Mekong Bamboo is currently leading two linked Bamboo Handicraft projects in Cambodia and Lao PDR, grouped together under the project Improving Bamboo Handicraft Value Chains for Women’s Economic Empowerment. These projects seek to create jobs and improve income for bamboo handicraft producers through innovations in the sector and the introduction of new business opportunities.

Mekong Bamboo is working with approximately 1,500 households in three different provinces in Lao PDR and Cambodia. And since women make up the majority of bamboo handicraft producers in this region, the project will largely benefit the women working along this value chain in Lao PDR and Cambodia.

This project has the potential to attract new investments in the sector by serving as an entry point and later on by generating lessons on how to integrate gender issues into an emerging market.

Project Goal

To develop the bamboo handicraft industry sub-sector in Lao PDR and Cambodia and measure the economic and social impact of this development, particularly in the area of gender rights.

Project Activities

• Introduce new processing technologies to improve handicraft processors' productivity and capacity
• Build capacity of bamboo handicraft traders and improve their access to markets
• Ensure that in the long term, the growth of the handicraft production is not constrained by the unavailability of raw material through a sustainability component in Cambodia that focuses on developing bamboo plantations in the target villages

This bamboo handicrafts project is financed through the World Bank’s Development Grant Facility and implemented through a partnership with the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and the International Centre for Research on Women (ICRW).