Taanka

Taanka is a social enterprise established by Community World Service Asia and its partners, to promote the finest handcrafted amalgamation of contemporary designs with traditional stitches, produced by rural women artisans from interior Sindh, Pakistan.

Sindh is a socially diverse province with a history of conflicted communities. The trends of income inequality between the affluent groups; consisting of the industrial and business class Pakistanis and immigrants, and the destitute groups; comprising of native Sindhis who inhabit the rural areas, is increasing with each passing day.

To enhance economic growth at the domestic level, it is considered vital to promote improved livelihoods for marginalised, rural women through the development of market access and linkages to urban markets. It is expected that the remunerative value of crafts will be enhanced by developing additional design varieties, which appeal specifically to the urban market.

Therefore, a project is devised for these women to collaborate with urban design students to reflect consumers’ demands in ethnic designs. With this, the rural artisan women from Sindh province have been empowered to realise their right to cultural participation and creativity, as well as the opportunity to establish linkages with urban creative industries of traditional handicraft’s production.