Handicrafts and Employment Generation for the Poorest Youth and Women is a 2007 Policy Paper from UNESCO International's Programme on the Cross-Cutting Theme "Poverty Eradication, Especially Extreme Poverty," written by Noëlla Richard.

The paper is based on a pilot project implemented by UNESCO, in which the organization "developed its approach of poverty eradication through an interesting and original angle: handicrafts. Whether their products are purely functional or highly expressive, artisans answer a specific need in their communities, which in return support the artisans economically through purchasing their craft wares, and socially through recognizing the artists' skills and role in transmitting traditional culture. The rich potential of this sector for poverty eradication is, however, still rarely taken into consideration. As such, UNESCO designed and implemented the project "Handicrafts and Employment Generation for the Poorest Youth and Women" in a broad variety of cultural contexts, in which the development of small handicraft enterprises was used as a poverty eradication tool. In this approach, income and employment generation are the strategies used to address the problems of extreme poverty and hunger."

Read the full report here