Crafts Of Africa, Nairobi, Kenya

About Us

Crafts of Africa Cultural Gallery  is a self-help crafts producer organisation. We are a member of fair trade organisations like International Federation for Alternative Trade (IFAT) and Fair Trade Federation (FTF-USA) among others.

Crafts of Africa Cultural Gallery, formerly known as Baduku Crafts is registered Self-Help organization Ref: SS/NP/5/Vol.1/96/19 with the Ministry of Home Affairs National Heritage, Culture and Social Services. The organization is located at the National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) Jua Kali informal sector light industries along Rabai Road off Jogoo Road, about five miles in the Eastern area of Nairobi city. As a Self-Help grass-roots oriented development organization, Crafts of Africa Cutlural Gallery's major focus is to enable the Self-Help income generating Handicrafts producer groups meet their basic needs like food, clothing, shelter, education, health services etc. Crafts of Africa major focus is to promote handicraft as an important home based income generating activity with the potential for employment and wealth creation. It was out of this concern that Crafts of Africa Cultural Gallery was formed. Since its inception in 1988, Crafts of Africa Cultural Gallery has been working with grass-roots communities in the urban, pre-urban slums and rural villages country-wide. The long-term objective being to build up low-income artisans so that they can build up a future for themselves by generating income through handcrafts making.

Some of the many problems facing a majority of Kenya's population of 30 million people, are widespread of poverty, high unemployment and underemployment levels among other social economic problems/vices. However, in as much as the Government would like to address itself to the numerous problems facing the low-income groups, it cannot achieve much without the support of each and every development conscious person(s), Church or non-governmental organizations including the private sectors and the international community.

Cultural and socio-economic input of crafts to the country’s cultural heritage and economic development cannot be overemphasized. There is therefore a need to improve the exposure of artisans products for their benefit. This calls for a greater awareness of the role this home stay income generating sector can play in poverty alleviation and in curbing the rural-urban migration trends. Understandably therefore, handicrafts making and export of the same needs to be treated as an important informal sector that has the potential for earning the country the much needed foreign exchange and in uplifting the social economic status of the impoverished grassroots artisans.