By Brenda Salazar | Development Officer, PSYDEH
Since our last report, your generous donation has played a crucial role in empowering rural and Indigenous women to drive positive change within their communities. Let us share some of the impact we've been making in rural Hidalgo, Mexico!
Project Impact Continues
Our Sierra Madre Network and Tech for All programming focuses on implementing strategies in order for local women to generate a fair income for their products and ensure the long-term sustainability of their cooperatives, in alignment with PSYDEH’s established methodology, centered in popular education. The growing network of cooperatives have 3 main objectives:
Here are some of our meaningful milestones since the beginning of the year.
Annual team retreat: During a four-day period from January 11 to 14, 2023, PSYDEH’s field and satellite teams convened for our annual retreat. The retreat’s fundamental purpose was to engage in team building and strategic planning activities for 2023. Additionally, we were able to build and deepen personal connection and team solidarity by fostering stronger interpersonal connections between staff who don’t usually work out of the same physical spaces.
Cooperative Business School: We used 2022 learnings when designing this year’s cooperative business school curriculum, complete with 18 dynamic professional skills-building workshops a total of 72 professional development training hours per cooperative. This year’s curriculum helps women to formalize their cooperatives under Mexican law and invites them to consider how personal development, professional skills, collaborative work, solidarity, human rights and technology can enhance their entrepreneurial work. The cooperatives are currently halfway through the curriculum and are on track to complete full training hours by the end of the year.
In both March and May, PSYDEH’s women-led cooperative network achieved a significant milestone as entrepreneurs by organizing and attending their first two sales events ever in Mexico City. These events marked a pivotal moment for the cooperatives as they showcased their debut collections consisting of over two-hundred remarkable innovative, handmade textiles. These events provide women with valuable professional experience in production, sales and event planning. During the March pop-up sales event, the cooperative network connected with over 60 buyers and sold more than 20% of the collection within one day. In May, the cooperatives joined a dynamic event for women entrepreneurs in the city, “EntrepreneuHers de CDMX”, where cooperative members sold more products and made meaningful new connections with other women entrepreneurs. These achievement not only signifies a successful entry into the national and global markets, but also serves as a testament to the talent, dedication, and entrepreneurial spirit of our women partners and staff.
Testimonies
“I see for my future something that will benefit not only us, but also our families - because it has made us see what we are capable of, in the future we hope to create a business or create something that we enjoy and makes us be better people.” Cooperative Member
“A cooperative is a group of people walking towards the same goal, I realized that it was easier to go together than if I went alone... together is better.” Cooperative Member
"For all that we have grown and believed, I am thrilled to see women graduating, believing in cooperative work and inspiring other women. To think that maybe the persistence and the workshops made them believe fills me with pride." Jazmín Manrique Vargas, PSYDEH Field team Leader
"Our teamwork workshop, for example, was designed by colleagues with the objective of recognizing how important it is to work as a team and also inviting a first approach to technology. With the challenge of installing the projector and the computer, some colleagues were afraid to touch the devices. Doña Martha said "I'm afraid to grab it because I can break it". Citlali Aparicio Estrada, PSYDEH Field Team Leader
What's next?
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