Cambodian Craft Cooperation
Stimulated by the positive market response to a survey in n European markets on Cambodian
silk productssurvey on European markets in July 2003, the EPRP identified the Cambodian
Craft Cooperation (CCC) as national partner to implement a pilot project with 20 weaver
families in Tanorn village, complementing CCC’s efforts to build up the weavers’ technical
skills.
CCC is an association of small and medium-sized craft enterprises founded in 1997 with the
assistance of the Chamber of trades and crafts Koblenz (Germany) and financed by the
German Federal Ministry of Economic Development and Cooperation (BMZ). CCC has set up
five associations representing different craft sectors, among them the Handmade Textile
Association (HTA) weaver groups.
The silk weaving community in Takeo
A significant percentage (55%) of the total silk production in Cambodia takes place in Takeo
province, where weavers are concentrated in a compact area. The situation before the project
was as follows:
· The community's members were generally poor with low education level. Most of the
families had debts for raw material with middlemen. The entire production was ordered
and bought by middlemen, selling in Phnom Penh's markets.
· All weavers were lacking technical skills. The quality of dyes was not regular and
did not match the international market standards of high-grade and azo-free dyes. Only
traditional equipment was used. Weavers were dependent on middlemen to receive
low quality silk yarn. Most of the designs were copied from others by the weavers.
· A community spirit among the weavers was lacking, therefore middlemen could play
the weavers out against each other to get lower prices. Furthermore, each weaver did
all steps of the production process; the potential of centralizing certain production
steps to take advantage of economies of scale was not exploited.