# Numun: Women, Crafters and Makerspace

([keep earlier draft version](https://hackmd.io/x_zPpOVoRFCxgcC2bQcrhA?view))

## Eligibility
[https://numun.fund/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Plaintext_EligibilityInitialApplicationForm.txt]
1. Where is your work primarily based?
· Southeast, South and East Asia

2. Are you part of an indigenous and/or migrant community? Delete the answer that does not apply
· Yes - Villages in the DDhills valley are indigenous

3. Is your initiative/collective/group/organisation led by women
· Yes

4. Does your initiative/collective/group/organisation work on digital technology as a key part of your activism? **todo** Build by reading the options**
· Yes

5. Is gender and sexuality a central component in your analysis, strategies and approach? Delete the answer that does not apply.
· Yes

6. What is the primary strategy or work of your initiative/collective/group/organisation?
· Social change

---
IDEAS AND ACTIVISM FORM
=======================

[SECTION 1: ABOUT YOU]

1. Name of initiative / collective / group / organisation (short name in brackets if applicable): {IruWay Collective}
- [ ] better to present our selves as a group/collective which started forming since 2018 and Servelots will be the organization for managing funds which will be done if we get to be shortlisted

2. Contact person: {Shalini}

3. Contact email: {[e-mail]}

4. Mobile contact: {[phone]}

5. Where can we see your initiative/collective/group/organisation online? (website, social media accounts, etc):
{iruway.janastu.org and crafts.janastu.org and some photos at https://photos.app.goo.gl/4CMErwRNCAnBh9sy5 }

6. How would you describe yourself? Select one option and delete the answers that do not apply.

· **Other (please describe)**: Project leading to a Women led Community Coop

7. What year was your initiative/collective/group/organisation formed: {around 2017}

8. How many people are in your initiative/collective/group/organisation: {**10-20**} - our objective maybe shouldbe adding community members eventually

9. Are you legally registered?
· not the collective but we have an official parent org which can hold us together for this project

10. Please share details of at least 2 and up to 5 leaders in your initiative / collective / group / organisation.

Name | Age | Gender | Other relevant identity categories you would like to share.

{ **todo** who are the names (more women) for this? Madhu/Ramya/Sk/Ajmal/Emma/Manoj/Sk/Ram/Janani/..

Shalini | 38 | female | Coordinates activity at Janastu, Servelots and iruWay projects related to technology and women
Shafali | 26 | female | Community Networks and feminist technology proponent works on influencing policy
Janani | 17 | female | feminist tech and leads a playground on freedom from caste oppression
Ajmal | 26 | male | Design and creative inputs on activating community open studios
Emma | 26 | female | design and creative spaces
Manoj | 35 | male | Leads Battery management, Solar power, Electric vehicles and workshops
Shama | 35 | female | Crafts and textiles production

}

11. Please share with us briefly your initiative / collective / group / organisation's practice of leadership and decision-making (max 150 words, bullet points are encouraged)

{
** Shalini** delegates activities to the rest of group based on request for initiatives from the women and our organizational (Feminist tech playground) FTP program to bring about a change in the ambient culture that includes women, technology and community expression.

Concept and program are handled by individuals with village women:
**sub groups** - FTP, CrafterSpace, iruWay, Permaculture,..
Dinesh, Satisha, Rama - iruWay
Ajmal, Shalini, Ram - Crafts, Art, Exhibitions, Radio and integrated engagement of girls and women
Shalini, team - COW (community owned Wifimesh) and community tech platform
Raja with community - permaculture and bio-enzymes
***more here https://hackmd.io/Gfm9qDNyT_-TTOKq2ELBjw?view#Activities-and-ideas**
}

---

[SECTION 2: YOUR COMMUNITY AND CONSTELLATION]

12. Where is your activism and organising primarily based? Please specify region(s) and/or countries:

{
Villages in the forest areas and valley of Devarayanadurga, Karnataka in India}

13. What is the main location/level of your community and activism? Select one option and delete the answers that do not apply.
· Other (Local and Networked Offline and Onine):

14. Who are UP TO THREE primary groups of people who are in your feminist tech community and network? Delete the answers that do not apply.

