By Sanskrita Bharadwaj
WARMAWSAW, Meghalaya, India, Apr 3 2025 – As light enters through the small window of a modestly constructed tin-roofed house, Philim Makri sits on a chair deftly spinning cocoons of eri silk with the help of a solar-powered spinning machine in Warmawsaw village in Ri Bhoi district of Meghalaya in northeast India.

Makri belongs to the indigenous Khasi tribe of Meghalaya and is one of the several women from the region who has benefitted from solar-powered spinning machines.

In India’s northeastern states like Assam and Meghalaya, silkworm rearing and weaving are common among several rural and tribal communities. Ri-Bhoi district of Meghalaya, where Makri is from, is among the regions where eri culture is deeply rooted in tradition and is often passed on from one generation to the other.

The process of spinning and weaving eri is mainly carried out by women. Before switching to the solar-powered spinning machines in 2018, Makri used a traditional hand-held ‘takli’ or spindle. She would open the empty eri cocoons, draft the fibers by hand, and spin them onto the spindle to create yarn. This process was extremely laborious, 60-year-old Makri said. It would leave her feeling tired with constant pain in her hand, back, neck, and eyes.

Process of spinning eri yarn

Eri derives its name from castor leaves—locally known as ‘Rynda’ in the Khasi language. Castor leaves are the primary food source for the eri silkworms. As the production process is considered to be non-violent, eco-friendly, and sustainable, eri silk has earned itself the title of ‘peace silk.’

Thirty-eight-year-old Jacinta Maslai from Patharkhmah village in Ri Bhoi district, who has been spinning eri cocoons into yarn for years, explained how an eri moth lays hundreds of eggs and after 10 days or so, these eggs hatch, producing silkworms, which are then reared indoors and fed castor leaves until they mature over a period of 30 days.

When the silkworm matures to its full size, they are placed on cocoonage—devices that help silkworms spin their cocoons. The moth evolves, breaking out from the open end of the cocoon to start a new life cycle. Thus, in this process, no moths are killed. The empty cocoons are boiled to remove the gums left behind by the worms; they are then rinsed and left out in the sun to dry.

According to Maslai, the best season to carry out this process is from May till October. “When the weather is too cold or too hot, the worms don’t grow properly because they eat less. If they don’t eat well, they don’t make the cocoon well enough,” Maslai said.

Switching to solar-powered spinning machines

Women artisans have for years used their traditional spindles or ‘taklis,’ to spin eri cocoons into yarn. However, many of them, like Maslai and Makri, have now switched to the solar-powered spinning machines, which they claim have made their lives “easier.”

Since Maslai started using the solar-powered machines, she says she can weave up to 500 grams in a week. “Sometimes even a kilo is possible in a week but many of us have children and farms to look after so we can manage up to 500 grams in a week,” Maslai said, adding that before they wouldn’t get a kilo even if they spun for an entire month with the ‘takli.’

“The machines help a lot—with our hands, we couldn’t do much.”

In the nearby Patharkhmah market, Maslai sells one kilo of yarm for Rs 2500.

Makri, who is considered an expert at spinning eri yarn, said she has sold 1 kg of yarn for up to Rs 3000. “The lowest quality of one kilo of eri yarn is about Rs 1200-1500. The quality also differs in terms of the smoothness of the yarn sometimes,” Makri said.

The machines have also made our lives better because their villages are usually without electricity for an entire day, Maslai said. In the mornings they usually go out for farming; evenings are the time when they find adequate time to spin.

“The machines provide backup solar batteries so we can work at night. It is helpful during the rainy season too when it’s too cloudy for the solar panels to be used as a direct energy source,” Maslai said, adding, “I spin a lot in the evenings after cooking dinner. That’s when my kids are asleep.”

The machines have been distributed by MOSONiE Socio Economic Foundation, a not-for-profit led entirely by a group of women based in Pillangkata of Ri Bhoi district in Meghalaya.

“Our vision is to increase the productivity of eri silk spinners by providing solar-powered spinning machines to them. We also want to provide them financial options to afford a spinning machine by connecting them with rural banks. The idea is to give them training to use these machines and promote entrepreneurship among the women artisans,” said Salome Savitri, one of the co-founders of MOSONiE.

