Empowering Mayan women through ancient textiles

The first semester 2018 has been full of experiences and achievements! We are excited to share with you the past three months updates:

In México, 72% of the indigenous population lives in poverty conditions. We are convinced of making actions as for this metric to change. The way we contribute to this change is by constructing bridges for indigenous women whom have less development opportunities, so that they can improve their lives by self-management and autonomy. There is no possible development without the active participation of women; it is a fact that the reality of the communities cannot be transformed without them.

With the last alliances and new groups of mayan women artisans that have agreed to collaborate with this project, Impacto is now serving close to 600 women from 12 indigenous communities in the Highlands of Chiapas, Mexico; some of them with the highest poverty rates in Mexico. We have made 42 in-situ field visits in these communities, in which we carried out workshops focused on creativity, product development, pricing, color palettes and tendencies, product finishes and quality.  

Aguacatenango and Larrainzar are two groups that recently join Impacto, the experience of working together and sharing experiences had been awesome. We had been able to construct bridges between the artisan women of Aguacatenango municipality and an international social brand, which allow them to expand worldwide the commercialization of their very high quality hand made products, at fair prices.

With the group of Larrainzar, we are carrying out workshops for 20 women who work with the backstrap-loom, making an excellent combination of talents all together. The goal of these workshops focuses on creativity and tendencies so that artisans can develop new and innovative products focused in a home collection that will be placed for their sell in the “Instituto Casa de Las Artesanías, Chiapas” stores, a government Institute which boosts the development of craft activities through the promotion of production and marketing, preserving and rescuing the historical and socio-cultural elements of the material and immaterial heritage of handicrafts.

With these exchanges of knowledges, besides their great talents and cultural heritage, the artisans women, day by day, are achieving autonomy and self-management as a way of improving their lives, while being able to reduce the cycle of inequality.

You are part of this positive impact in the lives of all this women, their children, their families and their whole communities. An important part of these achievements are possible because of your support. We are confident we will be counting on you, so that NGO Impacto will keep improving thousand of lives by being instrumental in reducing poverty and inequality.