By Jackie Gilbert | Executive Director
Dear Supporters,
This year is shaping up to be our most impactful year yet, with more than double the enrollment in our Yala'yalaa School for Women's Empowerment compared to last year, a water project that brought clean water to hundreds of Wayuu people for the first time, and multiple community projects in the pipeline.
Here are some of the highlights from 2026 so far:
Bank Accounts & Financial Literacy Training for Wayuu Women
We started the year with an initiative to help 11 artisan leaders open bank accounts, allowing them to receive payments not only from One Thread Collective for their handwoven bags, but also from any international client they work with in the future.
Wayuu women often have no experience with the western banking system and remain stuck in the local cash economy, selling their bags at the marketplace where their customer base is limited and their work is undervalued. In addition to helping leaders open bank accounts and teaching them to use online banking, we hold bimonthly workshops on financial literacy, including lessons on basic arithmetic.
Developing Sustainable Community-led Projects
As part of our Yala'yalaa School for Women's Empowerment, we are training two groups of women living across 12 remote Wayuu communities to develop sustainable projects that improve quality of life in their remote villages.
In our Sustainable Community-Led Entrepreneurship Part 1 course, 55 Wayuu women meet monthly to identify priorities and brainstorm sustainable solutions to issues facing their communities, while Sustainable Community-Led Entrepreneurship Part 2 — attended by the previous year's graduates of Course 1 — focuses on implementing the project ideas developed the year before. Part 2's cohort has identified two projects that will be launched later this year: a regenerative farming initiative to revitalize traditional knowledge around agriculture, and a youth program for the teenaged daughters of the artisans to learn about their ancestral culture while receiving career guidance.
Innovating with Culturally-Inspired Designs & Natural Fibers
Eight artisans who have graduated from our Yala’yalaa School for Women’s Empowerment in previous years were selected to participate in our 2026 Product Innovation and Cultural Design Course, which meets monthly throughout the year as they develop new designs that tell stories about Wayuu culture. At the end of the course, they will receive a one-time payment recognizing their intellectual property and giving One Thread Collective the right to produce and distribute their designs.
The eight artisans who graduated from this course last year also returned for a second year to participate in Product Innovation Part 2: Natural Materials. This 6-month advanced courseexpands their knowledge and experience with natural fibers. With our guidance, they’re working on a new collection of designs using fique (an agave fiber) inspired by local landscapes and natural elements.
Water Filters & Workshops
In March we held four full-day workshops on water quality and distributed Sawyer water filters to more than 100 Wayuu women and their families across 13 rural communities. We also appointed “Water Ambassadors” in each community, training them in survey methods to gather data on the impact of the filters on families’ health and wellbeing. Baseline surveys and initial follow up surveys showed a 100% decrease in diarrhea among participants!
To the donors who made this possible:
Every bank account opened, every workshop held, every filter distributed was made possible because you decided that Wayuu women’s lives and leadership were worth investing in.
Thank you for seeing the Wayuu women we work alongside as the capable, resilient leaders that we know they are. Thank you for trusting us with your support and for staying with us as we build an even bigger 2026!
Links:
By Jackie Gilbert | Executive Director
By Jackie Gilbert | Executive Director
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