Many women in rural areas, Savitri said, cannot afford to buy the machines or do not have the money to pay direct cash; this is where she said MOSONiE steps in and bridges the gap between Meghalaya Rural Bank (MRB) and the women artisans. For instance, Maslai took a loan from MRB to buy the spinning machine, which she paid off after a year.

Maslai recalls how, with training from MOSONiE, it took her about three days to make the switch from a handheld spindle to the machine. “We use the machine now and no longer use the traditional method,” Maslai said.

Makri, who is one of the more experienced ones, also teaches others from her village to use the solar-powered spinning machines. Individually, people give her Rs 50-100 per day for the training they receive from her. She has won awards for her work from India’s ministry of textiles, central silk board, and the national handloom awards.

Upasna Jain, chief of staff at Resham Sutra, a Delhi-based social enterprise that has been manufacturing the solar-powered spinning machines, said not-for-profit organizations like MOSONiE, which is an on-ground partner of Resham Sutra in Meghalaya, help them establish rural experience centers. “We have our on-ground partners, who enable us to mobilize, create awareness, outreach, and demonstrations. In the rural experience centers, we have machines for spinning but we also have machines for quality certification. The on-ground partners impart 3 to 5 days of training, and we also have community champions because even after training, a lot of handholding is required,” Jain explained.

Out of 28 states, currently, Resham Sutra has managed to reach 16 states of India. “We work with eri, mulberry, tussar, and muga silk,” Jain said. Started in 2015, the Resham Sutra initiative has more than 25,000 installations across India.

“Our founder, Kunal Vaid, was an exporter of silk and home linen, and he would source his silk fabric from Jharkhand, where he saw the traditional thigh reeling process to make tussar yarn…he being a mechanical engineer who specialized in industrial design, out of a hobby innovated a spinning wheel, which has now become a full-time business enterprise.”

Jain added, “He also transitioned from being an exporter to a full-time social entrepreneur.” Apart from the spinning wheels, Resham Sutra also manufactures solar looms.

Through the use of solar, Jain said, their aim is to also take the silk industry towards carbon neutrality. She said, “As our machines are solar-powered, we save a lot of carbon dioxide, our machines run on low voltage and they are energy efficient. So, wherever there is ample sunlight, these machines are a great solution, especially in remote villages where electricity can be erratic.”

While both Makri and Maslai like using their machines, they said that an extra space to expand their spinning avenues would help them greatly. Makri wants to build another room where she can keep both her spinning machines and teach others too. Maslai, who lives in a two-room house, said there is barely any space for her to teach anyone else but she still tries to pass on the craft to young girls as well as boys who are interested in learning. “When I am teaching, they look after my kids as a token of goodwill.”

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By External Source
Apr 3 2025 (IPS-Partners)

 
Sigrid Kaag is the new Chair of Education Cannot Wait’s High-Level Steering Group. Kaag brings a wealth of experience in political, humanitarian and development affairs, as well as in diplomacy. In 2025, she was appointed by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres as the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, a.i. Kaag has just concluded her mandate as Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza, a role she held since 2024. She served as the first Deputy Prime Minister and first female Minister of Finance in the Dutch government starting in January 2022. Prior to this, she was Dutch Minister for Trade and Development Cooperation from October 2017 until May 2021, and Minister for Foreign Affairs until September 2021.

Kaag has held a wide range of senior positions in the United Nations system. From 2015 to 2017, she was the United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon, and from 2013 to 2015, she was Special Coordinator of the Joint Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the United Nations Mission in Syria. She served as Assistant Secretary-General with the United Nations Development Programme from 2010 to 2013 and as Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa with UNICEF in Jordan from 2007 to 2010. Prior to that, Kaag served in several senior positions with UNICEF, the International Organization for Migration, and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.

Kaag holds a Master of Arts in Middle East Studies from the University of Exeter, a Master of Philosophy in International Relations from Oxford University and a Bachelor of Arts in Middle East Studies from the American University in Cairo.

ECW: Congratulations on your appointment as the new Chair of ECW’s High-Level Steering Group. What do you hope to achieve for crisis-affected girls and boys who urgently need education support through ECW’s work with our strategic donors and partners?

