Weaving a new narrative
A project that empowers women by providing training in fashion-related skills and leatherwork in Uganda has won international funding.
A non-profit working with artisans and entrepreneurs in Uganda has received a grant from New York-based charity the Fashion Impact Fund to help women participate in a fashion and design course. Artisan Global’s aim is to equip people with design and business skills to pursue sustainable income opportunities and use fashion “to ignite community change in northern Uganda”. The funding will enable women to be active participants in the economy, says Lauren Shipley, one of three co-founders at Artisan Global: “We strive to contribute to an equitable workspace, creating the opportunity for disadvantaged women to become leaders in the community.”
After an interview process, 10 women aged 18 to 31 were selected for the nine-month course. Tutor Veronica Lonyera has extensive experience as a fashion designer and has mentored dozens of aspiring designers and tailors throughout northern Uganda, mainly economically marginalised young women and single mothers. She will be joined by Jelinda Patricia, whom she taught for six years before forging a career as a designer and later qualifying as a teacher herself.
The students will have the opportunity to incorporate leather into their designs — the tutors see leather, cow-horn and kitenge fabrics, as well as rare barkcloth from the matuba tree of southern Uganda, as major forms of expression for identity. The course will introduce the students to a variety of locally sourced materials, including leather and fabric taken from used shoes, and will teach them how to incorporate themes of sustainability into their work. “There is a huge opportunity for scaling and accelerating the fashion industry throughout Uganda and East Africa,” says co-founder Ketty Promise.
Material loss
Uganda is home to a sizeable livestock population – 14.8 million cattle, 16.9 million goats and 4.7 million sheep in 2019, according to government figures – which should, in theory, bolster domestic leather-using manufacturers. But access to good-quality raw material is limited. Almost 40% of raw hides and skins offered to tanneries are rejected due to defects and between 5% and 10% of skins purchased develop holes during the liming and tanning processes, according to a government-funded report.
Another problem is that Uganda’s few remaining tanneries mainly produce wet blue and between 80% and 90% of this is exported. Only 10% is tanned to finished leather, leaving little affordable material for domestic manufacturers.
Uganda’s tanneries were also affected when a substantial number of Chinese tanneries — their main customers for the wet blue — closed around 2014 for environmental reasons. A political landscape that discourages investment in footwear and leather products and weak enforcement of quality standards also hold the sector back, according to East African Community (EAC) research.
To address this, the EAC Leather and Leather Products Strategy and Implementation Roadmap (2020-2030) was set out in 2018. It aims is to transform the sector so more of the leather can be finished and used domestically – adding value and creating jobs – while also increasing trade of leather and leather products between East African countries. From a 0.28% share of GDP, it hopes the leather sector can provide a 4-5% share in the space of 10 years, creating 500,000 jobs and training 2,000 small and medium enterprise entrepreneurs in the process. It cites improvement of livestock husbandry practices, modernising footwear and leathergoods manufacturing facilities, improving quality control and infrastructure, facilitating investment in tanneries and strengthening governance, policy and supporting services as chief among priorities.
Leather handicrafts
Specific to Uganda, a government survey in 2019 revealed leather and leather products are among the most economically viable handicraft products produced by artisans in the country, followed by basketry, mats and jewellery.
The survey provides a baseline for the state’s $1.5 million Handicraft and Souvenir Development Project, which offers training in design, quality management and marketing. The project also provides machinery: Kampala-based Big Leather Goods, a manufacturer of shoes, handbags, wallets and belts, benefited from a skiving machine and a sewing machine. However, its managing director, Stephen Alibaruho, told local press the business had suffered since the pandemic as people did not have enough disposable income to buy new shoes.
The country does have some shining examples of leather production: Leather Industries of Uganda (LIU) was visited by World Leather as part of the Tannery of the Year competition in 2017. There, we discovered a business that had turned its fortunes around: from almost being forced to close because of pollution issues a decade before, to investing in Italian and Indian technology that helped reduce its water consumption and waste by more than 50% over the space of a few years. LIU became the first tannery in sub-Saharan Africa (excluding South Africa) to work with Leather Working Group (LWG), undergoing and passing its first audit in 2016, and developed a bursary programme for high-performing pupils from low-income families in the area around the tannery.
Unlocking potential
These types of bursaries and funding schemes provide much-needed routes to employment for young people, who also use their subsequent earnings to support their families and communities. The course in the city of Gulu goes further than just teach sewing and design skills, it equips students with the knowledge to start businesses and seek out markets for their unique products. The programme includes guest lecturers from other regions of Uganda to expand cross-regional collaboration and introduce the students to an array of fashion styles. The students also attend educational field trips and networking events and learn about marketing, social media and branding.
Uganda has one of the world’s youngest populations, with more than three quarters below the age of 30, but more than 40% of these working-age young people, or 9.3 million, are unemployed, according to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics. Devon Feldmeth, co-founder of Artisan Global, says, “We believe the solutions lie within the community, and it is our role to mobilise the resources, mentorship and storytelling to support young people in unlocking their full potential.”
Class of 2022. The programme equips students with sewing, tailoring, design and business skills to pursue sustainable income opportunities.
Credit: Odongkara Emmanuel Okeny
