Artisan cooperatives are ideal vehicles for rural development. Yet limitations in resources and capabilities constantly force them to look up to state initiatives to achieve excellence in marketing. To marshal the different types of artisan cooperatives under a single development program, multi-layered federations were established at the state and national-levels in India. However, a blanket approach in channelizing government policies through these federations failed to reach the primary cooperatives. With the notion that participatory approach is the only alternative to make ‘innovative marketing means’ successful, this study carries an audit to ascertain the level of inclusion of artisans in planning and implementation of state policies. Focusing on artisan cooperatives in Kerala, this study comprises of 10 village artisan cooperatives and five apex federations randomly selected from the State. The findings exemplify the level of inclusion of village units in the state programs.