Prokritee

Prokritee (meaning “nature” in Bengali) is an agency that provides managerial, product design and development, and marketing assistance to handicraft organizations in Bangladesh. Prokritee manages several handicraft enterprises and helps other groups sell their products in local and foreign markets. Central offices and a local outlet store, “Source,” are located in Dhaka, while the enterprises are located around the country. Prokritee and its enterprises provide jobs for poor rural women: widows, divorcees or heads–of–households, primarily rural, landless and with little or no income. By providing jobs for women, Prokritee improves women’s standard of living and helps them send their children to school. The organization provides skills development training to artisans. The design department of Prokritee is committed to developing marketable designs based on Bangladesh’s cultural heritage. Prokritee creates and promotes income–generating projects that benefit the artisans, adhere to good safety and environmental standards, and have the potential to become self–reliant.

Prokritee was established in 2001 as an independent organization. It grew out of the marketing operations of Mennonite Central Committee Bangladesh’s Job Creation Program, operating since 1975. Prokritee is committed to fair trade principles.

Ten Thousand Villages purchases handmade paper items, ceramics, palm leaf and paper ornaments, and jute, hemp, and coconut fiber items from Prokritee. Ten Thousand Villages has purchased products from Prokritee and its predecessor MCC Bangladesh since 1986.