In the Going Green project implemented by AIACA and Traidcraft Exchange (UK) supported by the European Union, the overall focus was on reducing poverty and improving quality of life among grassroot artisans in the textile industry in 6 rural clusters of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. The project had a total outreach of 500+ SMEs and 15000+ artisans engaged in the crafts of hand block printing, kota doria weaving, upcycling waste fabric, tie and dye, Banaras brocade weaving and chikankari embroidery. The specific objectives were to promote environment friendly production and consumption of textiles, address occupational health and safety (OH&S) provisions for craft workers, research on technology for reducing environmental pollution, implement low cost environment friendly model technological solutions that can be replicated, and creation of a green standard – Craftmark Green for branding of green products.
The project significantly impacted the economic and social empowerment of these rural artisans and also contributed towards developing a range of green products through training and use of safe dyes and natural dyes, setting up of small ETPs for water treatment and recycling and measuring of the green parameters through lab testing.
