Appropriate Technology Association, Thailand

The Appropriate Technology Association (ATA) is a non-profit organisation with a mandate to carry out research and development, and promote novel, appropriate technology for the betterment of rural society. In 1985 the ATA initiated a major project called the Local Weaving Development Project (LWDP), which aimed to empower rural women in the north east (Esaan) provinces by providing them with leadership skills and managerial techniques. The success of the project is evident in the dramatic increase in its membership. Over 500 women from 24 villages are now members. The program works to improve the conditions of rural life for the women by reviving lost craft culture and fostering financial independence. Women are trained in natural dyeing techniques and helped to develop markets to generate much needed income. Through this alternative entrepreneurship program, joining women in a people-to-people trade system, a new group of female village leaders has emerged.

Traditional weaving techniques themselves have been handed down through generations of Thai women. By going back to the traditional dyeing and weaving techniques, this project is instilling a sense of pride in local history and cultural arts. Ongoing studies and research match new knowledge with indigenous technology to make it more convenient, more appropriate to the village and increasingly environmentally friendly. To date, the women have experimented with over 15 types of trees around their villages and generated a range of dye colours including yellow, green, brown, grey, pink, red, orange and purple.

Since 1985, the LWDP/ATA has been assisting several villages in various provinces, enhancing their quality of life and self-reliance through sustainable development projects based on traditional weaving technology. Research shows that when a woman's economic status increases so does the quality of life of her family. To this end, the women of LWDP are reinvesting money they earned through their weaving into farm inputs, medical services, and back into their weaving business. Initially, few women joined the program. When it became evident that the products generated by the LWDP could be sold easily and could generate a satisfactory income, interest in joining the LWDP increased. There was resistance from husbands and the men of the village, but support has increased alongside the undeniably positive results. "When I became active in my village, 90% of the men in my village thought badly of me," says Pi Saat, a project participant. "Now our husbands understand that women can get knowledge from these meetings. Then they are supportive."

The project developed a comprehensive program that addresses the problems of poverty, environmental awareness, and women's leadership structures on several levels. The LWDP/ATA is used as facilitators, consultants, and catalysts for women initiating their own weaving groups. Starting from where women are, and what women have, the LWDP does not aim merely to raise incomes for women and their families and to conserve the local tradition and culture of increasing in the area, but the crucial objective is the working towards empowerment of rural women.