NOVICA partners with Nest to improve working conditions for artisans
NOVICA, a major online fair trade marketplace that operates an Artisan Empowerment Hub in Accra and more hubs around the globe, has just announced its partnership with Nest, a leading global non-profit specialising in ethically handcrafted certification.
Mrs Elizabeth Attoh, NOVICA’s country manager in Ghana, commented on the significance of this partnership, and the importance of NOVICA’s overall work in West Africa.
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“In light of NOVICA’s ongoing expansion, NOVICA partnered with Nest to help strengthen our existing fair trade requirements and monitoring protocols,” Mrs Attoh explained.
“Our goal is to continue to improve working conditions for artisans in emerging markets, because fair trade, safety, and gender equality are fundamental to the well-being and economic stability of our region’s craftspeople," she added.
She said the new working partnership with Nest would help strengthen NOVICA’s core mission to improve the lives of artisans regionally, and globally.
Since its inception in 1999, all artisans selling through NOVICA have signed and committed themselves to NOVICA’s fair trade and child labour agreements, including agreeing to undergo unscheduled workshop visits.
She explained that as a result of the new partnership with Nest, all artisans selling through NOVICA will now also undergo safety, gender equality, and fair wages training, to strengthen NOVICA’s existing protocols and proactively raise the bar on safety for its artisan partners.
The Nest-guided training programs she said, would be rolled out this year.
NOVICA.com’s direct-to-customer sales platform features thousands of master artisans and small artisan groups in Africa, Asia, Latin America and beyond, and offers more than 70,000 fair trade handcrafts – including the largest collection of handmade jewellery in the world at nearly 40,000 individual items. To date, NOVICA has sent more than US $128 million to artisans.
The Country Manager who contends that NOVICA’s help is transgenerational said “When we assist an artisan, this one artisan positively influences the lives of their parents, their children – who are our future leaders – and their community. Our work is a huge factor in bringing hope to dying art forms.”
When asked about NOVICA’s long-term goals, Mrs Attoh said, “Our goal is a future where artisans need not abandon their artistic skills for other jobs. A future where artisanry will be valued ever more highly in West Africa, and throughout the world. A future where everyone understands that life should be filled with art.”