For the second time this year The G.R.O. Artisans Collective have received national attention and publicity from the business sector of Lesotho. The first was an article published in the SMME Support Network Lesotho’s SMME News with an piece entitled ‘Building Communities – One Enterprise at a Time’ and now from The Public Eye, nationally distributed newspaper. Yesterday, the article was released as part of a special insert feature ‘One Nation, One World’ to mark World Aids Day this coming Tuesday. Thank you to Tsepo of The Public Eye for his support. You can read the article in full below.

G.R.O. Artisans: Building Livelihoods

At 8 a.m. the door to The G.R.O. Artisans Collective is open where the morning chatter of women can be heard as the warm summer wind sweeps through the BEDCO compound in Leribe. Perhaps uniquely, this collective of artisans was formed with the primary purpose of providing economical empowerment and livelihood building for women affected by or living with HIV/AIDS. The G.R.O. Artisans face the daily realities of this national epidemic in their own personal lives and their community. Undeterred by the overwhelming challenges, these women have banded together in a collective effort to shatter the stigma of HIV/AIDS and demonstrate both the emotional and economic power of a collaborative effort. In accordance with the laws of Lesotho an HIV workplace policy ensures equality in their membership and any visitor, whether a paying customer or not, has access to both male and female condoms and printed sexual health information. Finally, the Artisans are actively engaged in promoting the skills and talents of HIV positive women in their community and you will often see them at festivals and the Maseru Bazaar.

This month, the women have begun to prepare for a move to a larger BEDCO office where they will increase the size of the current retail space and have room to expand the number of members from four to ten by end of year 2010. Designing and producing handcrafted fashion jewelry ‘Majoyce, ‘Mathabang,’ Mamosebetsi, and ‘Makhotalang prepare for both national and international markets with sales distribution that spans Lesotho, South Africa, Canada, and The United States. The fledgling jewelry business is one of the many Basotho success stories across Lesotho in the small business sector. The Collective operates on a business model known as a social enterprise, a not-for-profit company that provides its members with a steady income, ongoing business training, social programming, as well as family and healthcare support. The healthcare coverage, which is one of the unique qualities of this business model, ensures a percentage of the Collective’s profits are invested into a comprehensive plan for the members, which provides for drug coverage, childcare and funeral plans.

With an aim to advance The Collective’s socially-oriented mandate of community development and the empowerment of women the members are committed to actively searching for a local professional Mosotho woman to coordinate and assist in managing the business mid-January. This project was made possible because the women were able to secure the initial start up capital as well as business and leadership training from the Canadian-born Lesotho-based G.R.O. Foundation, which currently bases all of its operations out of Leribe. The G.R.O. Foundation, founded in 2005, is a Non-Profit Non-Governmental Organization working for the advancement and empowerment of individuals and communities by providing grassroots assistance to promote sustainable social development. With the continued support and strong bond of partnership between the G.R.O. Artisans and G.R.O. Foundation Lesotho the artisans have successfully established lasting ties with other Basotho small business initiatives and leaders including Mr. Raleche of Business Development Trust and Ms. Makama of SMME Support Network, both based in Maseru. These ties amongst the national business community will ensure the ability of the G.R.O. Artisans to connect with other small enterprises and allow for expansion and support of community-based business trainings.

Looking ahead to the Christmas season you will be able to purchase the handcrafted jewelry of The G.R.O. Artisans Collective at the monthly Bazaars in Maseru and the Maseru Christmas Craft Fair on December 5. Year round the jewelry is available to all fashionable women at BEDCO Leribe, Setsoto Weavers in TY, The Leribe Hotel, Leribe, The Blue Mountain Inn, Teyateyeng, and Mohale’s Hoek Inn, Mohale’s Hoek. To contact the G.R.O. Artisans by phone +26658132695 (Majoyce) or by email artisans@grofoundation.org

Posted under Letters from Lesotho