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CRAFT
MY AMBITION WAS TO MAKE ACP INTO A SELF SUSTAINING AND
SELF DRIVEN UNIT WHICH WOULD PLAY A ROLE OF SIGNIFICANT
IMPORTANCE IN PROVIDING LIVELIHOOD TO A LARGE NUMBER
OF LOW INCOME (PRIMARILY FEMALE) GROUP OF PEOPLE.”
IN DECEMBER 1992 SHE WAS AWARDED THE ASHOKA
FELLOWSHIP. This was a gratifying moment in the life of
Meera Bhattarai, Executive Secretary, Founder Member and
Executive Director of Association for Craft Producers (ACP)
whose retail outlet, Dhukuti, is famous as the premier
showroom for local handicrafts. “It was very satisfying to be
recognized by this international organization, and gave added
impetus to my drive.” Of course, Meera Bhattarai’s zeal and
determination, as well as her boundless energy, need not be
credited to just this award. The dynamism of this diminutive
lady had already been well proven much before then.
In fact, one can credit her success to her motivation to be
much more than just another NGO in the country. “My
ambition was to make ACP into a self sustaining and self
driven unit which would play a role of
significant importance in providing
livelihood to a large number of low
income (primarily female) group of
people.” Well, going by statistics it
managed to do just that barely three
years down the line since its
establishment in 1984. As she says, “We
broke even in 1987 and after that there
has been no looking back.”
ACP was registered as a private limited
company in 1987, “to make it eligible
for loans,” according to the powerhouse
lady, and in 1990, the NGO bought a
five ropani property in Rabi Bhawan,
Kathmandu. “But even then, somehow
we found it extremely difficult to be get
bank financing,” she remembers. “Since
ACP was registered as a social service
organization, banks refused to consider
our property for mortgage purposes.”
However, the company managed to get
patronage from some well wishers and
continued to grow and grow. Besides
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