This project will allow 100 Guatemalan weavers to launch a business selling updated traditional dresses to young working women. Participants will learn skills such as quality control and marketing.
Young women in Guatemala wear beautiful woven and embroidered indigenous clothing as a matter of pride. Yet weavers struggle to earn a living because of the high cost of raw materials. AFEDES will open a store to sell raw materials at an affordable price. It will recruit 100 women from its member groups to participate in training workshops to learn to produce and sell weavings that respond to the needs of the local market.
Conduct workshops on production and marketing. Launch a store to make raw materials affordable and to market new styles of traditional clothing to working women. Produce educational video about how weaving can be a viable source of income.
Increased income for at least 100 women who will use it to send their children to school. Young women will continue their indigenous heritage by wearing woven clothes. The video will be used to expand the project to other villages.
This project has provided additional documentation in a Microsoft Word file (projdoc.doc).