The first artisans’ training workshop for artisans concluded here at Lok virsa on Tuesday. A series of master artisans’ training workshops was launched here at Shakarparian on July 4 under the aegis of Lok Virsa (National Institute of Folk and Traditional Heritage) and SUNGI Development Foundation in collaboration with GIZ and DAACHI. The concluding ceremony of the first workshop was held at National Heritage Museum wherein certificates were awarded to the participating artisans by Lok Virsa Executive Director Khalid Javaid and SUNGI Development Foundation Executive Director Sheikh Asad Rehman. Speaking on the occasion, Khalid Javaid, termed the first workshop a very useful for the artisans as it provided them an opportunity not only to learn from the experts and designers to create innovations in their products but also to interact with other artisans from various parts of the country. Sheikh Asad Rehman appreciated the role of Lok Virsa in helping Sungi and other partner organisations in successfully holding the first workshop. According to the organisers, there will be five batches each of the 14-day workshop; the first took place from July 4 to July 17, the second from August 30 to September 12, the third from September 14 to September 29, the fourth from September 29 to October 12 and the last from 15 October 15 to October 28, 2012. The project was intended to provide capacity building for 768 marginalised craft persons/artisans, mainly from rural districts with poor lower income groups. They are home-based workers living in far flung deprived areas, with no or limited linkage with big markets to sell their products and they are being exploited by the middlemen for sale of their products.
