Establishment of sales outlet for Uwazi women handicraft products in urban district Zanzibar

Abstract

Handicrafts form part of the micro-enterprise sector and most of the entrepreneurs in this sector are women. Women engage in this business as self-employment and income generating activities to support their livelihood.

In Zanzibar many women engage in this business to generate income for supporting their families. Despite the fact that these women have been engaging in this business for a long period of time, yet their income standard is still low, thus they remain in poverty situation.

The study that was conducted in the Urban District - Zanzibar revealed that among the factors that hinder the development of this sector were lack of sales outlet for the women handicraft products and poor quality of their products. Different tools of data collection were employed during the survey. These include mailed questionnaires, record review, interviews and observations. The results of the study led to the implementation of the project titled "Establishment of Sales Outlet for Women Handicraft Producers". The main goal of this project is to enhance the women handicraft producers' income so as to improve their life standards. This project was implemented by UWAZI (Umoja wa Wazalishaji Wadogo Wadogo Zanzibar) in collaboration with other stakeholders. The duration of this project was one year and started in January 2006. The total project cost was Tanzania Shillings 7,007,850. (Author abstract)