Accra, March 9, GNA – Artisans and operators in the handicraft trade are to benefit from improved working conditions whiles gaining access to global markets, Mrs Elizabeth Attoh, Country Manager for NOVICA Ghana has said.
This has become possible from a partnership between NOVICA, the leading online fair trade marketplace that enables artisans to sell their handcrafted goods to customers worldwide, and Nest, a non-profit organisation specialised in ethically handcrafted products certification.
Nest’s certification protocols enable artisans earn fair wages and work in a safe environment.
Following the partnership between the two global entities, all artisans selling through the NOVICA platform are to undergo gender equality and fair wages training as part of a broader program designed to improve and certify that their products are made under fair trade and safe working conditions.
The partnership, according to NOVICA, would strengthen its existing protocols and raise the bar on safety for its artisan partners.
As part of the partnership, NOVICA, which supports individual artisans and small artisan groups in Ghana and around the world, will continue to offer its novica.com platform to artisans, who sell more than 70,000 individual handcrafts on the site.
A series of Nest-supported training modules will be rolled out in 2023 to help NOVICA’s in-country regional teams educate and conduct assessment of artisans through Nest’s Standards for Homes and Small Workshops (the Nest Standards) protocols.
Mrs Attoh explained that “Nest’s new training modules are helping us work proactively with artisans during this new phase of our continued growth, to ensure that all existing and future NOVICA artisans meet the highest standards of ethics and safety in their workshops.”
She said the Nest protocols and the new training modules are helping artisan partners become the very best they can be, either as the best workshop owners or the best small business employers for the benefit of all.
She said, in addition to NOVICA’s long-standing additional requirements for handmade quality and authenticity, a new ‘NOVICA Ethically Made’ badge, a NOVICA verification protocol based on the Nest Standards, has been possible due to the partnership.
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.
The NOVICA Country Manager called on all artisans to take advantage of the opportunity to be part of the training and assessment programmes to enhance their access to the competitive global handicrafts market.
GNA