Pathways to autonomy: tzotzil women's empowerment

During this last quarter, the artisans continued with their training processes focused on strengthening their soft skills and entrepreneurial capabilities, in order to strengthen their transformational leadership and human development.

The artisan development center facilitated a series of workshops focused on improving the overall quality of their products in which the artisans learned about: washing raw materials, arranging patterns on the fabric for optimization, different techniques for washing the final product and ironing according to the raw materials.

“These workshops have been of great importance because we have learned how to improve the overall quality of our products, not only in cleaning, but in the entire production process,” said one artisan.

In addition, we have continued to implement the strategy of access to fair trade markets, which has allowed artisans to generate income in their homes as a means of building their economic autonomy.

 At the regional level, meetings have been held with other artisan leaders to share what is happening to them, the challenges they face as women leaders in their communities.

The methodology of accompaniment combines theory with practice and it is in the production where the knowledge acquired by the artisans during the workshops is materialized, the collections that have been made can be purchased at the online store of the Binational Network www.matat.org.

During the last 3 months the artisans have continued with their training processes, we have focused on technical training with the objective that the artisans develop skills and abilities that allow them to strengthen their craft activity, on the other hand, it is important the specialization of the Social Enterprises of Women Artisans to orient their productions to a market segment.

The artisans of the Social Enterprise “Las Rosas” conducted a participatory analysis and concluded that their productions have been focused mainly on women and that the men's sector as a market segment has been neglected; therefore, they generated ideas of products that can be integrated into their offer to diversify it.

The need to learn how to make shirts was identified, so a cutting and sewing course was offered at the Centro de Desarrollo Artesanal, where the craftswomen have learned how to: lay out and cut the fabric, work with patterns or molds, and have perfected the finishing of their products. In the first stage of the course they made men's shirts with mao and casual collars.

“Now we are learning to make men's shirts, it is more difficult but we are happy because we are learning something new and we hope that our products will be liked so we can sell them and have our own resources”, said one artisan.

On the other hand, the Binational Network cooperative has strengthened its market access strategy so that the ESMAS artisans can link up and consolidate their commercial alliances that allow them to generate income and contribute to their economic empowerment. It is possible to purchase the products of the craftswomen in the online store www.matat.org.

“Before I didn't know how to use a sewing machine, I was afraid of hurting myself, but with the course I have learned to feel more confident and I am very happy to see the results, we are making progress as a social enterprise and we are happy about that”, said one of the artisans.