Sigrid Kaag: Thank you very much. I have both observed and been a partner with Education Cannot Wait (ECW) from its early years, notably in my Ministerial roles in the Netherlands. As Chair, it is a great privilege to build upon the success which The Rt. Hon. Gordon Brown established as the founding father of ECW. I have had the honor of working alongside him for many years to champion education in emergencies and protracted crises, and to position it higher on the international agenda. ECW and its implementing partners continue to drive results that help achieve our vision of quality education for all, including the 234 million crisis-affected children and adolescents around the world who urgently need education support.

Education is often the first service to suffer when people are on the move or schools and teachers are targeted in armed conflicts. ECW fiercely advocates for the rights of all girls and boys to a safe, inclusive quality education, and it brings together the strategic complementary partners who are best placed to make true impact on the ground. Through donor financing, ECW’s funded partners work around the clock to re-establish a sense of normalcy for crisis-impacted children, and to provide the continuous, quality learning to which every child is entitled.

If you look at the state of the world today and the diverse crises that so many countries face – with children always the hardest hit – ECW is more important now than ever before. We are a proven model that funds to deliver life-saving quality education with speed, agility, depth and impact.

ECW and its partners – including donors, the private sector, ministries of education, UN agencies, civil society, and local communities – have consistently demonstrated that it is possible to create meaningful change and have a significant impact in the lives of crisis-affected children through education when we have the funding needed to do it together.

ECW: We are experiencing a fast-changing humanitarian funding landscape resulting in the first drop in humanitarian funding for education in over a decade. Why is investing in education for children impacted by armed conflicts, climate change and forced displacement essential in global efforts to build peace, security and economic growth?

Sigrid Kaag: To ask the question is to answer it. It’s an issue of human rights, opportunity, emancipation and development. Learning is a continuous journey in a person’s lifetime under normal circumstances. Children and adolescents who are impacted by armed conflicts, climate change and forced displacement are often deprived of this opportunity and of the support circles that would enable them to grow and flourish into young adults, equipped to chart their destinies. Education in crises is nothing less than lifesaving and must be a priority for humanitarian funding. Along with food, healthcare and shelter, education is critical in creating a systems-wide approach that protects and safeguards children and builds toward lasting solutions. Funding education programmes targeted for crisis-affected girls and boys – alongside mental health and psychosocial support – is both foundational and fundamental.

When children are denied access to education, not only are their future opportunities limited, but socio-economic disparities are perpetuated, fueling armed conflicts, forced displacement and environmental degradation. Providing education opportunities offers those left furthest behind a pathway to resilience, helping them adapt to the challenges posed by these crises and empowering them to create positive change in their societies.

Education in crisis contexts is also a fundamental tool for promoting peace and security. Schools offer safe spaces, reducing children’s vulnerability to forced recruitment into armed groups, exploitation and violence. Educating children in these settings fosters a sense of hope and stability, allowing young people to envision a future beyond their immediate circumstances, and promoting peacebuilding efforts within and across borders.

Finally, investing in education is key to fostering economic growth, which is important even amidst crisis and is crucial in post-crisis recovery efforts. Education develops the next generation’s skills and potential, which is vital for rebuilding economies and strengthening societies. Without these investments, the long-term prospects for economic recovery remain bleak, as an uneducated population will struggle to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing global economy. Education, in this context, is not just a humanitarian issue but also a strategic investment for sustainable peace and development.

ECW: As the new Chair of ECW’s High-Level Steering Group, what is your message to donor governments and the private sector regarding their role in ensuring that crisis-impacted children receive the education they deserve? How can they step up and fulfill their commitments to achieve ECW’s goal of reaching 20 million children?

Sigrid Kaag: Support for Education Cannot Wait is an investment in stability, opportunity and human dignity in the world’s most fragile places. ECW has done an incredible job, mobilizing over US$1.6 billion to date. With global needs spiraling, ECW’s funded work in places like Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan, Syria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo has never been more crucial. With its efficient operating model and low overheads, donors – whether governments, private sector or philanthropists – can look to ECW to make their money and their impact, go further. For just US$250, ECW can support a young girl or boy to stay in education for three years. That’s incredible value for money.

