Aiming to inform the villagers on the vine handicraft designs that meet the market demand and to provide technical knowledge and practice on weaving the vine material into handicraft items, representatives from the “Biodiversity-based Products (BBP) as an Economic Source for the Improvement of Livelihoods and Biodiversity Protection” Project held a training session in Siem Reap Province, Cambodia on 3 to 5 August 2018.
Currently unprecedented, the training session was conducted for the benefit of the members of the Vine Handicraft Group, a newly formed organization from the Thmey Village
One of the topics taken up was how to enhance the supply chain together with the Angkor Handicraft Association (AHA) as private sector partner in the vine value chain. All 22 trainees, of which 18 are women, were able to practice the weaving technique during the three-day course. The trainers selected the three best vine handicraft weavers for awarding prizes.
The national BBP partner in Cambodia and the General Secretariat of the National Council for Sustainable Development (GSSD)/ Ministry of Environment subcontracted the AHA for conducting the first training on handicraft weaving. The AHA is an important partner in the establishment of a vine handicraft value chain as it is promoting locally made handicrafts and responsible shopping in Siem Reap by strengthening the local handicraft sector in Siem Reap, and promoting and linking Cambodian artisans to local and international markets.
Started in 2015, the BBP project is one of the projects of the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB), with support from the German Government via the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. The Project is being implemented through the GFA Consulting Group, and is piloting biodiversity-based value chains in selected national parks and ASEAN Heritage Parks (AHPs) in Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Viet Nam with the aim to support and link biodiversity conservation with economic development and livelihoods for communities in the buffer zones of national parks.
