Capacity-Building Program for Artisans (CBPA)

Why a program to build artisans and craftspeople’s skills!

In 2018, SODEV International initiated the Capacity-Building Program for Artisans (CBPA) to assist artisans and craftspeople in improving their working methods and living conditions. The CBPA offers solutions to several problems that artisans in West Africa face.

Arts and crafts contribute significantly to communities’ socio-economic and cultural development at the local, national and international levels. The sector covers a wide variety of professions that are constantly evolving thanks to innovation and modernization. It provides numerous jobs, offers countless creative possibilities, and is also more open to women. All this is expected to allow artisans and craftspeople to grow professionally in jobs of passion, know-how and freedom.                                                                                                        

Despite this shining side, which offers great potential for economic development, the majority of artisans and craftspeople of West Africa still struggle to make ends meet and to provide for the basic needs of their families. They are faced with various obstacles, including:

    • the insufficiency or lack of professional training, knowledge and technical information with respect to the creation of a business, its operation, and production management (product sale and storage);
    • the lack of financial means such as the credit for the creation and operation of small businesses;
    • the lack of resources such as raw materials, appropriate tools and equipment to ensure efficient and profitable production and the means necessary for producing and storing raw materials and products;
    • the incomes too low to allow artisans and craftspeople to save money, and
    • the considerable reduction of opportunities for many due to the plethora of artisans and craftspeople in the cities.

This situation prompted SODEV International’s intervention in capacity building, a necessary initiative since most artisans are not sufficiently educated, do not often keep any accounts, and are not able to run their businesses well. Most rural artisans lack commercial acumen and are often not integrated in the cash economy.

The CBPA is a sustainable development tool designed for “poor” artisans and craftspeople. It focuses on training, education, information, and awareness as follows:

    • vocational training for artisans and craftspeople in selected trades
    • training in other areas such as the management of human, financial and material resources; marketing and customer management, rules and regulations about arts and crafts; and insurance coverage.
    • marketing and customer management, the legal texts in force concerning the craft trades, as well as the different types of insurance;
    • information and awareness on practices that facilitate individual and collective progress of artisans and craftspeople.
    • literacy and numeracy for the illiterate.

The PRCA is being implemented in collaboration with competent partners, able to assist the artisans and craftspeople in an appropriate, effective and efficient manner.