14.1, 14.6, 14.8 (14.9 and 10?)

14‚1· Feminist tech facilitators, educators and/or trainers
14‚2· Social media feminist content creators and conversation drivers
14‚3· Online campaigners
14‚4· Policy advocates
14‚5· Data analysts and researchers
14‚6· Tech coders and developers
14‚7· Writers and opinion/framework shapers
14‚8· Creatives (writers, visual artists, film makers, musicians etc)
14‚9· Sysadmin and/or alternative tech providers
14‚10· Online feminist tech projects (e.g. archives and collective history, mapping and monitoring projects, tech guides and how-tos etc)
14‚11· Funder or digital rights organisation that provides you with a project grant
14‚12· Other (please specify):

15. Please indicate at least ONE, and a maximum of three key movements you are part of Delete the answers that do not apply.

3?, 4, 8, 16, 20?

4,5,8,22 (resource mapping - narratives on community platform)

Â1· LBTQI++
Â2· Sex work
Â3· Disability justice
Â4· Indigenous women
Â5· Young women
Â6· Anti-racism
Â7· Challenging religious fundamentalisms
Â8· Environmental justice
Â9· Land rights
Â10· Conflict or post-conflict contexts
Â11· Migrant and refugee rights
Â12· Abortion rights
Â13· Labour rights
Â14· Democratic participation and/or civic engagement
Â15· Economic rights
Â16· Digital rights
Â17· Privacy rights
Â18· Internet governance and policy advocacy
Â19· Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR)
Â20· Gender-based violence
Â21· Access to justice
Â22· Other (please specify):

16. Who are UP TO THREE primary communities that you are working with? (We understand women to be defined in all of their diversity - trans, cis, non-binary, young, older, disabled etc). Delete the answers that do not apply.

11 and 12 (4,5,6 activities)

Â1· LBTQI++
Â2· Sex workers
Â3· Women with disabilities
Â4· Indigenous women (cooking and culture?)
Â5· Young women (ftp?)
Â6· Elder women (mobility and health)
Â7· Afro-descendent women
Â8· Ethnic and/or religious group facing discrimination
Â9· Migrant women
Â10· Refugee women
Â11· Women living in rural contexts
Â12· Other (please specify):

17. Please share with us THREE people/organisations/collectives/initiatives/groups whom you have collaborated with, or who can speak to your work. If any person/organisation/collective/initiative/group is anonymous for security reasons, please briefly describe the nature of the work without going into detail on identifying who they are. If you're able to and it is safe to do so, share their name, where can we find them online (website, social media accounts etc), relationship to your initiative/group/collective/organisation.

{APC, DesignBeku, MAYA/Srishti} [] Chiguru, IIITB, Gida Living Labs, Kanike, UFP, Rotary, APNIC, DA - Cyn@APC, Harshita@Gida, Shilpa@UFP, ..]

---

[SECTION 3: CONTEXT AND IDEA OF CHANGE]

18. What are the main challenges or issues that you are trying to address in your context? (300 words max, and bullet points are encouraged)

{300 word version: Crafter Space and IruWay farm are located at the foothill of Devarayanadurga hills by the reserved forest and heritage forts. We have been working together with village communities in exploring an integrated space with local materials in a makerspace environment that can nurture innovation in local products.

The women are only allowed to go to fields during harvest seasons by their in laws and husband for earning extra income. Their families feel if they let the women go anywhere else for work, they won't be able to control them and hence curtail their freedoms. These women want extra income apart from their husbands to either send their children for higher better education or even to maintain their household expenses. Some husbands are acoholic and don't give money at home. Most women are also domestically abused and the worst part is instead of showing remorse men feel proud about how they "showed their wife her place". This brings us to what we want to do:

