We met the good folk at BKAD through our friends at YRM in early 2016. BKAD was originally set-up by the government as one of a number of small micro-finance organisations, which were required to become independent after 3 years of government support. BKAD is the only one still operating in Sumba, a testimony to their managerial skills and commitment to the task. BKAD provides loans to 300 or so weaving groups and supports them further by creating a fair-trade market for their products and providing training to improve their businesses. We love BKAD's long-term view of community-change and their firm belief that the improvement of Sumbanese life does not need to mean the loss of their culture and traditions.
We've previously partnered with BKAD to provide administrative and value-adding training to their weaving groups.
We've been partnering with BKAD over the last three years to provide traditional weaving training to school children so that they have a viable, local opportunity for income-generation on completing school. In late 2020, we also supported BKAD to establish a new website so they can sell their fairly traded weavings to buyers all across Indonesia, and BKAD have been assisting us with evaluating programs and projects of some of our other partners while we are unable to travel due to COVID-19.
