Indigenous Craftswomen Entrepreneurs

This project was born with the intention of promoting the women of the Makuu community, Wayúu ethnic groups, in La Guajira; and the community of Cumbal de Los Pastos in Nariño, tangible and sustainable opportunities for socioeconomic inclusion and empowering them as agents of social transformation in their communities, in order to improve their living conditions.

40 women and their families participate in this project developed by PepsiCo and the Foundation ACDI/VOCA LA, which contributes to strengthening their skills for artisanal micro-enterprise and their soft skills, favouring their self-recognition and self-care.

General objective

Provide the necessary conditions to strengthen the empowerment of artisanal women belonging to two indigenous communities, by preserving their traditions, to promote the commercialisation of their products and to provide micro-business strengthening to improve their quality of life.

Specific objectives

Through the virtualization that was carried out in the DecidoSer workshops, the development of soft skills is encouraged, self-recognition in the community is promoted, and the development of indigenous women’s life projects is promoted.
Through the “Organization for artisan production” tutorials, the aim is to strengthen skills around concepts such as: value chain, SWOT analysis, fair sale price, photography and management of social networks. This in order for the artisans to develop skills from the organization for the production and marketing of their fabrics.
Promote technological inclusion as a tool to facilitate their own organization processes, the dissemination of the knowledge of each community and the commercialization of artisan products.
Through development and innovation based on tradition, we want to generate productive chains and commercial alliances that allow the growth and diffusion of the craft trade of the communities.

Scope

This project seeks that, through the linkage of the productive chain, artisan women achieve a process of appropriation of their capacities and become an active part of their communities.

The achievements and results of these actions can be grouped in the following way:

Cultural enrichment: the female participants reinforce their confidence, value and pride towards their artisan trade and express the desire to remain faithful to their traditions, while strengthening their technical and production skills with what they have learned in the series of tutorials of “Organization for artisanal production”.
With the methodology of the DecidoSer program, the women have acquired, recognised and strengthened their positive aspects from the individual to the collective. The interest to participate in the training process is manifested in a series of skills that reflects a positive and realistic vision of the perceptions, behaviours and prosocial attitudes that they have of their environment. Likewise, women feel more secure and orientated around a common objective, which is based on achieving their achievements through the development of their artisan enterprise.
During the project, the women relied on field advise from Sonia Calvache (in Nariño) and Marta Ramírez (in Guajira) textile designers who oversaw monitoring the technical improvement of the fabrics and the finishes of the products. This with the aim of developing the “Weaving dreams” collection, which through the exploration and innovation of the traditional textile techniques was able to represent the expertise of each community in their craft trade.
The development of the Weaving Dreams collection and its respective launch took place in Santamaria House, where there was a showroom with the objects from the collection. In addition, Iris Aguilar (Leader of Makuu) and Blanca Tarapués (Leader of Chavialas) participated in person, talked with local designers in search of possible future alliances around co-creation.
Access to technological tools such as WhatsApp and Instagram were transversal throughout the project. The branding development of Wayaa Makuu and Chavialas was a key point to introduce the artisan enterprises in the market and give voice to the communities through Instagram. This space sought to close the gap between the artisan and the final customer, showing up close the materials, the symbols, the artisanal processes, the culture and the environment of each community.
Despite the difficult conditions of low connectivity, the artisan women had a tablet on hand that allowed them to take pictures and videos of their day-to-day lives, acquiring more skills in this field thanks to a basic photography tutorial that was shared with the community. All the audiovisual material fed the Instagram profiles of the communities and generated a strong process of technological inclusion.

Partners

PEPSICO, ALELI Home Décor, USAID and ACDI/VOCA Alliances for Reconciliation Program and ACDI/VOCA LA Foundation.

Indigenous Craftswomen Entrepreneurs

General objective

Specific objectives

Scope

Partners

Other Projects

Training and job placement of young people

Collection center in the Gulf of Morrosquillo

Banco de Bogotá bets on Inclusion

Initiatives with Wayuu communities

Jagüeyes to improve the living conditions of Wayuu communities

SocialSea

CONTACT US

OF INTEREST

WRITE US