Pathways to autonomy: tzotzil women's empowerment

Over the last three months, we have continued with the training and support processes for women artisans.

Strengthening design capabilities

During this period, the artisans have participated collectively in design processes, taking into account the needs of their markets, the competition, and the lessons learned throughout the training program. As a result, they have developed new product proposals.

For example, the Ach J Luchabil Antsetik Women Artisans Social Enterprise has made significant progress in scaling up traditional brocades. First, they select the brocade and perform scaling exercises on a grid, where each square represents a point in the fabric. Once the brocade is correctly scaled, they proceed to weave it on the backstrap loom. This exercise has been very valuable in promoting the artisans' innovation, differentiating them from other artisan groups and demonstrating their mastery of traditional processes.

“I am very happy with what we have achieved. At first, we thought it couldn't be done, because we had always made brocade of the same size, but now I am pleased to see the collections of cushions we have made with larger brocade. We have learned that if we try hard, we can achieve whatever we set our minds to,” said one artisan.

Strengthening internal and productive organization

Linking with fair trade markets, as part of our support model, is key to enabling artisans to generate income and strengthen their family finances. Therefore, these links are constantly promoted, allowing artisans to:

• Strengthen their internal organization and production processes, ranging from collective sourcing of raw materials and equitable distribution of orders to production monitoring.

•   Manage processes within their ESMAS.

•   Apply knowledge in total quality, costing, sampling, and labeling.

These processes have strengthened the ESMAS that have participated in this project.

With this final report, we would like to express our gratitude for your accompaniment and support throughout this project. Your contribution has been fundamental in strengthening the capacities, economic autonomy, and creativity of Tzotzil women artisans. Thank you for contributing to the construction of paths toward economic autonomy for women artisans.

We have continued the training program with the women artisans in order to strengthen the organizational and productive aspects of their social enterprises.

Organizational and Productive Strengthening Program of Women Artisans' Social Enterprises

During this stage, technical training was provided to two women's artisan social enterprises, whose members participated in a sewing workshop. During the training, the participants acquired basic knowledge about the use of sewing machines, carried out various practical exercises to master their operation, and concluded by making dresses. The purpose of this training is not only to diversify their production offer, but also to optimize processing times, since the processes were sewing by hand.

One of the artisans that participate in the sewing workshop, give her testimony and expressed her experience as follows:

“I am very happy to participate in the sewing workshop. At first it seemed very difficult and I was afraid to use the machine, but now I am learning and I feel more confident to use it. I am happy because now we can use the machine to finish our products.”

Participatory Craft Innovation Processes

As part of the accompaniment model implemented, the goal is for the artisans not only to acquire new knowledge, but also to take ownership of it and apply it in a practical way to strengthen their handicraft activity. An example of this is the notable increase in their capacity for innovation.

The participants have learned to: calculate production costs, improve the quality of their products, identify fashion trends and understand the importance of producing according to market needs. Based on these lessons, the artisans have initiated innovation processes geared to their own markets, incorporating color combinations in line with current trends, standardized measurements and higher-quality materials.

One artisan commented in this regard:

“I feel very happy because I learned how to design my products. Before, I didn't know how to combine colors, and I have learned through the workshops. Now we can design new products and offer them to customers.”

All The products that the artisans have developed are available for marketing at www.matat.org