The development of a Tais certification system is part of the Urgent Tais Safeguarding Plan, with the aim of creating opportunities for weavers to earn a fair income from their tais.
As part of the process, an international workshop on the Tais Certification System was held to share ideas on how to develop a certification system for the Tais of Timor-Leste. During the workshop, in the first session, international guest speakers explained step by step the experience of AIACA (All Indian Artisan and Craftworkers Welfare Association) in the Craftmark/Certification process, including the protection of indigenous intellectual rights in India. The branding expert highlighted the logo and branding designed for the weavers’ network and how to integrate them into the Textile Certification System. The three experts agreed that the brand should follow the Certification system.
On the second day, they introduced discussion circles to debate why Certification is needed, what it is for, who will be certified and so on. A limited session was held for the ICH Committee members to identify who would work on the Tais Certification System project based on the recommendations of the joint report of the three invited expert speakers. This discussion included ways to identify a system that could be applied to the Tais of Timor-Leste.
This workshop is intended to serve not only to share the status of the project, but also to gather input from various stakeholders. It was discussed that this should be used as an opportunity to involve stakeholders in the design of the certification program, as well as from a branding and communications perspective.
