In 1990, the Second Edition of the International Arts and Handicraft Trade Show of Ouagadougou (SIAO) through the conference topic “African Handicraft and creativity” has set up a consultation and reflection framework namely: the Coordination Committee for Development and Promotion of African Handicraft” (CODEPA).

 

The African participants and foreign observers of the 1988 and 1990 conferences have noticed that handicraft sector significantly contributes to the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of African countries and that it also provides a means of perpetuating the invaluable cultural values.

 

A review conducted by these participants has helped in listing the major obstacles to the development and promotion of African handicraft which are the same in almost all African countries with a few exceptions. These obstacles can be classified as follows: Technical, institutional, Economic, commercial, organizational, etc.

 

Indeed, insufficient training and technical supervision of craftsmen does not always allow them to produce products of quality corresponding to the requirements of domestic and international demand.

 

At the economic level, domestic demand for handicrafts remains weak; the import of apparent industrial products to handicraft products considerably reduces the demand to those of local handicrafts.

 

Moreover, the absence of legislation adapted to the activities of the sector and its sometimes split between several state-owned institutions, means that, on the one hand, this means that resources allocated to the sector are dispersed among these institutions. The list of difficulties related to the craft sector is not exhaustive.

The Country Representatives, the Managers of the management structures and the craftsmen themselves recognized the need to organize autonomously within the framework of an African structure. Hence the creation of CODEPA in October 1992.