Preservation and Conservation of Traditional Arts, Crafts and Culture; Traditional and Innovative Ways of Livelihood and Employment

Migration from rural to urban areas has become a common phenomenon, especially in the global south. It has far reaching impacts, ranging from poor standard of living for both the migrants and the residents of the area, increasing income inequality, skewed sex ratio in the source and destination areas, to double burden on women left behind in the un-industrialized areas, alienation from one’s family and society thus leading to drug abuse or mental health related issues.

One way to resolve this issue is to revive the traditional ways of self-sustenance that made people willing to stay in their localities, so as to limit the migration. When raw materials are locally sourced, and final items are locally produced by people, it gives rise to a rich market without intermediaries and results into an ideal situation for both buyers and sellers, thus addressing the issue of income inequality.

Measures have to be taken by governments with inputs from the civil society organizations to-(a) give legal protection to the rights of the artisan communities, (b) make arrangements for granting patents and copyright registrations to indigenous and original art & crafts, (c) use technology as a tool to make the consumer acquainted with handmade items and assign a brand value for the products, (d) digitize endangered art forms and traditional practices and craft forms, (e) make social safety available to practitioners of art, crafts and traditions in times of hardships, like the pandemic or any natural environmental disasters so that they have a sense of financial security, (f) encourage Self Help Groups by giving them financial and social (maternity, education, skill and vocational) support, and (g) encourage youth for making an entrepreneurial effort in this field by creating awareness campaigns and competitions. Efforts made for reviving traditional livelihoods can bring a substantial impact on the other issue areas like furthering the SDGs 5 (Gender equality), SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), SDG 10 (Reduced Inequality), 12(Responsible Consumption and Production) to a great extent. Additionally, at this time when people need basic financial services to protect themselves against hardship and invest in their futures, implementing the 2020 G20 FIAP recommendations will be crucial for succeeding under the streamlined structure, and accountability framework.

In this working group, discussions and brainstorming sessions will be held on reviving and remodeling techniques of traditional arts, crafts and livelihood at the local level and providing market to them using the new-age tools. The group will also deliberate on how these forms of livelihood and their produce can be made more relevant to the present times.