, ventilation, light,etc) and infrastructure. 'No child labour' is a non-negotiable adhered to in all the worker-owned enterprises and members are supported to send their children to preschool/ school.

MAYA ORGANIC is a macro-institutional approach to address issues of the informal economy within a systems perspective.

It draws from the premise that merely providing greater access to economic capital or training for the informal economy workers is inadequate to support them to develop capabilities to appropriately enhance their skills. Responding to this urgent need for a redefined approach that goes beyond either providing short-term and immediate relief to the workers or adopting an antagonistic approach towards the markets, MAYA ORGANIC affirms the imperative for various stakeholders to interact through mutually-beneficial partnerships; where the enterprise and the entire process is owned by the workers collectively, where they define their own path for development, in contrast to an employer-driven change process.

 

The limitations of market forces and existing labour law implementation either by the Govt enforcement machinery or through trade union demands to ensure decent work conditions is also a reality that needs to be addressed. Furthermore, in most instances of the informal sector, such structures for ensuring labour laws do not even exist.

 

MAYA ORGANIC believes that neither the confrontational approach of trade unions focussing only on wages & worker benefits nor the exploitative approach towards treating workers produces the required deliverables. Instead, MAYA ORGANIC believes that this calls for new institutional models where it is possible for holistically understanding the need to partner and redefine relationships, such that it is beneficial to all. In today's knowledge-based economy highlights the complex dimensions of capital as a combination of various aspects such as knowledge, finances, capabilities, political influence, etc. In such a situation, MAYA ORGANIC believes that partnering in a manner that is mutually supportive and beneficial is the only way forward.

 

MAYA ORGANIC essentially emphasises two focus areas in order to address livelihood issues of the working poor:

• ability to learn continuously, &
• willingness and an appropriate framework to partner continuously

Such an approach though not propagated as a business model perse, is proposed as a means to organise the working poor, offering possibilities of growth that go beyond livelihood issues - in terms of self-awareness, capability development, understanding of political empowerment, and above all, contributing to the makings of a sound democracy.

 

MAYA ORGANIC is an attempt to make this possible, doing whatever is necessary to ensure the same; exploring newer communication models, processes to facilitate continuous skill enhancement, reflecting on the makings of true partnerships between stakeholders, key components of capital required for an enterprise, etc.

Given the magnitude of such a perspective and approach, MAYA ORGANIC is currently starting from the geographical region in its immediate vicinity, building its own experience and understanding over time to gradually extend the experience to other areas of the working poor; in the process, redefining what exists and in some instances, creating newer models.

• Read the MAYA ORGANIC conceptnote (PDF) for more details on the theoretical underpinnings of this initiative.
• An article on MAYA ORGANIC's approach to learning and skill enhancement for the informal sector (PDF) provides a detailed description of the evolution and nature of this approach to learning.
• MAYA ORGANIC Process document (PDF).