BANGALORE: Launched and based in Bangalore, the Global Natural Fibres Forum is an international network that aimed at promoting the use and stimulate demand of natural fibres’ industries. Launched on May 29 at the Twelfth Commonwealth-India Programme in Bangalore, it also aims to promote the efficiency and sustainability of the sector. The initiative brings the production of natural fibres from the local to the mass market, while simultaneously improving the working opportunities and livelihoods of the very poorest women in rural areas, who depend on natural fibres as a means of income; whether it be bananas, river grass or pine leaves. The enterprise is supported by five main entities, including the Industree Crafts Foundation, Commonwealth Secretariat and Export-Import Bank of India. Central Bank of India and Corporation Bank, two partners of the GNFF, have teamed up with London-based Commonwealth Secretariat to offer lending schemes at concessional interest rates to micro and small businesses and self-help groups, including those from the natural fibres sector. The banks and the Secretariat will be working with young women aged between 18 and 35 to make them bankable and justifiably rewarded with a much higher return for their work.A key problem that was identified in the natural fibres sector was that women selling their produce at local markets were always looking to undercut each other and sell at the cheapest possible price. This led to a ‘race to the bottom’, which benefited no one. The GNFF aims to educate producers to sell their produce at a premium by highlighting the benefits of their produce, including its ‘green’ benefits. Over 80 per cent of those engaged in natural fibres industries globally are women. The GNFF Secretariat, which is being hosted by Industree Crafts Foundation, is currently finalising their Board. A multitude of stakeholders are being roped in to the Global Board of GNFF. EXIM Bank and Corporation Bank have already committed to assist the growth of this Forum. Presently, Corporation Bank has extended bank finance facilities to GNFF stakeholders, which include several self-help groups engaged in natural fibres production in and around Bangalore. This is part of their financial inclusion mandate.Says K Rama Murthy, General Manager, Corporation Bank, “We are committed to the empowerment and upliftment of women through enterprise activities. Therefore, our association with the natural fibres sector, where many socially and economically marginalised women work, is a natural extension of our commitment.” They have also launched a banking product exclusively for women called Corp Mahila Power, aimed at empowering women entrepreneurs. 7,500 women are currently being trained in India across seven states. Says Vibha Pinglé, President of Ubuntu At Work, an NGO that works with marginalised women in Africa and Asia, “The beauty is that it attracts the very poorest women earning a dollar a day, and the slightly better off aren’t interested.” The new chain of Mother Earth stores, India’s first green store chain, sell the rural artisans’ natural fibres products. The Adviser of the Commonwealth Secretariat, Ram Venuprasad says, “We were the first inter-governmental agency to commemorate the International Year of Natural Fibres in 2009 by hosting a pan-Commonwealth event here in Bangalore and our support to GNFF is testimony of our sustainable engagement towards this sector.”
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