Since its establishment and operation, the Chieng Chau Brocade Weaving and Tourism Service Cooperative (Mai Chau District, Hoa Binh Province) has created jobs and stable income for more than 100 local women. At the same time, it has contributed to promoting the local specialty brand to domestic and foreign tourists.
In a workshop area of hundreds of square meters in Chieng Chau hamlet, Chieng Chau commune, with dozens of traditional weaving looms and modern sewing machines, Thai ethnic women are diligently producing unique traditional brocade products such as handbags, scarves, shirts, skirts, backpacks, etc. Each product is imbued with the traditional culture of the Thai ethnic group with extremely vivid embroidery patterns of diamond shapes, cicadas, trees, malabar spinach, monkeys, etc.
Ms. Vi Thi Oanh, Deputy Director of Chieng Chau Brocade Weaving and Tourism Service Cooperative, said that all Thai women know about brocade weaving. Previously, they mainly did it for their own family use, with almost no intention of buying or selling. Since the development of community tourism models in Mai Chau, the demand for traditional brocade products from tourists coming here has also been very high.
Therefore, with the support of the District and Commune Women's Union, Ms. Oanh mobilized women and resources to establish a cooperative with an initial capital of 500 million VND to open a factory and buy production machinery.
Ms. Vi Thi Oanh - Deputy Director of Chieng Chau Brocade Weaving and Tourism Service Cooperative
“At first, we encountered many difficulties. The products were very beautiful but it was very difficult to reach the consumer market because we followed our own concept of beauty. Later, when I learned more about trends and consumer tastes, I began to design highly applicable product models that met the needs of tourists, so the products were gradually accepted by consumers, solving the problem of product output,” Ms. Oanh recalled.
To date, the cooperative has a workshop area of hundreds of square meters, 14 sewing machines, more than 40 weaving looms with 21 full-time workers and 100 part-time workers. The average income of the women ranges from 3.5 to 5 million VND/month.
Some brocade products of Chieng Chau Brocade Weaving and Tourism Service Cooperative
With more than 10 years of establishment and development, there were times when the cooperative had to face many difficulties, seemingly unable to survive, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. With the efforts of the cooperative's Board of Directors and members as well as the encouragement of local authorities, especially the Women's Union at all levels, the cooperative was motivated to rise up and start production immediately after the pandemic ended.
Ms. Lo Thi Van, a member of the cooperative, said: “Thanks to the cooperative, more than 100 women have stable jobs. Each month, they have a stable income, which is not as high as working as a worker in industrial parks, but working here is convenient because the women live close to home. Some women even only receive work to do at home, and when they finish, they bring it to the cooperative leaders, so the women are all very happy.”
With the criteria of producing quality products, best meeting the needs of customers and the market for long-term stable development, the Cooperative often improves and creates more souvenir products to produce products suitable for the integration trend and customer tastes such as handbags, shoes, stuffed animals. Up to now, the Cooperative has become a production unit supplying goods to many consumption units in big cities such as Hanoi, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh and exporting to some companies in France.
Ms. Ha Thi Yen, Chairwoman of the Chieng Chau Women's Union, said: “The Chieng Chau Brocade Weaving and Tourism Service Cooperative is one of the typical models in the locality. The cooperative not only contributes to creating jobs and income for women but also contributes to preserving and promoting the traditional cultural values of the indigenous Thai people. Since the Provincial Women's Union implemented the Project "Supporting cooperatives managed by women, creating jobs for female workers until 2030", we often encourage female cooperative leaders like Ms. Vi Thi Oanh to participate in training courses on cooperative management knowledge organized by the Women's Union at all levels. The Provincial and District Women's Unions are also very interested, regularly organizing to promote the cooperative's products, and supporting in finding outlets for the products."
Ms. Vi Thi Oanh shared that thanks to the support of the local Women's Union, her cooperative's management and operation have been getting better and better, helping the cooperative develop more sustainably and effectively. In recent years, the cooperative's revenue has continuously increased, from 500 million VND to 2 billion VND and now 3 billion VND.
“With the initial successes achieved, my biggest concern now is the limited land area to open a factory, there is no land to rent. I hope that in the coming time, local leaders will have policies to create conditions for cooperatives managed and operated by women to access local land funds, rent premises to expand production scale, thereby creating more jobs for more workers” – Ms. Vi Thi Oanh said.
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