OVER THE LAST ONE YEAR, since the formation of the garments worker-owned enterprises in Ghousia Mohalla (a low-income area in Ramanagaram town of Bangalore Rural district, approx 50 km from Bangalore city, Karnataka), its members have been engaged in a learning process that has not only addressed enhancement of technical skills but equally significantly institutional and individual aspects that have had a bearing on their other life-spheres - at home and in the community.

Prior to forming the collective, the members had been mostly involved in beedi-rolling at home or reeling silk at the local filature units. But with both these industries facing a slump and the consequent impact on their families, the women were forced to seek alternate options for livelihood. An initial survey by MAYA indicated that though a significant number had undergone training in tailoring and/or embroidery at Govt institutes or informally at home, only a few women had been able to utilise it to earn a suitable income (usually earning not more than Rs 900 per month).

Subsequent meetings with the women explored various possibilities to address these issues. Their suggestion of home-based work, commonly associated with the garment industry was deliberated upon at length. The impact - immediate and longterm - of such an arrangement on the overall situation faced by them was discussed. Sharing the possibility of an approach that supported them to build their institutional learning and experience towards forming their own collective enterprises was suggested instead. In this context, MAYA would play a role of building partnerships with the formal industry and markets, supporting design & marketing and facilitating primarily, an institutionalised process of learning.

With initial upheavals caused by a reluctance/not being accustomed to work at a common workspace, 100 such women from the garments sector were formed into groups over the last year, who now work from 3 worksheds in and around Bangalore . The groups have been engaged in a process of understanding market realities and developing their skills in response to this. Procuring orders, executing them with a keen eye on quality, and meeting strict deadlines set by vendors has been the focus of the processes last year. The key strength of this approach has been the emphasis on developing a process of defining quality standards as an inbuilt and organically grown practice that seeks to ensure the development of each collective and its members; starting from the level of each collective, rather than attempting to achieve an absolute externally-imposed standard. Quality as defined by this inherent process of the groups therefore goes beyond the 'fulfilment of order requirements', but rather becomes a standard for professional pride and identity among the women themselves. This being the basis for a continuous improvement process supported by the institutional structure.

In doing so, this process redefines the conventional contemporary approach to social labelling and compliance, where measures of quality and standards of decent work are invariably predetermined by companies and imposed on the workforce; overlooking the relevance and use of these standards for the latter. Furthermore, interactions with vendors and garment houses over the last year have reinforced that such compliance codes introduced by international buyers - however well intentioned - are extremely difficult, if not impossible to monitor when outsourced to the informal sector. With the focus of MAYA ORGANIC being the wellbeing of workers and their continuous learning, what is promoted here is an inbuilt bottom-up compliance, deeply rooted in rules and regulations defined by the collective enterprise; and therefore one that can assume more sustainable ways to make compliance functional and in favour of the workers in the informal sector.

Even so, the true outcome of these processes can be perceived not merely in terms of the number of orders executed or the quantum of returns generated; instead in the learning process that individuals like Saika, a member of the Ghousia Mohalla collective, are now engaged in. The emphasis on defining individual learning outcomes, based on the present understanding of each member, has enabled Saika to sharpen and improve her skills as a master craftswoman. Also significantly, it has introduced in her an understanding of the need for overall development of the collective; thereby equipping her to support other individuals within her group and even in other groups to enhance their learning. Though a keen learner of her own accord, she shares that the structure and mechanisms instituted for learning in the collective have made it possible for her to view learning as an ongoing process, integral to all activities that she is engaged in.