Mela Artisans Celebrates International Day of the Girl

Mela Artisans is excited to participate in International Day of the Girl Child, a U.N. recognized holiday observed every year on October 11.

Girls are the future mothers of our society, and it is important that we focus on their well-being. – Miriam Makeba

The day promotes girls’ human rights, highlights gender inequalities that remain between girls and boys and addresses the various forms of discrimination and abuse suffered by girls around the world. This year’s theme, Empowering Adolescent Girls: Ending the Cycle of Violence, recognizes the importance of investing in and empowering adolescent girls and of preventing and eliminating the various forms of violence adolescent girls experience.

Local girls outside one of Mela Artisans’ workshops.

Mela Artisans is more than a luxury brand; we care about our artisans and their families. To show our support for the goals of International Day of the Girl, we are launching a week-long celebration of the importance of daughters in our artisan’s communities.

Oh, if I could but live another century and see the fruition of all the work for women! There is so much yet to be done. – Susan B. Anthony

Mela Artisans believes helping our girls is a community effort. Families must have stable, dependable income; communities must be safe, with accessible healthcare and education; and most importantly, girls must be encouraged to flourish.

The Mela Artisans model hopes to inspire the consumer not only with beautiful and functional handcrafted artwork, but also by forging a personal connection with Indian artisans through purchases and loans that allow them to grow their businesses and develop their artistic skills. In turn, the artisans build successful enterprises that provide a stable family income, safe working conditions and an improved standard of living; all of which impact the larger community in positive ways and create an environment where girls can thrive.

A family of women who benefit from the work Mela Artisans brings to Sambhal, India.

“Mela Artisans’ business model reflects my belief that creating more opportunities for those who have been underserved by the current system actually benefits every level of society, globally and locally.” – Mela Artisans Co-founder, Sonali Mehta-Rao

We hope you will continue to visit our blog, follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and shop melaartisans.com to help us celebrate girls during these important days and beyond.

How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes! - Maya Angelou