By Soazic Elise Wang Sonne, Timothy Kinoti, Nina Fenton and Claudio Cali
African artisans have the capability to produce jewellery with international appeal, but reaching those markets is often impossible for them. Ethically sourced fashion company SOKO aims to bridge this gap by tapping into ethically conscious consumer markets and passing on most of the benefits to African producers. Here’s what we’ve learned about the impact of this kind of development work.
Soazic Elise Wang Sonne is a fellow in the innovation, economics and governance for development PhD programme at the United Nations University in Maastricht. Timothy Kinoti is a evaluation and learning managers at World University Service of Canada. Nina Fenton and Claudio Cali are economists specialising in impact finance and measurement at the European Investment Bank.
[1] Meaning ‘Market place’ in Kiswahili
[2] The comparison group were made up of potential workshop leads and workers with the same ability and skills to those who are currently working with SOKO and their selection was made thanks to the help of a chairperson most knowledgeable of the Kibera area and the handicraft sector.
[3] Although the sample is not representative of the whole handicraft sector in Kenya, meaning that the results cannot be too widely generalized.