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.