Toy Village

By Dr. Norbert Pintsch

The village project of the NGO A.F.A. in TGD with its Image Brand of TOY VILLAGE represents an income-generation method for the village population, which is based upon the traditional culture of the area.

The main local buyers are diplomats, experts and managers of international companies as well as tourists and other travelers.

The products are being successfully marketed within the country and even have excellent reputation in foreign countries. There are customers in USA, Canada, Japan, Australia, Nuezeland, EU und the UAE as well as collectors in ethnological Museums in Stuttgart, Cologne, Hamburg, Leipzig and Berlin.

The village NGO has in the meantime integrated members from six other villages. Furthermore, it has sub-contractors in other parts of the country through six other NGO’s from Karachi, Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Karimabad.

New products are being developed in order to integrate further women from other villages into the project.

It is very important to proceed in a particular way for such a project to be successful:

• The products are not to be manufactured in large quantities so that the producers do not lose their traditional roots and move to the cities.
• Quality control must be ensured with the help of trained staff.
• The marketing must proceed hand in hand due to the specific way of production which again requires trained staff.

For developing new products in other villages (One Product – One Village) specially qualified staff is needed which is also ready to work together with the village population. Members of city culture may be more qualified but the preparedness to work in the village and to develop with the local residents is morec important –this point is apparently the most difficult to overcome in order to achieve success.