NEST CONNECT

For centuries, craftspeople and handworkers have played critical roles in sustaining local creative economies, working from informal settings like homes and small workshops. These predominantly women workers are larger than many realize—the ILO estimates 300 million. The handicraft sector is also rapidly growing and currently valued at over $718B but expected to reach over $1T by 2026.

As consumer demand for handmade goods rises, makers from under-resourced communities are left behind. Developing makers' needs requires broadening and supporting the availability of digital skills, training opportunities, and access to essential digital devices and functional internet to create an equitable response to this challenge. 

Nest is expanding digital resources by leveraging a digital learning platform specifically tailored to and dedicated for makers across India and Indonesia, where 54% of the makers Nest works with are located. Addressing inequitable access to resources and e-commerce opportunities is critical to long-term sustainability for these communities. 

The artisan sector is one of the largest home-based industries globally. This type of subcontracted dispersed production is highly prevalent throughout India and Indonesia. Moreover, as manufacturing in China continues to pose challenges, more brands and corporations are looking to India and Indonesia as alternative locations for production. 

While the handicraft sector is massive, equating to 718B USD, its workers remain largely invisible. However, this inclusive work structure allows women to earn an income while remaining home caring for dependents. It provides safe employment in India and Indonesia, where traveling to a central factory can be dangerous due to gender discrimination and, in recent years, health concerns amidst a pandemic. 70% of Indian women said they would feel unsafe working away from home, according to a 2012 household survey. 

A 2021 craft report (Fashion Revolution India) shared the pandemic forced the most vulnerable artisans to choose between safeguarding lives or livelihoods and triggered a mass exodus of artisans from cities to villages. Consequently, 22% of the sector lost 75% of its annual income. With the Indian craft sector at 200 million artisans, the second largest employer in India (after agriculture), craft enterprises adapted to digital platforms, introducing new products consistent with consumer behavior, switching to a direct-to-consumer business model. For artisans, especially those in rural areas or with lesser resources, digital technologies broaden reach and sales, increase visibility, and market information. Sustainably engaging artisan businesses in the digital economy is critical to connecting to a new and growing customer base. 

Around the world, 300 million people, primarily women, work with their hands from their homes. This workforce produces a wide array of our everyday items and operates outside traditional factories where they are not always seen or protected. Craftwork keeps women out of forced labor, empowers them to earn economic independence, and allows them to work from home while caring for their children. And there is a bonus: by integrating modern techniques and training into the production of ancient craft forms; Nest is helping to keep cultural traditions alive. 

The Nest Connect platform supports maker entrepreneurs with capacity-building and expanded market access. Currently, in India and Indonesia, Nest works with 134,369 artisans and over 170 maker businesses. Nest creates opportunities for long-term economic growth and financial inclusion in this primarily informal homeworker economy—often providing a significant income stream for women and mothers who need the flexibility to care for children and other dependents. The impact of supporting and building up these female entrepreneurs can be significant. McKinsey Global Institute estimates that if as many women as men took part in the formal economy, $28 trillion would be added to the global GDP. 

Digital connection is critical for hidden makers to access market opportunities. This is a remarkable chance to integrate an untouched and ignored global workforce into the digital economy and provide access to e-commerce platforms, blockchain technology, and mobile phone innovations for collecting and aggregating data in a data-poor environment.

Nest is sensitive to the unique challenges hidden makers face, including limited access to technology and equitable digital know-how. Working alongside makers, we aim to provide tools and resources needed to successfully leverage the digital world to create dignified and sustainable work. We are committed to ensuring that the workshops, resources, and digital skills trainings meet participants where they are and provide them with actionable plans to establish and maintain their ecommerce operations long-term. 

Ashia Sheikh Dearwester, Chief Strategy and Partnerships Officer 

Nest utilizes a sustainable business model that stimulates both supply and demand for responsibly-sourced handcrafted products. Nest’s approach to working directly with artisan and maker small businesses and brands ensures localized impacts and systems-change solutions. Our grassroots programs empower local leadership worldwide and arm artisan SMEs with resources to grow and prioritize the wellbeing of a predominantly female workforce. In addition, Nest works with brands concurrently to provide the market connections to ensure these SME partners can grow sustainably and ensure that the sector as a whole develops broadly reaching solutions for equitable scale.