We need to think smartly about how to leverage new sources of funding. We need to harness the power and innovation of the private sector to co-create new solutions. For the private sector, investing in education is not just philanthropy, it is an investment in the stable, prosperous markets of tomorrow. We will also need the strong support of our government partners to prioritize education in emergencies in their aid budgets.

We are at a critical juncture, and the time to act is now.

ECW: You are a visionary leader for girls’ education and for mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS), particularly for crisis-affected children and adolescents. These are two key priorities for ECW. Why should we invest in the education of girls today to build a better tomorrow? Why is MHPSS crucial in the holistic education approach for crisis-affected children?

Sigrid Kaag: Investing in girls’ education should no longer be a question. Girls and women are half of the world’s population. I’d like to think that, in 2025, we don’t even have to answer that question anymore.

It is a no-brainer. We’ve known for a long time that investing in girls, adolescent girls and women is essential if you look at well-being, health and educational outcomes, but also the income of the family and future of the community. Education translates to economic progress. By investing in individuals, you’re also investing in a future workforce.

There’s an economic argument and there’s a rights argument. Then there is a protection and emancipation argument. They all come together. That said, sadly, there are places in our world where this argument still needs to be made, and we will continue making it. But for the partners of ECW, and certainly me as the Chair, it’s quite the reverse. Together, we champion every child’s right to a quality education and have no doubt of the value in making that investment.

In terms of the importance of MHPSS, I’ve seen the gap in this support since 2005/2006, when I was the UNICEF Regional Director in the Middle East and North Africa. Back then, MHPSS was being treated as an afterthought, as an extra activity that could be an add-on – haphazardly tagged on when we were talking about education in crisis settings. So, when I became the Dutch Minister for Trade and Development Cooperation, I made sure that we mainstreamed MHPSS in all of the crisis activities, particularly education and health. As we focus on education, it is important to underscore that MHPSS is taken along as a core activity for the teachers and those that work at the schools, the children and the parents as well. It is one way to assist crisis-impacted children to begin the journey to tackle at least part of the trauma inflicted on them in crisis settings. It is essential.

ECW: We know that ‘readers are leaders’ and that reading skills are key to every child’s education, no matter who or where they are. What are three books that have most influenced you personally and/or professionally, and why would you recommend them to others?

Sigrid Kaag: Three interesting books that I have recently read include The Map of Love by Ahdaf Soueif, Grand Hotel Europa by Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer, and The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism by Martin Wolf. Global politics is the underlying theme that threads through all three books. The historical fiction novel, The Map of Love, is about an intergenerational, cross-cultural journey that unfolds between an Egyptian and an American family. Politics and personal relationships become intertwined as both the ancestors and their descendants embark on their journeys. Grand Hotel Europa is also historical fiction and follows a writer who stays in the once glorious but now decaying Grand Hotel Europa. The story of the hotel and the memorable hotel guests serve as a metaphor for globalization and the European condition. The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism points out that democratic capitalism, despite its flaws, remains the best choice for retaining our political and economic freedom. Each of these books invite the reader to take a step back, examine the bigger picture of our well-being as a world, and consider how we are all connected to each other as global citizens.

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By Jan Egeland
OSLO, Norway, Apr 3 2025 – The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) warns that 100,000s of people in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been pushed into desperate conditions by the escalation of violent conflict in 2025.

The escalation of violent conflict in recent months has pushed hundreds of thousands of people in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) into desperate conditions.

Displaced families sheltering at temporary sites have once again been forced to flee, as fighting and abuse plunge people into life-threatening situations. The explosion of humanitarian needs requires immediate attention from an international community that has turned its back on people in crisis. Parties to the conflict must end the violence facing civilians.

I am truly shocked by the conditions I have seen in and around the city of Goma. The lives of hundreds of thousands of people here in eastern DRC are hanging by a thread. Right across North and South Kivu, people have been repeatedly compelled to flee camps, where essential facilities were often already inadequate. Now, most find themselves in locations that lack shelter, basic sanitation, or drinking water, with diseases such as cholera rapidly increasing as a result.

People continue to flee fighting in the eastern DR Congo where Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have made major gains. Credit: MONUSCO/Aubin Mukoni

Our courageous staff remained in Goma during the height of the conflict, and were supporting the community once again within just a few days. But many displaced people I’ve listened to last week have lost everything after years of violence. It is unacceptable that a small number of humanitarian organisations are faced with a vast mountain of needs.

