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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | HIV-positive women weavers team-up with fashion designer

HIV-positive women weavers team-up with fashion designer

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published Published on Jun 29, 2010   modified Modified on Jun 29, 2010

Internationally renowned fashion designer and former supermodel Bibi Russell has joined hands with the ethnic Bodo women of the northeastern Indian state of Assam in creating a new line of lifestyle products that will blend traditional Bodo culture and high fashion.

Bibi Russell, who was associated with leading international brands and fashion shows in the 1970s and 80s, will train Bodo women working for Weaving Destination in modern design techniques and a range of skills that will help them market their products as a premium label. Bodo women working with Weaving Destination include those living with HIV, survivors of human trafficking and female migrant returnees who are highly vulnerable to getting re-trafficked and social exclusion. They produce a range of hand-woven products such as garments, scarves and hand-woven fabric for both individual and industrial use that preserve traditional Bodo motifs and weaving techniques.

Weaving Destination is part of Women and Wealth Project, a regional social enterprise led by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Population and Community Development Association (PDA) of Thailand, aimed at the socio-economic empowerment of women living with HIV. Two groups of women in India and one group in Cambodia are part of this initiative.

“Women need support to develop skills that will help them to be economically independent and socially confident. What they need is self esteem, human dignity and empowerment for better livelihoods and sustainable income. This is what I am committed to, “said Bibi, who is also a UNAIDS goodwill ambassador and the founder of Fashion for Development. Bibi is currently working with the Bodo women of Weaving Destination for a fortnight at their production campus in Bodoland.

“Beyond economic empowerment, the Women and Wealth Project in Assam provides a space for psycho-social support that helps women to collectively cope with the indignities and discrimination they face at home and in society as trafficked survivors and HIV positive women,” said Patrice Coeur-Bizot, the UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in India. The experience in Cambodia and India shows that besides economic gains, this endeavour has helped women living with HIV gain better social acceptance, confidence, peer support, treatment-adherence and tremendous goodwill. “It is an important process of collaboration between developing countries and learning among community organizations that is making a difference in the lives of vulnerable women in Assam,” he added.

Chaya, a staff member of Weaving Destination, says:  “I joined Weaving Destination production campus in 2009 and since then I have been supporting my family back home. Today, I am very confident of leading an independent and dignified life and have been able to inspire other women as well. I live in the Weaving Destination production campus along with other friends.”


UNDP, 8 June, 2010, http://content.undp.org/go/newsroom/2010/june/women-weavers-in-india-walk-out-of-vulnerability-with-fashion-designer.en?categoryID=349428&lang=en


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