In addition to resources produced by and direct access to industry experts, Guild members benefit from peer support. Members can join a private Facebook group to pose questions and provide insights to their peers based on their own experiences. Nest aims to build trust between members and encourages neighboring members to consider cost-effective collaborations and resource sharing. Social entrepreneurs often face similar challenges and can lean on one another for support while providing guidance from hands-on experiences with things like management, exporting, and business growth.

Nest includes technology in multiple ways. We provide participating artisan SMEs (650+ Artisan Guild members) with a suite of online learning tools, including expert-led industry webinars, phone consultations, downloadable resource guides, and mentorships with pro bono professionals through a proprietary platform called Nest Connect. SME partners further engage through customized business development projects that range from website design to e-commerce and digital marketing strategy development. Often Nest leverages well-established technologies that have pre-existing adoption to push out resources. This includes apps and platforms available on mobile phones such as Whatsapp, Facebook, Google Meets, and Instagram. 

Nest has also developed a tech platform to streamline production monitoring and oversight and increases our ability to drive worker engagement through digital content such as surveys, non-verbal videos, and push messaging that communicates critical information on business growth and worker rights. 

Additionally, when providing training and how-to programs for technology and e-commerce apps such as Etsy, Nest works to bridge the digital divide experienced by handworkers, with the tools and resources needed to establish appropriate e-commerce channels for selling their products direct-to-consumer throughout the year and around the world. 

Along with the e-commerce platforms and online learning tools, Nest supports the beautiful combination of ancestral traditional technologies such as backstrap weaving blended with today’s modern technologies like social media in leveraging those methods for storytelling, income generations, and cultural craft preservation. 

Nest’s theory of change is that by addressing both supply and demand for ethical handcraft, we can build a new handworker economy that generates global workforce inclusivity, improves women’s well-being beyond factories, and preserves cultural traditions of craft. Nest’s brand programming increases the industry’s ability to responsibly sourced handmade products and increase consumer demand for ethical handcraft, while capacity building efforts establish a pipeline of export-ready businesses. This approach stimulates drivers of both supply and demand for goods made entirely, or in part, by hand, reducing corporate risk and improving end worker well-being, individual earnings, and employment opportunities for makers hidden within our fashion and home supply chains.

We are committed to the social and economic advancement of global artisans and homeworkers through supply chain transparency and sustainable business development and believe that industry-driven reform is a critical component in connecting handworkers, brands, and consumers in a circular and human-centric value chain.

By addressing both supply and demand for ethical handcraft, Nest can improve wages, worker wellbeing, develop the viability of artisanal SMEs and bring value back to traditional craft techniques. Nest's ultimate goal is creating systemwide change by facilitating a gender-balanced opportunity for millions of women to fully participate in the global economy. 

Nest meets the unprecedented need for targeted capacity building to respond to current economic hardships for small businesses through rapid expansion of two of our core programs: the Artisan Guild and the Accelerator program. 

As many became home-based workers for the first time, we recognize that there is a unique opportunity to build positive momentum -- a message of resilience and power -- toward cottage industry production models with consumers and the industry at large. To do this, Nest will create a cross-sector coalition and public campaign to promote, protect, and advance hand and homeworkers. We believe for systems change to occur, a vibrant movement built and led by women will create collective action and power towards sustainable investment and change. 

An example is Nest's work with an artisan business in Rwanda and Uganda. The 90% female-powered enterprise realized $489,000 in sales from two orders for handwoven baskets placed by major brands one year following participation in programming. These economic gains have tremendous impact on the communities in countries with estimated 80–96% unemployment rate. Following participation, 80% of workers reported using a bank account, 100% stated income enabled their children to complete education, and 94% purchased health insurance. 

