This week, we're traveling to Craft Link in Hà Nội, Vietnam for our final Women's History Month blog of 2024. The Craft Link organization is special to us at Fair Trade Winds, since we had the pleasure of visiting their workshop last fall! Our own Paul, Ben, and Sarah were amazed at the artistry and how the social enterprise is organized, and got to see products being made that we now have for sale in our shops. We had a conversation with Lan, the operations manager, to find out how they #InspireInclusion.
When did Craft Link begin, and how has it grown?
Craft Link is a Vietnamese not-for-profit, fair trade social enterprise which helps ethnic minority groups, disadvantaged people, and traditional craft producers in Vietnam to revive their culture and improve their livelihoods through handicraft production and marketing. Since forming up in 1996, Craft Link has carried out 38 successful handicraft development projects in different provinces in remote area of Vietnam.
Craft Link’s projects not only help the ethnic minority groups and traditional craft producers to revive their culture, but also helps them to have more income through our marketing and distribution channels in Vietnam and overseas so that the artisans can manage the groups by themselves and develop sustainably.
At present Craft Link is supporting 60 groups all over Vietnam, with the total of more than 6000 beneficiaries. 
Craft Link's ceramic workshop
Working on mugs in the ceramic workshop
Making our carrot dish in the ceramic workshop.
What’s the workplace like? What are the benefits of a fair trade work environment?
All Craft Link's ethnic artisans are organized into groups in each village where they can gather in a workshop to work together when needed. However they are very flexible and most of the time they work from home so they can still take care of their children and do their house work. Working in the fair trade environment means people respect each other and support each other to have better life. They enjoy being members of the community and they feel proud of their work. Working together in the group also encourages them to contribute more to the community and society.
The theme this year for International Women's Day is 'Inspire Inclusion.' How are women artisans supported and made to feel empowered and part of the team? What benefits or positive changes have you seen in the communities where the artisans work and live?
Craft Link provides different types of training activities to support the artisans.
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- Project activities: Craft Link carries out many development projects to support its target artisan groups all over Vietnam. Each project lasts for at least two years. Trainings provided to the artisans during the project period include trainings in management skills, book-keeping, costing and pricing; design; product development and product final finishing; marketing; quality control.
- Business activities: Craft Link helps the artisans to have more income through our marketing and distribution channels in Vietnam and overseas: retail, wholesale, and export.
- Promotional activities: International trade fairs to introduce new products to customers, and find new markets for the artisans.
- Handicraft Bazaars: Once a year, Craft Link organizes its traditional Handicraft Bazaar in Hà Nội. This is a special event in which Craft Link introduces it artisans directly to other customers and visitors. On this occasion, the artisans have the chance to sell products directly and learn more about market trend from customers. And customers have a chance to meet directly the artisans and learn more about their culture.
- Small exhibitions: From time to time, Craft Link organizes small exhibitions on Ethnic tradition to showcase the Ethnic groups working in Craft Link projects and their traditional culture. This is to help raising awareness of the public about the Ethnic tradition, and also help the artisans being empowered, proud of their culture value.
By participating in all of Craft Link activities, our artisans are empowered and they are much more confident to manage the working group by themselves for sustainable development. We see the positive change in the community in the following area:
- Income generation: they earn higher income after participate into Craft Link project.
- Culture revival: Their culture is preserved and kept alive because we support them to revive and maintain their traditional craft production skills.
- Empowerment: Artisans are empowered and are proud of their own culture
- Gender equality: This is very evident because in the past the ethnic women were not respected well by their family members and by the society. Now things have changed because the women are empowered and they receive respect from their husbands, family members and from the community. Their voice is heard and respected.
Do you have a story to share about a woman artisan that made a lasting impact on you?
Twenty years ago, we carried out one handicraft development project to support a Hmong minority group in Ky Son district, Nghe An province. This project was co-financed by UNDCP and Craft Link. We implemented all the field trainings for the artisans throughout the two years of the project. After the project finished, the artisans were interviewed on the impact of the project to their lives.
Most of them said they were empowered, they earned more income, they had more fun, they had more respect from the community, etc. But there was one woman, who said: “Now I can laugh freely.”
At first all of us thought she said so because she enjoyed all the benefits of the projects and that she had better life than before. But we asked her to explain it more, then she told us a very moving story:
She said that growing up, they were very poor and did not have enough food, so they lacked vitamins in their diet. Most lost some teeth when they were young and they were not confident enough to smile or laugh. When they laugh, they use their hands to cover their mouth to hide their missing teeth. After participating in the Craft Link project, they earned more income. The first thing they did was visit the dentist to fix their teeth. She could laugh without hiding her teeth any more! That story was so moving for us, and that was the motivation for us to continue our work.