THE CROAK is a weekly environmental newsletter put out by the eCoexist team. It is the voice of the environment on its last legs, the final croak that can either be a plea for attention or a call of triumph as the frogs jump out of the well of ignorance and denial.

From the onset of our Safe Holi Campaign, the production of the Holi colours has been done by various womens groups, who earn a supplemental income through these. 

Read more about the groups who have worked with us on this project...

Most Indian women are familiar with guiding spices - masalas-  at home as this is a regular ingredient in Indian foods. From home made masala, to home made natural colours was a simple step for us to train the women. Most of our colours are made using food ingredients and the recipes are simple to understand and implement. The scale of the production is new to most women, as they are used to handling smaller volumes only.

This semi skilled task can be done by most women with a little bit of hand holding and over the years, eCoexist has involved several womens groups in this activity. 

Quality control, involves checking texture and brightness of colours and also ensuring the colours stay free of moisture. Being familiar with food materials, the women have also often come back to us with thoughts on how they could improvise the colours.

The packaging of the colours involves even lesser skill than the production, and this means that we can offer this activity to women who may be slightly mentally or physically challenged as well , as an earning option. This tasks only requires the women to be able to read numbers and count basic figures. With the help of a supervisor this can be easily done systematically.

In the process of learning how to make and package the colours, the women are also taught other business management skills - team work, leadership , inventory management, basic accounting and clear communication. Many of these skills that the urban educated take for granted are new to these women and often intimidate them. The process involves a lot of hand holding and confidence building. This year, in 2020, we have introduced a system of decentralised data entry which the women can do using smart phones and Google forms to enable them to report on daily activities to the coordinating team. The introduction of simple information technology also helps them to overcome their fear of management, while keeping a cross check on errors. 

eCoexist avoids the use of plastics as much as we can in our products, and there fore most of our packaging is done in paper and cloth. Where possible we also involve the women in the making of the packets - for eg cloth pouches for gifting - so as to give them some more earning opportunities. 

When we have packets left over from a particularly year, rather than disposing them off, we convert them into gift boxes by covering them with cloth fabrics. This ensures minimal waste and creates another reusable product.

While our women are not yet involved in the marketing aspect of the products they make, we are slowly introducing them to simple marketing such as handling sales via stalls in exhibitions. Understanding the product, speaking about the concept behind it and communicating this clearly to visitors is learnt in this process. Few women are willing to step out of their homes and travel to do this kind of marketing, but those that are, are giving the opportunity to speak about their involvement and learnings. 

Your purchase of this product enables these women to earn a supplemental income, to learn new skills and to feel empowered in more ways than one. We look forward to your support of this project!

The Croak is a weekly environmental newsletter put out by the eCoexist team. It is the voice of the environment on its last legs, the final croak that can either be a plea for attention or a call of triumph as the frogs jump out of the well of ignorance and denial. Satirical, urgent and wise the newsletter brings to your attention, topics of global environmental relevance as well as emerging encouraging alternatives. Put together by a team of passionate Nature lovers, The Croak hopes to look at the environmental crisis in its face. It is a tool to reconnect readers to Nature, through questioning and self reflection. To understand the outer environment as a reflection of our own inner state, individually and as a species. And to take responsibility for enabling change.
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