Nest measures program impact through qualitative and quantitative metrics using diverse tools to capture, aggregate, and analyze data from key stakeholders, including compliance evaluation, needs assessments, baseline and post-program surveys, worker surveys, on-site visits, and interviews.

As a result of programming, Nest expects to see Artisan Guild business leaders in India and Indonesia increase engagement with the Nest Connect platform and their knowledge around key business concepts related to the handcraft export market which would impact income and employment. Nest’s monitoring  and evaluation plan includes the following outputs, outcomes, and indicators of program success:

Outputs

⊲ Number of Artisan Guild members

⊲Number of SMES on Nest Connect Facebook

⊲ Number of direct and indirect beneficiaries

⊲ Number of organized peer-to-peer interactions

⊲ Number of annual sourcing guides, newsletters, custom sourcing reports, and other resources

Outcomes

⊲ Increase in number of artisan leaders gaining new knowledge and skills related to business growth and sustainability

Indicators 

⊲Change in cumulative number of Guild members

⊲ Change in cumulative number of unique visitors (by region, country, and resource type)

⊲ Change in cumulative number of Guild SMEs accessing Nest Connect resources

⊲ Change in cumulative number of Guild SMEs engaging on Nest Connect Facebook

One barrier would be strategic philanthropy: bridge capital to further scale the Nest model and increase digital access for artisan entrepreneurs, allowing us to invest in the human resources needed to meet the demand in both growing the number of Indonesian and Indian artisans businesses participating with the Artisan Guild and implementing sustainable digital literacy and access. This philanthropic investment is critical however we find funders can be focused on supporting entrepreneurship within more obvious sectors. There is also a lack of understanding and value placed on the creative economy income, which can often start off as secondary income but continues to play a vital role for under-resourced communities and middle to low income families. This secondary income can be critical for paying off debt and building up savings. This secondary income also became a lifeline during the pandemic when many were unable to work outside of the home due to health safety and lost their primary source of income.

We bear the burden of knowing that well over 300 million women around the world are practicing handcraft, often within their homes, with a strong concentration in India and Indonesia. Nest strives to not just bring awareness but elevate these women. To build viable solutions if resources are limited, Nest often launches small-scale pilots in which we learn by iterating and developing a stronger and scalable solution.

To address awareness of the impact of the sector Nest is launching a dedicated research page on our site and research partnerships. Much unprecedented data on the sector has already been collected and Nest looks to leverage partnerships to push this data out more strategically. One example of this is the State of the Handworker Economy report which can be found here.

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Nest has been a leader in the handworker space for 15 years by engaging stakeholders at every level, impacting income for artisans, influencing corporate policy shifts, and uncovering unprecedented data on the sector. 

In 2017 at the UN, Nest launched the first of its kind program to bring transparency to artisans, adopted by prominent industry leaders including Patagonia, Target, West Elm, and Amazon. Nest’s network includes 1500+ small and micro-businesses participating in our work, leading to beneficiary informed and data-backed programming approaches. 

Rebecca van Bergen founded Nest in 2006 and is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, Ashoka Fellow, GLG Social Impact Fellow, and 2021 Elevate Prize Winner. Nest’s team of experts, many having their careers dedicated to gender equity and advancement, work alongside homeworkers and handwork businesses to design impactful programming. The team has experience capturing data and information from relevant stakeholders and populations and understands cultural nuances critical to working successfully with the informal sector and subcontractors within various supply chains. The Nest team is 86% women, with 83% female-led departments. 45% of the staff self-identify as non-white or multi/bi-racial. Nest’s network of businesses across 119 countries is 76% female-founded, employing 279,001 artisans, 88% female.

At the heart of Nest’s mission, values and program design is the belief that diversity, equity, and inclusion are fundamental building blocks to be stronger, smarter, and more impactful.

