Inclusive arts and crafts design: empowering people with disability to contribute to their community in Southern Africa

Many countries in Southern Africa are still supported by overseas economic aid to offset needs in the poorest communities. Within these poorest of communities, those living with a physical or cognitive impairment are often the most vulnerable.

In collaboration with the Southern Africa Federation of the Disabled (SAFOD) designers and craftspeople from Loughborough and Aston Universities, Community Interest Company Workshop 305 and the Crafts Council came together to network knowledge exchange laid the foundations of a bridge between communities and people living with disability within those communities, to enable dialogue and exchange of knowledge, through culture and heritage, expressed as artefacts. Initially, this exchange was between three Countries in Southern Africa and the UK partners.

Artists and Craftspeople from Botswana, Malawi and South Africa were invited to visit London, UK, to meet with other people with disabilities doing arts and crafts, as well as professional designers and craftspeople and a representative of the Crafts Council. They were also shown workshop facilities and ways of funding inclusive crafts in the UK. They also visited the New Designers student exhibition to see the latest craft and design artefacts and thinking. The visiting artists and craftspeople also participated in a workshop to discuss priority areas where they needed assistance, as well as a webinar where pathways for development were presented and discussed.

The Impact

The network event was successful in raising awareness of inclusive arts and crafts in Southern Africa, connecting with several artists and craftspeople at different levels of arts and crafts, from recent graduates to experienced practitioners and tutors.

The most significant achievements from the award include:

• Connections made in the United Kingdom and Southern Africa.
• Identification of common needs and aspirations for United Kingdom and Southern African Artists and Craftspeople.
• The opportunity for further knowledge exchange between the UK and SA arts and craftspeople relating to inclusive heritage craft skills and expression of cultural heritage through artefacts.
• A better understanding of preferred communication formats for people in Southern Africa.

The Outcome

The event highlighted a number of points and challenges:

• The needs of disabled artists and craftspeople are very similar in the UK and Southern Africa, for able-bodied and disabled alike;
• The need to identify a market for their artefacts that will pay a fair price for their work;
• Making it easier to produce artefacts;
• Training of new disabled artists and craftspeople;
• Celebrating the quality of ideas and concepts produced, as well as the heritage crafts used to create products and works of art;
• Ways of reframing society's viewpoint of them (as 'no-person' disabled and in some cases because they are female), viewing their work more inclusively; and,
• Exploiting the many opportunities to share knowledge, skills and ideas through dialogue using different communication formats and technologies.

The network event highlighted the expertise of the craftspeople, Shadreck Ndlovu from Botswana and Rita Malangeni from South Africa, who represented their respective regions. The envisaged need to help with coping strategies was not required, as they had already developed effective coping strategies for the available resources within their community. They also demonstrated their ability to run their own businesses within their national and local Government structures.

Although Mussa Chiwaula, a Batik painter, was incorporating cultural references into his work, it was clear that there was an opportunity to demonstrate to most craftspeople in southern Africa, such as Rita and Shadreck, how to leverage their rich cultural heritage. Currently, they utilise their heritage craft skills in a manner more akin to that of a commercial product designer, and don't always incorporate their local cultural references into their designs.

The findings are currently being taken forward. Follow-on funding has already been applied to start building capability and capacity within SAFOD to deliver more support to its membership of around 50,000 members across ten Countries. The Southern Africa Assistive Technology Expo (SAATE) event, associated with the follow-on funding, has been postponed to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, a webinar of invited International speakers who will present different pathways to sustainable, inclusive businesses will take place in late September 2021.

A 'Crafts abilities' website and associated Facebook page continue the discussion via specific groups on social media. Videos from the initial network event are available through the website and show the skill of Rita Malangeni, a one-handed crochet and knitting expert.