1. Help create avenues for secondary economy - patriarchial contexts are financially abusive while expression and mobility are curtailed. The idea is to not only facilitate constant income generation for women but also a safe space for them to collectively address their issues in daily life.
2. Reintroduce craft and maker skills to women and youth along with enabling end-to-end orders, production, distribution, marketing and supply chain management skills.
3. tech and communication activities as part of FTP(feminist technology playgrounds).
4. Create a space for children and women to be comfortable and explore their instances of expression.
9. Engage in research and technology development to make sustainable connections between local: people, technology and material.
10. Curate an exhibition space to bring visibility to the work thats ongoing both with the children and women.
more at:crafts.janastu.org,https://open.janastu.org/projects/crafts,https://wiki.janastu.org/wiki/CrafterSpace}

{

Crafter Space and IruWay farm are located at Durgadahalli, near Tumkur - South India, at the foothill of Devarayanadurga hills by the reserved forest and heritage forts. We have been working together with village communities in exploring an integrated space for local groups to work with local materials in a makerspace environment that can nurture innovation in local products. After our seeding-experience, many local women have articulated their needs and issues at home or extended families. This grow phase is dedicated to listening to their articulated voices and our eagerness to provision a local knowledge and communication platform to help strengthen their voices.

The women are only allowed to go to fields during harvest seasons by their in laws and husband for earning extra income. Their families feel if they let the women go anywhere else for work, they won't be able to control them and hence curtail their freedoms. These women want extra income apart from their husbands to either send their children for higher better education or even to maintain their household expenses. Some husbands are acoholic and don't give money at home. Most women are also domestically abused and the worst part is instead of showing remorse men feel proud about how they "showed their wife her place". This brings us to what we want to do:

1. Help create avenues for alternative and secondary economy - patriarchial contexts are financially abusive while expression and mobility are curtailed. The idea is to not only facilitate constant income generation for women but also a safe space for them to collectively address their issues in daily life.
2. Reintroduce craft and maker skills to women and youth in rural areas along with enabling end-to-end orders, production, distribution, marketing and supply chain management skills. It would bring exposure and various different skill sets which can then push for newer frontiers of local economy.
3. Augment area economies with craft capacities in addition to enhancing local cultural economic spaces. The cash flow also helps in mobilising women and for them to come outside together.
4. Integrate tech and communication support activities as part of FTP (feminist technology playgrounds).
6. Create a space for children and women to come together, be comfortable and explore their instances of expression. Understand what could leisure and play mean to a space? And how a space can recognises our needs to become welcoming and nourishing, and eventually a safe space?
9. Engage in research and technology development to make sustainable connections between local people, locally available materials and tools, and required techniques and technology. This results in technology which is more contextual and answers the inherent need of communities instead of imposing solutions on them.
10. Curate an exhibition space within the community to bring visibility to the work thats ongoing both with the children and women. It'll help the larger community connect to their knowledge practise and blended newer avenues.

more at
crafts.janastu.org
https://open.janastu.org/projects/crafts
https://wiki.janastu.org/wiki/CrafterSpace
}

19. What does feminism and digital technology have to do with these challenges, issues, and how you are trying to address them? Please refer to eligibility criteria on how we understand feminism and tech. (300 words max, and bullet points are encouraged)

281

For us feminism looks at the nuances and complexities that lie in the situation that exists. The idea is build slowly and keep making iteration and acknowledge what is going on. The idea about keeping conversations open and havng dialogue is our idea of feminism. We translate that to technology in terms of storytelling and collective sense making so as to reduce the barrier of literacy or digital capabilities or access. Here, our major focus is to give a sort of financial stability to women with a space to explore, share and grow. The idea of that space extends to children too.

Women have long carried traditional crafts on their shoulders in these communities. By generating livelihood opportunities and introducing technological aid and reform, we are centering women's skills, expression, empowerment and their financial benefits.

Integration with larger market economies/value chains, digital presence and marketing, and sustainable and efficient processes of production remain challenges in indigenous spaces where craft determines livelihood.
Through our multi-tiered process targeting makerspace integration, innovative tools, digital literacy and embedding local products in urban markets, we seek to generate livelihood through technology and crafts.

