What's New

AAC Joins Homenet Southeast Asia Family

The Artisans Association of Cambodia (AAC), through its Director, Men Sinouen, formally joined Homenet Southeast Asia during a meeting in Bangkok early June.  Previous to this,  AAC representatives had joined two subregional workshops on fair trade and related topics in Manila (2OO6) and Bangkok (2OO7), and thereby got to know the other Homenets.

AAC is a membership based organization comprised of craft producers and sellers in Cambodia. Established in 2001 through joint efforts of World Rehabilitation Fund (WRF), United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and International Labor Organizations (ILO), AAC aims to promote socio-economic integration of and  create  employment opportunities for landmine survivors, people with disabilities and other vulnerable groups through small and medium craft production. AAC has been duly registered with the Ministry of Interior (MOI) in 2004, became member of the International Fair Trade Association (IFAT) in 2005 and  Asia Fair Trade forum (AFTF)  in early 2006.

Vision: Evolving Cambodian Artisans into accomplished independent Social Enterprises.
Mission: AAC is a fair trade association providing commercial and capacity building services to social enterprises that work closely with disadvantaged people.

Structure
AAC was conceived to become an independent entity, functioning as a well-managed Cambodian association.  On its first year of operations, the Constitution and by-laws was already developed with assistance from the International Labour Organisation (ILO).  As mandated, the Board of Directors  is comprised of top management personnel designated by member organizations. Through regular meetings with the current Executive Director, the Board articulates specific needs of the membership and ensures that these are responded to.  

AAC enhances good working relationship between the Board and the office of the Executive Director by encouraging articulation of the organization's major goals and initiatives and monitoring financial progress.   These are discussed during bi-monthly meetings with the President (Chairperson of the Board), Executive Director, Treasurer (of the Board) and Financial team. Full Board meetings occur quarterly.  The Board also reviews and updates the long-term program plan annually and provides feedback on the progress as it affects the interests of the members. Through its President, the Board   links with donors for possible projects.

AAC holds an Annual General Meeting with member based organizations to review the constitution and by laws,  elect its Board of Directors, monitor progress and plan for next year's activities,  Meetings of the AAC staff are held on Mondays for reporting previous week's achievements and planning on a weekly basis.

Activities Related to Homebased Workers

AAC grew from -12 members in  2003, 22 members in 2004,  32 members in early 2006,  to 41 members  by 2007. They are comprised of 1989 producers and staff working  throughout Cambodia (71% are women and 15.11% are people with disabilities); 57% of  AAC's member organizations are managed by women.

AAC promotes  networking;  advocacy;  business development;  marketing and promotion;  design and product development; and  6) direct sales assistance. Members are involved in producing and selling handicraft as a means to provide economically disadvantaged Cambodians with income and  create employment opportunities. AAC has not only been empowering women at all levels; thus far, it has bridged  grassroots business in the community across local and international markets. AAC has built the capacity of its member organizations through direct training. The members themselves do not rely on AAC to find markets for their products – they themseves find the buyers.  As member of IFAT, AAC  lives up to the fair trade principle by ensuring that the profits go back to the producers.