The informal economy refers to activities that generate market value but are not officially registered. It encompasses a wide range of professions, including street vendors, garment workers, and construction workers, found in both developing and advanced economies. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), approximately two billion workers worldwide, representing over 61% of the employed population, are engaged in the informal economy. The majority of informal employment exists in emerging and developing countries, accounting for 93% of the global total.
The garment industry, in particular, faces a slew of problems, ranging from sustainability to international competition. Fast fashion companies also outsource the production of their goods to low-cost manufacturers in developing countries, which often utilize sweatshops where laborers work in unsafe conditions for low wages and long hours. Following a series of tragedies, such as the Tampoco and MultiFabs factory fires in 2016 and 2017, as well as earlier accidents like the Tazreen fire and the Rana Plaza disaster, a significant percentage of consumers worldwide, especially in developed nations, became aware of the plight of distant garment workers.
Hence, in recent years, new organizations have emerged with the goal of changing the 'fast-fashion' business model due to its sustainability and ethical concerns. For example, companies like Remake and MasterG are highly focused on women's empowerment and fostering a more human-centered fashion industry.
Our aim is to further this idea and combine it with Blockchain technology to enable a worker to put their data on the blockchain by minting an NFT. By doing so, a consumer who buys that product will know which worker(s) were responsible for producing that item, thereby improving transparency and visibility for the garment maker.
By recording the details of their skills and the items they produce on the blockchain, workers can regain control over their information and market themselves without intermediaries. NFTs, or Non-Fungible Tokens, are a type of digital asset that represents ownership or proof of authenticity of a unique item or piece of content. Unlike cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Ethereum, which are fungible and can be exchanged on a one-to-one basis, NFTs are indivisible and cannot be exchanged on a like-for-like basis.
They can be used to represent various types of digital or physical assets, including digital artwork, music, videos, virtual real estate, virtual goods in video games, and more. By tokenizing these assets, NFTs enable creators and collectors to establish verifiable ownership and provenance, as well as create new possibilities for monetization.
NFTs are being increasingly used for social causes to raise awareness, funds, and support various initiatives. Examples include charity auctions where unique NFT artworks are auctioned off, with proceeds going to charities. NFTs have also been used to support environmental conservation by tokenizing endangered species or natural landscapes. Fundraising for social causes, such as healthcare or education, has been facilitated by selling NFTs representing assets like artwork or music. NFTs have also been used to provide ownership rights and empower marginalised communities, and in educational initiatives by tokenizing educational content or scholarships.
The Zebpay R&D department partnered with MasterG, a social enterprise, that helps women from low-income backgrounds break free from societal norms by transferring power from the masterji’s to the women. This collaboration is the next step in creating a decentralised power system which will allow women to have power over their own narrative. By putting up the details of their skills and items they’re producing onto the blockchain, the women can take the power back from their employers and market themselves without any intermediaries.
In order to take control of their information, each worker will first have to set up a MetaMask account. This account will allow them to go to our website and input their information and what item they have produced. For example, if Sunita made four red skirts, she would go and input that data on the website and mint an NFT that would be stored in her account. She would also include her details such as her name, how much she earned from producing that skirt, and any personal remarks that highlight her skills. The metadata she enters would then be stored online using IPFS storage, the preferred immutable storage system for web3.
For phase 1, the hyperlink that stores Sunita's information and her production of red skirts will be converted into a QR code and placed on the tag of that red skirt. A consumer who purchases the red skirt can simply scan the QR code with their phone and be redirected to the website that stores the information Sunita included in her NFT. This will allow Sunita to gain more recognition for her work, and the consumer will see how their purchase made a difference in her life and income.
This repository contains the base solidity code for minting NFTs and the code for the DApp that uploads individuals' information to the blockchain. The design emphasises simplicity and ease of use, ensuring that individuals with minimal knowledge can utilise the web application. Future improvement plans include testing the website with the women as phase 2, making the website smartphone-compatible and adding regional languages to further reduce the need for an instructor to assist workers in inputting their data.
Collaborators - Nakiyah Dhariwala: [email protected], Krina Shah: [email protected]