Empowering Communities Across Northeast India

Nainawk Foundation for Development Initiatives (NFDI) was established in 2023 as a registered non-profit organization dedicated to promoting sustainable livelihoods, preserving indigenous knowledge, and empowering rural communities in Mizoram.
Before NDFI was Weave Me More Dreams, an enterprise born on July 2022, out of a passion for creating something beautiful and reviving lost tradition, while supporting the lives of people from the most remote places, working out of their own homes. After months of creating beautiful work, the need for strengthening and enhancing the other aspects of the lives of the rural artisanal community was very strong as it was a daunting task for a mere start-up, with no financial or organizational support. This need and the dream of working alongside the grass-root in development was realized as NFDI, registered as a Section 8 Company on 11^th Sep 2023. Since its inception, the foundation has worked with more than 50 loin-loom and frame-loom weavers across various villages in Mizoram, revitalizing traditional Mizo weaving through product innovation, the provision of raw materials, capacity building, and market linkages. Under incubation with Roots to Branches Foundation, Guwahati, NFDI supports internally displaced weavers in Sesawng Village to strengthen traditional weaving livelihoods. With National Foundation for India (NFI), NFDI is supporting weavers through setting up of a weaver society, opening a yarn store and training of weavers in warping and introducing them to motorised winding. Through these initiatives, NFDI is helping preserve the rich cultural heritage of Mizo handloom while enabling sustainable income generation and economic empowerment for rural tribal women.