It is high time that assistance here matches the vast scale of human suffering. Long term solutions must be enabled, with children quickly allowed to return to school, banks to re-open, and an immediate end to violence and threats of violence against civilians.

Since the M23 offensive across the region earlier this year, an estimated 1.2 million people have been displaced across North and South Kivu provinces. 1.8 million people have been compelled to return to their places of origin, often to locations which bear deep scars from years of conflict between multiple armed groups.

Civilians face threats, gender-based violence, and extreme deprivation. Unexploded munitions continue to prevent many communities from fully cultivating their land.

Fighting and conflict are still continuing, with thousands of families caught in limbo, without the means to rebuild or cultivate food. The situation facing civilians in eastern DRC has for years been a stain on the international community: now it has become even worse.

NRC teams are providing displaced people with emergency aid, but there is too little funding available. The United States has for long been the largest donor to emergency relief and development aid in the country, but many US-funded projects have been interrupted or paused due to changes at USAID, just as humanitarian needs in DRC exploded.

DRC has for eight consecutive years been ranked as one of the world’s most neglected displacement crises, due to repeated cycles of conflict, lack of funding for aid and media attention, or effective humanitarian and peace diplomacy.

Millions of people have been repeatedly driven from first their homes and then, again, from camps, often multiple times. Families have been pushed into impossible choices just to survive, such as going to dangerous areas to find firewood to sell, exchanging sex for food, or sending young children to beg for money.

The level of global neglect experienced by civilians in eastern DRC should shame world leaders. Now, at a point of deep insecurity and with many families having returned to their areas of origin, there must be concerted action to finally support the population properly. Humanitarian and development assistance must now take priority: the people of DRC must not be faced with simply more of the same.

Notes to editors:

• In North Kivu and South Kivu provinces, 1,157,090 people have been displaced since the start of 2025, and 1,787,298 have returned to their areas of origin (IOM).

• Between January and February 2025, over 660,000 people were displaced out of temporary collective sites in Goma and on the outskirts of Nyiragongo territory (IOM).

• Across DRC, almost seven million people are internally displaced, with almost 90 per cent displaced due to conflict (IOM).

• In villages around Shasha, west of Goma, over 90 per cent of people lack proper latrines or washing facilities, and drinking water connections have been destroyed (NRC survey, conducted February 14-17 and covering 138 households).

• Every year NRC published a report of the ten most neglected displacement crises in the world. DRC has featured every year since the inception of the report, including in thrice as the most neglected crisis and four times as the second (NRC).

• The Humanitarian Response Plan for DRC regularly receives less than half of what is required to meet basic humanitarian needs. In 2023 it was 41 per cent funded; in 2024 it was 44 per cent funded (2023 UNHCR; 2024 UNHRC). In 2025, the humanitarian community in the DRC calls for $2.54 billion to provide lifesaving assistance to 11 million people affected by crises (2025 HRP).

• In 2024 the United States provided over two-thirds of the supplied funding for the DRC humanitarian response plan (UN OCHA).

• Access to sanitation and drinking water has become a major challenge. In areas where NRC is responding around Shasha, west of Goma, entire communities have returned to locations which lack functioning latrines, drinking water, or washing facilities.

• Cholera cases have spiked, with families forced to drink untreated water from Lake Kivu or from the river. NRC has established stations where water can be chlorinated and made safer, and is working to repair and rebuild damaged clean water infrastructure.

• In North and South Kivu provinces, 5,927 schools remain closed resulting in almost 2,000,000 children with no access to education (DRC Education Cluster).

• Food security remains a major concern across DRC, which is currently the largest hunger crisis in the world, with 27.7m people experiencing high acute food insecurity. This level means that many people do not have enough to eat, that many are experiencing malnutrition, and are being forced to sell anything they have to afford food (IPC).

• Agricultural land in many areas of North and South Kivu have lain untended for years owing to people fleeing violence. Elsewhere, those returning to their land struggle to evidence their ownership, thus increasing possibilities for disputes. NRC provides support to people to access and claim their land and continues to push for wider land rights reform (NRC Information, Counselling, and Legal Assistance).

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Excerpt:

Jan Egeland is Secretary-General of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)