| About Rehab Crafts & Our Members |
Rehab Craft is a non-profit, non-governmental organization. Core funding for administration and training is provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, New Zealand (MFAT-NZ) as a part of New Zealand's Overseas Development Assistance Program. By agreement, that funding is being reduced as Rehab Craft becomes independent. Our trading activities already pay for themselves. Rehab Craft is advised by two VSA-NZ volunteer/advisors, Charlotte Pemberton (business management) and Marilyn Garson (craft production and marketing).
Our marketing and production aims as an organization are to have the best products, colours and prices possible, made in sufficient volume to fully employ our staff.
| Trade Development | Building trade activities to a financially viable level, and a volume which provides for the full employment of RCC's existing membership. |
|---|---|
| Internal Training and Skills Transfer |
Localizing all management functions and building all required skills or skills networks for RCC to be sustainable without foreign advisors. |
| Organizational Development | Establishing suitable structures and systems for RCC to operate with confidence in the future. |
| Constructive Partnerships with Independent Producers |
Delivering appropriate support to assist in the development of viable cottage industries which collaborate with RCC. |
We are a non-profit, non-religious, non-governmental organisation. All our earnings are re-invested in our training and employment programs for Cambodians with disabilities.
We pay fair wages for skilled work - our production team earns 2 ½ to 3 times the average factory-production wage - and we maintain staff benefit programs to support individual needs. All medical, maternity, and holiday benefits equal or exceed legal requirements. All expenses related to disability (such as prosthetics or wheelchairs) are fully paid by RCC. We maintain a staff loan program for individual, family or emergency needs.
A committee of managers and elected staff members set workplace policies, staff entitlements, and make disciplinary decisions. Weekly general staff meetings encourage full and open discussion of issues facing the organisation. Regular two-way individual reviews (and informal discussion) ensure that we are responsive to the concerns of our membership.
RCC runs ongoing staff training and development programs including literacy/numeracy, technical skills, English, computers, retail and marketing, junior- and senior-level management. We train and promote from within.
RehabCraft Cambodia creates skilled employment for Cambodians with
disabilities, by producing and marketing top-quality crafts. Each item is
individually handmade from hand-woven Cambodian silk, and some with nappa sheep
leather - useful products that open the doors of opportunity.
There are thought to be about 320,000 Cambodians with disabilities - more
than 3% of the population. Many, many of these are related to Cambodia's
wars, including over 100,000 amputees (or people who have lost the use of their
limbs). They are one of the most disadvantaged groups in the country.
More than one-half of Rehab Craft's members are landmine amputees. The second-leading cause of disability among our membership is polio. Societal attitudes further 'disable' people by closing doors and limiting their lives. Rehab Craft addresses both the needs and the perceptions of this community, by giving them responsibility for their own futures.
RCC has 52 permanent staff in production, retail, marketing, admin and support
groups. All are Cambodians with disabilities, and half the production
team are women.
Because Cambodians with disabilities have had so few opportunities, we don't hire on the basis of education or job experience. We start at the beginning, and we invest in our members. Each producer had six months of tailoring, and further six months of leather-working instruction before they began making our products - now, they're the most highly-skilled team in the country. Our products meet international expectations of quality.
Individuals with particular abilities move into specialized positions. Our senior management have all been trained and promoted from within RCC. Advanced in-house management training will allow them to run RCC on their own in a few years. RCC's future is independent - a non-profit organization run by, and for, Cambodians with disabilities - a powerful example to those who still believe that disability equals dependence.
Kang Kosal was born in 1976 in Kampong Cham province. Kosal has one
leg polio when he was born, and waited a
number of years for some opportunity for stable employment. Rehab Craft
spotted his abilities when Kosal arrived in 1997, and provided six months of
advanced training in pattern-making (all RCC producers receive 12 months of
training in tailoring and leather-work). Kosal became an instructor -
he is now the technical supervisor of RCC's workshop. RCC's progress brings
new challenges for Kosal in both his fields - design and production training.
Oum Chandarein was born in Phnom Penh in 1974. She fell from an
upper floor in her home and then developed polio. Prior to Rehab Craft,
Chandarein sold drinks at the roadside. She began to work as a Rehab Craft
producer in 1998, then asked to learn about marketing (while teaching herself
English). In late 1999 Chandarein was promoted to assistant marketing
manager. She's now a retail manager and supervises all shops. As Rehab Craft grows,
so will Chandarein's responsibilities.
Through our SEPD (self-employed producers with disabilities) program,
RehabCraft offers free individual business skills tutoring, design and
marketplace advice, and sales support to scores of self-employed crafts
people. Each craftsperson represents a family in search of financial
security. With help from the Kadoorie Charitable Foundations, this
program helps to establish viable cottage industries throughout Cambodia. Now there are 30-50 self-employment crafts selling their products throut Rehab Craft's shop.
Chin Chuon is 48, one of a group of woodcarvers trained by Rehab Craft. In 1974, Chuon lost both legs. He was a young farmer at that time, just before Cambodia was taken over by the Khmer Rouge. For 25 years, Chuon waited for an opportunity to support his family with skilled work. Now he (like the other graduates of the carving course) is self-employed.
You'll find some of his products and those produced by other talented craftspeople on this web site.
Rehab Craft products are individually handmade in our own workshop, by a production team of 20 (including senior instructing producers). Each producer has six months of tailoring, and another six months of leather-working instruction before they make their first Rehab Craft product. Most have nearly five years of professional production experience - our materials and workmanship satisfy international expectations of quality. Just to make sure, each item undergoes a quality check before leaving the workshop.
Our silk patterns are woven entirely by hand, in rural women's co-operatives. Rehab Craft supports dozens of weavers - we buy and use nearly one kilometre of silk each month! The silk is ikat-dyed, with the pattern being dyed into each thread before the silk is woven. Cambodian silk is usually made in lengths of 3.50 metres, about 90 cm wide. The silk has about 27 threads per centimetre, and one length of silk can take an experienced weaver up to three weeks to dye and weave, entirely by hand on traditional looms. We can, on request, produce longer lengths of silk. Cambodian looms, though, don't allow for a wider fabric.
Products under $4 (inc. post-it notes, key chains, etc) 600-800 units
Products under $10 (inc. wallets, office goods) 300-500 units
Products under $20 (including purses, backpacks) 150-250 units
1. This is maximum production, with the full production team working exclusively on each order. If more than one order is in production at the same time, production will be correspondingly slower.
2. These production times assume that materials are on hand. If your order includes silk production, then please allow extra time before the silk is on hand.
3. These production times are for Rehab Craft goods. Self-employed producers, making non-silk goods, work singly or in much smaller groups. Their production times are considerably slower.
Please use these production times as a rough guideline only. Rehab Craft will provide a projected date for completion and shipping of each order we receive.