Production Skills
Learning in the area of production enables collectives to ensure productivity, timely delivery and successful execution of large scale orders. Collectives must learn to quote pricing and timings, to formulate and execute production plans, and to ensure workflow through efficient material planning and allocation. As groups are able to master these skills, their productivity will increase. Being able to successfully execute orders on time provides the collectives with the self-confidence and the motivation to become independent enterprises.
Business Skills
Business skills are essential for the economic viability of collective enterprises. To this end, basic procedures and systems are established which create a platform on which the workers can build their enterprises. Members learn simple to complex business skills as their collectives develop. Productivity and time management, as mentioned above, are important factors in business development, as are understanding income and expenditures, accounting procedures, and how to make accurate price quotes for orders. As collectives advance, the workers learn to develop long-term business plans and to explore possibilities for realising them. At an advanced phase, groups will develop wage formulas which take into account the contributions of members to production, including not only speed in productivity, but also skills in maintaining records and a willingness to get involved in the other tasks of the enterprise. Workers and groups also learn to invest capital while retaining solvency in running their business.
Technical Skills and Quality Monitoring
Technical and soft skills improvement is another essential aspect for learning. Most skills development is on-the job, and self-assessment ensures that the members themselves monitor their learning on an ongoing basis. Quality checking mechanisms are instituted at each phase, and quality is well-documented, at both the group and individual levels. Quality, which also includes housekeeping, cleanliness and maintenance, is considered to be a central part of the culture of collectives. With entry into each new phase, workers are expected to develop skills for reaching higher levels of quality. Workers are encouraged to understand the relationship between skills, work quality, and their goals as a group enterprise.
3.1 Institutional Phases of the Lacware and Garment Sectors
MAYA ORGANIC has developed a framework to describe the institutional phases of the collectives as they mature and move towards independence. Understanding these phases is extremely useful for both facilitators and collectives, because it provides a tool for continuous monitoring of the collectives’ effectiveness and growth, and increases the overall efficacy of the MAYA ORGANIC intervention.
For a few reasons, the phases described below in the Lacware sector and Garments sector are not identical. First, MAYA ORGANIC has learned that collectives in different sectors will not necessarily pass through the exact same phases. For example, Lacware collectives are comprised primarily of individuals who already had skills in lacware, and had been turning lathes outside their homes for their livelihoods. By contrast, many members of the Garments collectives initially had limited skills in tailoring or embroidery and primarily worked in their homes. In addition, collective members and facilitators in the two sectors arrived at their frameworks for understanding developmental phases independently. Each sector had extensive discussions between facilitators and collectives to arrive at the phases