Diversity takes into account identified and lived religion/worship practices, military service, able-bodiedness, language, educational pathways, and interdisciplinary expertise. Equity exists when individuals have equal opportunity to achieve success with support or services to overcome structural barriers impacting the individual. Inclusion ensures all programs, organizational design, and leadership allow participants to equally voice their perspectives and experiences, giving all points of view equal consideration for problem-solving, implementing solutions, creating programs, or advancing Nest’s work and impact.
We have put these beliefs into action to ensure a more inclusive leadership team and overall organizational design, including: 

• Created a new hiring process that embraces models that showcase work style, process, and creative thinking 
• Nest is invested in DEI training for our leadership team and our full staff 
• Nest maintains and continues to develop a lateral leadership model that leans into expertise rather than hierarchy

Additionally, we see our stakeholders as leaders themselves and hire locally to the extent possible, ideally hiring maker entrepreneurs themselves interested in diversifying their career opportunities.

To advance the handcraft sector and economy requires multistakeholder collaboration within the artisan ecosystem. Nest works with funders invested in small business and entrepreneurship development (Bloomberg Philanthropies, Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, and Mastercard Foundation) and major brands providing critical market access (Target, West Elm, Patagonia, Madewell, Amazon, eBay). Corporate partners offer crucial industry insights and expertise to Nest and our artisan network (Etsy and Square). NGOs leverage Nest's unprecedented data or collaborate on programming interventions (Next Wave and World Fair Trade Organization). The Aspen Institute and UN Global Partnerships are Nest global partners committed to furthering the maker economy. 

The Artisan Guild is free to join, and members access the robust resources and learning tools available on Nest Connect without charge. Unfortunately, many enterprises operate on razor-thin margins, without resources to access paid business development. Nest's commitment addresses the members' most critical needs by leveraging our growing network of brand/retail partners as experts on relevant topics.

In addition to webinars and business development courses, members can access consultations, 1:1 mentorships, and fellowships with staff/industry experts to implement the skills from their trainings. Through continued, active participation in Nest Connect, members may be invited to participate in more extensive and customized offerings. That includes the Artisan Accelerator, an intensive application-based incubator, or the Ethical Handcraft program, which advances the industry by making homework a safe and viable option ensuring worker wellbeing. Guild resources bolster each social enterprise's operations bringing about economic stability and sustainability, its predominantly female workforce, and communities.

Compounding global crises have exposed deep health, racial, and gender inequalities, and a widening economic gap. As Covid-19 spread, businesses closed their offices and workers became familiar with working from home: something the craft sector throughout India and Indonesia has been familiar with for generations. 

This new reality revealed that these cottage industry models are a productive and resilient approach that should inform recovery and community revitalization efforts and allow us to reimagine the future of work. The pandemic illuminated the power of the online market and the need to address the digital skills shortages within the artisan sector and amplify awareness of and access to digital opportunities for income generation and employment.. Providing support and training in emerging technologies for handworkers can create new lucrative and sustainable business models with meaningful market potential. 

Nest is excited to apply for the 2021 Future of Work in India and Indonesia because, at this moment, we have a unique opportunity to understand the overlooked informal creative economy that is fueled by women’s labor and create a more equitable digital inclusion in a sector dominated by women with increasing demand. We will use this moment in time to bring digital access and opportunity to overlooked makers by building a movement for gender equity and racial justice by leveraging the handcraft sector. This under-recognized sector has limited visibility and voice, yet the tremendous potential for sustainable long-term change, and if harnessed can positively impact the lives of millions . 

Nest model and program design has been incredibly effective, despite being implemented through basic and low cost tools and platforms. As Nest works to effectively bridge the digital literacy gap, and connect informal workers more directly to the global marketplace there is significant opportunity to elevate the training and learning platforms where our capacity building programs are housed. We would love support with building the strategy for what this redesign could look like and how best to integrate our existing model onto a new platform. Additionally Nest would like to explore the integration of additional tools like SMS push notifications and using existing messaging systems (like Whatsapp) as learning tools. Nest would additionally welcome support as it relates to monitoring impact in light of the pandemic. Previously Nest looked at changes in employment and annual income year over year to understand the impact of our programming, however the realities of Covid-19 have made it challenging to leverage those metrics and as we develop new evaluation points outside input would be so helpful.