NOVICA, Nest partner to improve working conditions of artisans

NOVICA, a leading online fair trade marketplace, has partnered with Nest, a nonprofit specializing in ethically handcrafted certification, to improve the working conditions of artisans in emerging markets.

Following the partnership between NOVICA and Nest, all artisans selling through the NOVICA platform will undergo gender equality and fair wages training as part of a broader program designed to improve and certify fair and safe working conditions.

The partnership, according to NOVICA, would strengthen its existing protocols and raise the bar on safety for its artisan partners.

As part of the partnership, NOVICA, which supports individual artisans and small artisan groups around the world including, Ghana, will continue to offer its novica.com platform to artisans who sell more than 70,000 individual handcrafts on the site while rolling out a series of Nest-supported training modules in 2023, to help NOVICA’s in-country region teams educate and assess artisans through Nest’s Standards for Homes and Small Workshops (the Nest Standards).

Mrs. Elizabeth Attoh, Country Manager of NOVICA Ghana, explained that "Nest’s new training modules are helping us work proactively with artisans during this new phase of our continued growth, to ensure that all existing and future NOVICA artisans meet the very highest standards
of ethics and safety in their workshops."

She said the Nest protocols and the new training modules are helping artisan partners become the very best they can be, either as the best workshop owners or the best small business employers for the benefit of all.

Since its inception, all artisans selling through NOVICA have signed and committed themselves to NOVICA’s fair trade and child labor agreements, including agreeing to undergo unscheduled workshop visits.

Founded in 1999 to empower the world’s artisans and preserve endangered cultural art forms, NOVICA is a leading online marketplace that provides artisans in emerging markets a platform to sell their handmade fair trade goods to the world.

In light of its ongoing global expansion, NOVICA engaged Nest to help strengthen its existing fair trade requirements and monitoring protocols.

She said, in addition to NOVICA’s long-standing additional requirements for handmade quality and authenticity, the new 'NOVICA Ethically Made' badge, a NOVICA verification protocol based on the Nest Standards, has been possible due to the partnership.