Gone Rural is a social enterprise working to create income and economic empowerment through the medium of handicraft - producing contemporary basketry and hand-woven home products using natural and up-cycled materials. In addition, over the past three years, Gone Rural has been pursuing a strategy of "Evolving Women's Empowerment" with the aim to create opportunities for women to grow into roles beyond that of artisans, to become handicraft teachers, designers and cultural ambassadors. The role is integral to the continued execution of Gone Rural's vision of Artisan-Led Design and the volunteer will support Gone Rural by building the capacity of the artisans of Emoti and Gobholo (potters) in product design and development skill. They will be able to use this to create collections that are inspired by their own lives. The development of higher value products with increasingly compelling stories behind them is likely to contribute to increased earnings and improved livelihoods for the artisans and their communities.

• You'll be building the capacity of the organisation and groups of women around the development of a current and existing Artisan-Led Design collection along as supporting the Monitoring and Evaluation for Artisan-Led Design program.
• You'll have a University qualification in social development/sustainable business/product design or a related field along with experience in training and communication for development.
• You'll gain invaluable experience becoming part of the community of Malkerns, eSwatini - a small land-locked kingdom in Southern Africa.

Partner organisation overview

Gone Rural was founded in 1992 by Jenny Thorne, with the objective of creating income for remotely-located rural women with little to no other means of earning income, while sharing the beauty of their handicraft with tourists visiting eSwatini, and eventually sharing these with the world. The process started with 30 artisans, and today the number has grown to over 780. eSwatini was previously known as Swaziland.

Gone Rural is a social enterprise working to create income and economic empowerment through the medium of handicraft - producing contemporary basketry and hand-woven home products using natural and up-cycled materials. In addition, over the past three years, Gone Rural has been pursuing a strategy of "Evolving Women's Empowerment" with the aim to create opportunities for women to grow into roles beyond that of artisans, to become handicraft teachers, designers and cultural ambassadors.

Their objective is to provide home-based income to eSwatini's rural women. The beneficiaries of Gone Rural are over 780 rural women artisans from 13 communities across eSwatini. Their ‘sister’ NGO, boMake Rural Projects, provides further support through education, health and sanitation projects in the communities of their artisans, impacting over 10,000 beneficiaries.

Gone Rural’s main activities are:

• Production of woven handicraft with talented rural women artisans using natural materials, with products made in the women's homesteads.
• Training and development of the weaving skills of artisans, in new product designs and techniques and using different materials.
• Design and development of new and advanced basketry and home products, particularly in collaboration with other artisan-driven and handmade craft groups.
• Marketing, sales and distribution of artisan-made woven products, respecting fair trade principles and crediting the artisans behind the products.
• Promotion of Swazi handicraft and sharing the stories of the women artisans with customers, retailers and distributors.
• Supporting social development projects in artisan communities, particularly through boMake Rural Projects.

A position description is attached.