A trip to India is an unforgettable experience, a visit to a unique country full of colour and contrasts, which the Masters of Design and Innovation students enjoyed a long with the Fundación Vicente Ferrer.
The young creatives collaborated with the NGO for development on the IDT Project for Crafts and Fair Trade, which emerged to fight against the serious discrimination suffered by women with disabilities in rural India.
3.1 Fundación Vicente Ferrer
The Fundación Vicente Ferrer is a development NGO committed to the transformation of one of the poorest areas in India, the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, and the most vulnerable communities, which are at risk of exclusion.
“Last November, the crafts workshops of the Fundación Vicente Ferrer in Anantapur (India) had the privilege of being visited by 13 students of the “Masters of Design and Innovation” at the Istituto Europeo di Design in Madrid. The aim of this initiative was to contribute to the continuity of the project for Active Cooperation, fair trade and charitable work of the Fundación Vicente Ferrer.
The Fundación Vicente Ferrer took a very positive view of the involvement of the young creatives, highlighting the significant repercussion of their works. The foundation wants to express, once again, its gratitude for the effort, enthusiasm and sensitivity of these students when producing their projects, and feels that they went far beyond creativity and innovation, in their pursuit for sustainability.
Intertwining Design and Trade is truly necessary and feasible if we wish to contribute to the eradication of extreme poverty in the world. As Vicente Ferrer used to say, “belonging to society depends on one’s ability to take part in economic activity. In a subsistence economy, respect comes from the ability to make some money. In India, the result of this are thousands of people stripped of their rights because of their inability to do so.”
This initiative has not only brought about real change in the lives of those taking part, but also in their communities.”