Positive impact on local communities & environment...


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TaiBaan preserves cultural heritage

TaiBaan cultivates markets for Lao handmade products to preserve its cultural heritage. Laos has a rich heritage of craft production but the pressures of modern life and the availability of cheap factory made imports have resulted in Lao people giving up their crafts and their rural livelihoods. As a result, many of the crafts of Laos are vanishing art forms. TaiBaan harnesses the existing resource of talented artisans and helps them to move from subsistence production to sustainable livelihoods.

TaiBaan supports and empowers women rural communities

TaiBaan assists villagers to form artisan groups or cooperatives (almost all are women led), building their own businesses and strengthening the local communities and economies. TaiBaan supports village-based home production, reducing the rising trend of labour migration and resultant social issues of trafficking, prostitution and HIV/AIDS. Artisans choose their own working hours, allowing them flexibility to fit production with the rhythm of their family and farming lives.

TaiBaan are eco-friendly

TaiBaan supports sustainable practices by using raw materials from sustainably-managed sources. TaiBaan artisans create products from local bamboo, silk and organically grown cotton, using hand-powered techniques, the way the Lao people have for centuries. TaiBaan promotes the use of natural dyes, reviving traditional indigenous knowledge.

TaiBaan protects children

There is no child labor in the production of TaiBaan. Women who join TaiBaan programs do so on the condition that they vaccinate all children and send them to school at least until the end of primary school. To preserve cultural heritage, TaiBaan encourages artisans to hand down their skills and crafts to the next generation.

TaiBaan builds capacity

TaiBaan delivers technical training, design advice and product development. It provides training in management and organizational skills, especially in group formation, group regulations, and roles for group leaders and members.

TaiBaan builds member groups’ capacity in operating their own small business, training them in simple cost analysis and pricing, quality control, and product grading.

TaiBaan provides market information to artisan groups and coordinates cross- visits among them to broaden experience, techniques, and product range.

TaiBaan connects artisans to retail and wholesale outlets in Vientiane, Luang Prabang, and internationally, especially to Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Europe and USA.

TaiBaan