By Kennedy Leavens | Executive Director
We’re excited to share recent updates from Awamaki’s work with women’s cooperatives in the Andes. Thanks to ongoing support from donors like you, it’s been a period of steady growth, but more than that, one of adjustment—responding to the realities artisan communities are navigating today, while continuing to build skills and open up new opportunities.
In recent months, workshops and trainings have continued—spaces not only for strengthening technical and business skills, but for experimenting. Together with artisans, we’ve been refining existing products and trying out new ideas, which has also shaped the development of Awamaki’s upcoming collection. For example,
In our Sustainable Tourism program, we’ve been offering trainings inhospitality and food, as more cooperatives begin to host visitors through our sustainable tourism opportunities. Shared meals are an important part of that experience, and artisans are exploring how to plan them and adapt dishes for different dietary needs as they prepare to welcome a wider range of visitors, including larger groups of tourists.
These shifts are happening alongside ongoing conversations with artisans about how daily life in the Andes is changing. Through interviews and informal exchanges, they’ve been sharing what they’re seeing: shifts in weather patterns that are affecting water access, agriculture, and even alpaca fiber production.
What they tell us is shaping how we design and produce. We’ve been rethinking our processes with a stronger focus on sustainability, looking to practices rooted in tradition and exploring natural dye techniques in more depth. This is also what led us to welcome a new design intern from Cusco to our team this year, who is supporting ongoing research and experimentation with natural dyes so that we can use natural dyes in a new line of handspun alpaca yarn. With support from donors like you, our team has worked with the artisans to develop this yarn in response to the way climate shifts are affecting alpaca production. Together with the artisans, we will soon offer a sustainable, direct, value-added alpaca yarn that reduces waste of valuable alpaca fiber.
At the same time, each partner cooperative continues to work to improve their business. In Awaq Phuna, the completion of a new center has already made a tangible difference, with the cooperative now hosting visitors and seeing a 63% increase in annual income. Behind the scenes, smaller shifts are also making an impact. New production equipment—including a heat press—has been improving efficiency and consistency in our workshop, allowing us to expand our product range and take on larger orders.
We’re looking ahead to the rest of 2026 with this momentum in mind, continuing to build on what your support has set in motion.
Thank you for being part of this work and for helping create sustainable opportunities for women artisans and their communities.
With gratitude,
Kennedy
By M. Kennedy Leavens | Executive Director
By M. Kennedy Leavens | Executive Director
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