handicraft sector ppt

1. Module 3
“Handicraft Sector”

2. 2
What is Handicraft?
According to Lee L. (2009), handicraft is an
eminently human activity developed to satisfy the
different needs of daily life, using natural resources
that are generally native to the place. Torre (1994),
defines handicraft as the productive activity of
handmade objects with the help of simple
instruments. These objects can be utilitarian or
decorative, traditional or recently invented. Popular
handicraft is traditional, linked to needs, festivities,
popular tastes or rituals.

3. 3
Which represents
handicraft?
Symbolic support of customs,
beliefs, rituals, way of life and
identity
Knowledge that has been inherited
and responds to the needs of the
communities
Form of social organization
based on association and
cooperativism
Cultural Heritage , way of
expression and creativity
Form of the sense of belonging
and social cohesion of the
family and the community.

4. 4
Handicraft and Community Development
Handicraft sector is one of the most significant activities
for local development, due to:
 Provides economic income by generating employment
for the most vulnerable sectors of society
 It is based on social and environmental sustainable
practices
 It generates a use value and with the surplus it produces
an exchange value.
 Conserves and preserves the culture of a place and
reinforces its sense of identity

5. 5
Traditional handicraft has been systematically excluded from economic indicators since they are
not considered a productive sector that contributes to GDP as such, there is the idea that it is only
a complement to the family economy and not a way of life.
However, the impact of handicraft activity on local and community development comes from the
role of the craftsman in his community; by preserving and transmitting traditions, generating
self-employment and contributing to the local economy with their work

6. 6
Handicraft and Tourism
For Community Development, tourism is
considered a determining element for the economic
benefit of artisan communities. The acquisition of
handicrafts is a factor to consider for tourism that
likes to appreciate popular expressions (Rivera
Cruz, Alberti Manzanares, Vázquez García and
Mendoza Ontiveros, 2008). In tourism, the
contribution of artisans is equivalent to 4% of GDP
of the tourist sector.

7. 7
Handicrafts are part of tangible cultural heritage of all nations, this cultural component can lead to
economic development. Many countries, considering the handicrafts as the main core in tourism
development, establish the tourism facilities near main handicraft production centers. Some try to show
their originality and identity by offering products made through combination of their national symbols with
their handicrafts.

8. 8
Main problems between the tourism sector and handicraft sector
• Usually in the planning and management of destinations, routes and tourist circuits the actors of
the handicraft sector do not participate.
• The artisanal sector is considered as a component of the artisanal sector chain, but does not have
the opportunity to actively influence decision-making.
• In various tourist destinations, both sectors work independently
• In tourist destinations, there is little reliable and official information on the various craft products,
their type of production or processing, demand by visitors, among others.

9. 9
Handicraft: Sustainability and youth participation
Handicraft sector is a differentiating element
that can effectively contribute to local economy
based on solid environmental and social
principles, being a type of activity based on the
link between culture with ecology and society
with nature and can represent an example of
how the promotion of the sustainability of the
forms of production can be integrated.

10. 10
Handicraft: sustainability and
youth participation
The handicraft industry faces a series of
challenges in terms of sustainability,
preservation of identify, continuity and
innovation:
In many parts of the world some traditional practices have abandoned
their principles of environmental care and have been transformed into
activities that negatively impact the local context, since there is an
overexploitation of resources, use of toxic products that cause pollution
and negative effects on health, etc.
Handicraft produced in local communities has become in some cases in a
marketing product with the only intention of selling “superficial” items to
tourists, exploiting culture and losing its roots in cultural heritage.
Many of the young people belonging to vulnerable communities must leave
their places of origin to look for jobs in the cities, due to the fact that there
is no solid development of the handicraft sector in their local contexts and
does not represent a source of income
Young people must join a globalized world where technological progress
breaks into all other productive sectors, but leaves the artisan sector
further behind each day, which causes a lack of interest in them and the
abandonment of tradition.

11. 11
The handicraft sector can be a strategy for the development of a responsible tourism activity, in
which, especially young people, as the most dynamic and innovative part of the community, in
addition to finding concrete employment opportunities, have the possibility of express their
authenticity, creativity and innovative spirit in creation and the implementation of youth-led
initiatives aimed at promoting the local heritage, the identity, culture and tradition of their
communities, through a balanced environmental, social and cultural approach.