By codifying practices of craft, we help create archives that respect culture and evolve through intersectional practices, having emerged from women and working classes/castes that have faced oppression over the years. The idea is also to have a maker space using local materials like coconut fibre to build for more local capabilities.

We have a local wifi-mesh that connects these villages and schools which has pages for the community to engage with community radio, geo location based story narratives and general health of the community, environment and collective support for management of gigs.

> []{FTP+CrafterSpace+IntersectionalArchives+Environment+CaptiveDigitalPlatform}

20. How are you addressing these challenges or issues? Please share your main strategies or approach. You can also list down some of your key activities if that helps to make it clearer. (300 words max, and bullet points are encouraged)

247 words

Our approach in the community is holistic and centres around encouraging their expression and bringing necessary introductions regarding skilling women for their gig interests.

In order to establish and enhance communication in the region, we set up COWMeshes in Devrayanadurga. COWMesh uses WiFI and other low cost deregulated media to share content locally, deploy services, for sub-communities who curate content for their needs and utilise a hyper-media archive architecture for their story telling, publishing and navigation needs or for online classes during the lockdown times of 2020. This was an addition to the Community Radios that we had set up in the region that has helped women and local communities in articulating their experiences and their expression.

Through CrafterSpace and its innovative tools and makerspace involvement, we intend to integrate local and collective crafts into wider urban economies and value chains that can help create economically and environmentally sustainable products while generating livelihood opportunities that benefit and centre women.

Our key activities includes:

1. Crafts like block printing with related maker/designer indulgence and having a cash flow,
2. extend the center to places and spaces (locally online) for women to address issues,
3. similar space for children to explore their immediate surrounding and local knowledge practices
4. A maker space augmented with technology, community mesh for new ideas, collaborations and avenues to flourish and build capacities
5. An curated exhibition for the larger community to help bring groups from different castes and subcommunities to "see" each other

> []{FTP+Monetizaion+COW+Community Radio+CrafterSpace}

21. Following from the previous questions, are you already undertaking them, or are they new ideas you would like to fund with this grant? Select one option and delete the answers that do not apply.

{2}

Â1·They are new or emerging ideas
Â2·We have tested or taken on parts of these strategies or activities, and would like to expand and/or deepen them
Â3·They are part of the core strategies that we are doing, and we would like to continue and strengthen them

22. What is your biggest, wildest idea for change when it comes to feminism and technology in your context? (This is an invitation to dream big, and doesn't have to connect with what you already shared above) (300 words max)

{Dreams!
A local hyper-media platform that celebrates the women in the area and their expression. Also with stories of their strife. A creative and cohesive space that brings appropriate technology while valueing indispensibility of women in every aspect esp including the culture, food and labor of nurture and care, designed in a way that is replicable and impacts policy (like bio cultural protocols).

We want children and women have agency and run their own community networks while spearheading their own different causes. We want them to create their own content, tell their own stories and narratives, and reclaim/create technology that is not alien for them. If they can create a safe space to foster their expression while being independant. We want them to lead activities that help narratives on on their knowledge practices resource-mapping of the area and culture}

---
[SECTION 4: FUNDING]

23. What level of funding are you applying for? Select one option and delete the answers that do not apply.
·Grow: USD10,000 - 50,000

24. How can this funding help support or strengthen the work that you do? We are not expecting a budget at this stage of the process, but more for you to share on your idea of what this fund will contribute to or how it will be used (200 words max, and bullet points are encouraged)

{**2 years**:
1. activities
2. equipment
3. resident artists
4. longer term leadership subgroups
5. Community Operationalized by Women (COW*2)
6. Staging of exhibitions on their road and at the center
}

[SECTION 5: MISC]

25. How did you find out about this call? Delete the answers that do not apply.
- Mailing list
- Shared by a personal contact

25. Anything else you might want to share with us about your activism and work? (additional comments, completely optional) (max 200 words)

{**Answer here**

https://twitter.com/rtk254/status/1528742051461865472
https://hackmd.io/xpOFWPD5RW2q_FpBUbDT3g?view
(esp: https://hackmd.io/uLswgRQSSx6yV5fpu-IybQ?view on space)
}

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