Pathways to autonomy: tzotzil women's empowerment

During these months the Binational Network has continued with the training program for young indigenous women, prioritizing economic empowerment as a fundamental aspect of gender justice.

In the Crafts Development Center (CENDA), located in San Cristóbal de las Casas we impart a training program in cutting and tailoring with a duration of 3 months, in this workshop participates 20 young women artisans, the main objective of the course was to provided new knowledge and skills which allowed them to standardize the sizes, improve the quality, reduce physical time and effort to develop competitive products.

For the Network the transfer of knowledge is a key element to empowering the women artisans. To ensure that artisans appropriate the knowledge, the Binational Network, places orders based on the sizes chart learned in the course, this represents a competitive advantage to position themselves in the markets.

The accompaniment has been a key element during the training program, in addition to the classes that the artisans receive at the CENDA, the coordinator of the CENDA follows up in each of the ESMAS communities, helping them to make the orders fulfill the size charts requirements and quality improvements learned in the training.

In addition of this, new collections have been developed, for this the Binational Network first investigates the demand and subsequently prepares the organizational and productive conditions so that the craftswomen can meet the markets requirements.

During this period 4 collections have been developed, which are promoted in the online store MATAT´s brand of the Binational Network and in commercial spaces nationally and internationally such as the Paz market, in San Antonio Tx and Lummetik in El Paso,Tx.

The artisans, whom have participated in this training program, have had developed new business skills, enhancing their artisanal activity as an economic alternative to stay in their territories.