Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) has been supporting and curating grassroots enterprises and craftsmen across India in the areas of product development, design and packaging sensitization, with the twin-objective of reviving the traditional arts and crafts of India, besides affording a sustainable means of livelihood to the artisans.

The Bank, through its training programs and workshops, has been able to motivate second generation artisans into learning ancestral crafts, building a sustainable business, and helping gain due recognition for the various arts and crafts, at several platforms across India and overseas.

In order to further strengthen these efforts, Exim Bank along with the Centre for Microfinance and Livelihood (CML, an initiative of Tata Trusts) has organized design development training workshops” for artisans in Thoubal District, Manipur to support the Kauna cluster through a series of capacity-building workshops as part of the memorandum of cooperation with CML.

The workshops are conducted at various levels, i.e., for master craftsperson, intermediate, long-term design workshops and product diversification. CML program managers along with the ‘Livelihood Propulsion and Support Services’ (LPSS) – an entity of CML, and ODESH are managing the entire training program and will monitor the progress of the artisans involved, over a period of six months post-completion of the workshop, especially in the areas of business/employment generation, thereby ensuring that the workshop results in concrete benefits for the artisans.