Sreya Mozumdar
Executive Director, AIACA
India
Sreya Mozumdar has been working in the development sector for the last 12 years, after her graduation from the Department of Social Work, Delhi University. She brings to her work an academic experience of research into the area of women and gender. Her graduate and post graduate education in English Literature, from Jadavpur University, Kolkata, has lent a feminist theoretical perspective against which she frames much of her development practice. She has sectoral experience in the areas of sustainable rural livelihoods, urban poverty alleviation, disaster risk reduction, gender and youth development. She brings to her work an intersectional approach that looks at driving sustainable and inclusive development processes in contexts of marginality.
Her interest in crafting sustainable social enterprises and working with the most marginalized of artisans/groups has brought her to AIACA, in the capacity of Executive Director. AIACA (The All India Artisans and Craftworkers Welfare Association) is an apex body that has been working since 2004 on a range of issues to promote market-led growth for the crafts sector; and increased incomes and improved living standards of crafts producers. Over the past decade, AIACA has conducted policy research and advocacy on a range of issues including access to credit for crafts producers and environmental and health and safety standards for the sector; developed a crafts-certification system called the Craftmark; assisted sales and outreach of member producer groups and enterprises through commercial trade catalogues, trade fairs and order fulfillment; and assisted in developing and strengthening back-end production systems through a range of product design and business development services. AIACA has worked with 110,000 artisans across 23 states in India, including the North East.