CTC Students' Master's Thesis on Cottage Industry- Global Market

["Irfan Khan" <khania@super.net.pk>]

Research 

CCT students have produced master's theses dealing with different 
aspects of the project: strategies for sustainable development, 
generating social capital, women's empowerment, and Internet branding 
for local industries. 


Advanced Networking Technologies and the New Economy:
Building a Sustainable Development Strategy for Rural Handicraft 
Production in Himachal Pradesh, India

By Sarita Bhatt

Summary: This thesis examines how development projects designed to 
meet social and economic goals will be more successful to the extent 
that they are locally based, they take advantage of networking 
technologies, and they are specifically tailored to meet social and 
economic problems at hand. The author proposes a development strategy 
for the cooperatives of Himachal Pradesh using networking 
technologies. 

View the thesis. 
http://cct.georgetown.edu/thesesView.cfm?personid=221


Developing Social Capital in the Developing World:
Restructuring Local Organizations to Generate Social Capital:
A Study of Four Weaving Cooperatives in Himachal Pradesh, India

By Varnita P. Kohli

Summary: This thesis addresses local organizations in developing 
countries that experience institutional and social constraints due to 
lack of collective action and trust, i.e. social capital. Given the 
significance of social capital in improving the efficiency and 
functioning of local organizations by enhancing information flow and 
lowering transaction costs, it is a crucial ingredient for grassroots 
organizations to achieve micro-level development. The problem raises 
the question of whether and by what mechanisms local organizations 
can generate social capital. This thesis argues that a local 
organization at a micro-level can generate social capital by 
designing its organizational infrastructure. More specifically, the 
organizational infrastructure provides a framework for local 
organizations to foster collective action and trust building and 
generate social capital from within. Using a multi-disciplinary 
approach, this study proposes a mechanism to generate micro-level 
social capital by implementing appropriate rewards/incentive systems, 
and by designing a decentralized and democratic constitution that in 
turn will feed into and change members' belief/value systems over 
time. This thesis looks at how such a mechanism can be implemented in 
the 'Cottage Industry Global Market' (CIGM) project. 

View the thesis. 
http://cct.georgetown.edu/thesesView.cfm?personid=315


Women, Weaving, and the Web:
An Analysis of Rural Indian Women's Agency in Attaining Economic 
Empowerment

By Claire Maneja

Summary: Around the globe, countless technology-driven initiatives 
are under way to support women's economic empowerment. Yet women from 
the developing world face several constraints - mostly derived from 
cultural norms and practices -- as they seek economic empowerment for 
themselves and their families. This thesis examines how women 
stakeholders exercise their agency as they work around these 
constraints. The argument made here is that amidst these limitations, 
the forms of agency women exhibit are varied and limited. Technology 
in development assistance acts as an exogenous shock, a force from 
the outside that introduces new tools and social practices into a 
community. The introduction of technologies poses conflicting 
possibilities for women's agency: either it replicates existing 
gender inequities, or it may transform them.

View the thesis. 
http://cct.georgetown.edu/thesesView.cfm?personid=322


The Role of Internet Branding in Preserving the Local in the Global:
Using the Case Study of The World Bank Funded Cottage Industry Global 
Market Project

By Mridulika Menon

Summary: Given the forces of globalisation and the advantages that 
accrue to large companies, a critical problem for local industries is 
how to maintain their local identity in a globalised economy. To 
answer this problem, this thesis argues that globalisation, in fact, 
provides an opportunity for local industries. To take advantage of 
the opportunity of globalisation, local industries must develop their 
"relational assets," assets that are so specific to a place that they 
cannot be replicated. One way to promote local identity and 
"relational assets" is through branding, which can be used as tool 
for local industries to 
penetrate a global market and create a consumer niche market. 
Networking technology is 
critical to the development of such a strategy. This thesis examines 
the proposition of 
setting up networking technologies for co-operative women in the 
region of Himachal Pradesh in 
India to use information technology to have access to resources, and 
develop a global 
marketing strategy to sell their wares.

View the thesis. 
http://cct.georgetown.edu/thesesView.cfm?personid=260

 
source: http://www.k2crafts.com/news_research.htm