Womenweave Charitable Trust

Women Weave's Gudi Mudi project, launched in 2007, empowers vulnerable women in Maheshwar, Dindori, and Balaghat, Madhya Pradesh. It provides training in weaving, spinning, and related skills, with a focus on divorced, widowed, handicapped, and low-income women. The Gudi Mudi Khadi Project connects local cotton farmers with unemployed women to create sustainable, handspun textiles, emphasizing natural dyes and water conservation.

In Maheshwar, Gudi Mudi addresses the disconnect between local cotton and weavers, countering potential disruptions in the handloom industry. In Dindori, it revitalizes weaving, involving women and introducing innovations in yarn and dyes. In Balaghat, it revives traditional handloom weaving, passing on knowledge to a new generation.

Women Weave's project not only promotes slow fashion but also empowers women, sustains traditional crafts, and fosters self-reliance, making it a beacon of social change and economic empowerment.

Women Weave's initiative, The Handloom School, launched in 2015 with Tata Trusts' support, is dedicated to training a new generation of weaver entrepreneurs. Situated in Maheshwar, Madhya Pradesh, this programme offers a comprehensive curriculum to young weavers, preparing them with skills, networks, and technology for successful careers in the handloom industry. The school provides a unique learning environment where artisans from diverse regions of India live and work together, fostering pride in handloom as a financially rewarding profession. The ultimate goal is to make handloom weaving as attractive and profitable as other careers, retaining the craft's legacy and creating ambassadors for it. Moreover, Women Weave extends support to marginalized rural women, teaching cotton yarn spinning to offer new livelihood opportunities and year-round employment.

Women Weave's Synergy Programme continues the tradition of innovation in Maheshwar's weaving heritage, dating back to the 5th century but flourishing under Queen Ahilyabhai Holkar in the 18th century when master weavers from Surat and South India collaborated to create the iconic Maheshwar sari. Today, this programme supports traditional weavers, handblock printers, dyers, designers, and retailers across India, fostering new working relationships. By doing so, it meets the demand for innovative fabrics, particularly in high-end fashion. Women Weave's impact extends to Maheshwar, Chanderi in Madhya Pradesh, and Kota in Rajasthan, and it collaborates informally with NGOs promoting handloom across various Indian states, focusing on the design and marketing of diverse weaves. Additionally, the programme works with handblock printers in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Rajasthan, preserving and promoting regional printing traditions.

Women Weave's "See To Weave" initiative addresses a pressing issue for weavers - their eye health. Many weavers struggle with poor vision due to financial constraints and a lack of accessible optometry services. Clear vision is vital for tasks like assessing colours and intricate work on the loom, impacting their weaving speed and quality. Since 2003, Women Weave has been conducting sight preservation camps in weaving hubs like Kota in Rajasthan and Chanderi and Maheshwar in Madhya Pradesh. Recently, the organisation collaborated with Vision Spring, a US-based NGO, to train five Maheshwar team members. These trained individuals can now conduct eye screenings and offer affordable glasses, improving the eye health of weavers across India. This initiative aims to enhance weavers' quality of life by enhancing their vision, productivity, and income.

Women Weave operates a Day Care Creche and Child Education Initiative at its Gudi Mudi weaving centre in Maheshwar. This initiative provides a safe and nurturing environment for the children of spinners and weavers working with Gudi Mudi. While their mothers and aunts work, the children engage in activities that support their cognitive and emotional development, overseen by a dedicated creche coordinator. Women Weave sponsors the early childhood education of over 130 youngsters. This initiative not only ensures the well-being of the children but also allows the women weavers to focus on their learning, training, and livelihood opportunities within the Gudi Mudi project, knowing that their children are nearby and well-cared for.