Increasing the Artisans Alliance of Jawaja’s (AAJ) social media presence, in-store reach and exhibition sales

Abstract

Jawaja is a village located in Beawar tehsil of Ajmer district, Rajasthan. As per Population Census 2011, the village has a population of 2369, of which 1182 are males, and 1187 are females. In 2011, the literacy rate of Jawaja was 75.36% compared to 66.11% of Rajasthan.[1]IIM Ahmedabad has a long-standing relationship with the weaver and the leather worker community. In 1975, the late Professor Ravi J. Matthai, in association with Shri Ashok Chatterjee of NID, selected Jawaja as the testing ground for combining contemporary know-how with age-old wisdom and skills. [2]Volunteers from both IIMA and NID along with the village community worked on creating sustainable livelihood options and zeroed in on weaving and leather work. [3] Prof. Matthai called the experiment as “The Rural University Experience”. The result was the formation of the Artisans Alliance of Jawaja (AAJ). AAJ is an association of weavers (Jawaja Weaver‟s Association) and leather workers (Jawaja Leather Association). It works as a marketing agency, making the artisans self-reliant by building entrepreneurship capacities. AAJ is managed by the artisans themselves through a democratic system of governance. Today, Jawaja is a well-known craft brand of handmade leather products and carpet work. [2] Although it is a respected brand, there is a need to scale up and find new avenues to popularize the brand in the face of significant challenges, like increased competition, levying of GST on luxury goods etc.