Tender for UK Expert Consultancy: 
East Asia Regional Craft and Design Programme

The British Council is seeking a UK-based organisation to support the delivery of a large-scale craft and design programme in East Asia called New for Old. The programme's regional objective is to promote, support and develop the craft sector, helping to make it a sustainable and viable sector for craft and design entrepreneurs and their communities. 

The first stage of the programme runs from April 2014 – March 2015 in Thailand, and The British Council is currently tendering for UK expertise to support the design and delivery of specific activities within the overall programme. 

These include the design and delivery of a residential training programme in Bangkok, follow-up training in delivering the curriculum effectively in communities, and dedicated mentoring of craft and design entrepreneurs to develop new market-demanded products over a period of 6 months. 

The selected organisation should have an interest and desire to engage with Thailand in the long term, and be able to work with UK designers in order to develop a continued dialogue between the craft and design sector in both countries along this first year of the programme, encouraging the creation of peer-to-peer dialogues and networks.

We are looking for organisations with a significant track record working with individual craft workers, designers and small to medium sized organisations; effectively mentoring and supporting them through the product development process. They should have experience designing and delivering training workshops, and supporting individuals to share and disseminate learning within communities.

There is scope for a further phase to include a UK showcase of the work resulting from the programme, so the selected UK organisation should have experience of curating and organising design exhibitions.

For full details of the oppurtunity and how to apply please view the Tender document here.

The deadline for applications is 5pm UK time on Friday 25 April 2014.