By Karla Aguerrebere | Project Leader
For more than a decade, a group of women artisans in the municipality of Huixtán has woven, with threads of collaboration and effort, a collective identity around textile production. Along the way, they have faced challenges to make decisions together and strengthen their organization, building a process of self-management based on continuous learning. Today, under the name of the Nichimal Kuxlejal Cooperative, they have consolidated an organizational model that has not only strengthened their autonomy, but has also become a reference for other women seeking to follow the same path. Aware of the importance of sharing their experience and knowledge, they have taken a new step: the construction of a program that allows them to replicate their process and accompany other groups in their transition towards sustainable cooperative models.
Thus was born the pilot program “Women walking from the collective to the cooperative”; a space for reflection and joint construction where the members of the cooperative have assumed the role of trainers, sharing from their own experience the principles, values and structures that sustain a cooperative. This is not a traditional training, but a methodology built from practice and experience. Each session is a key piece in the creation of an educational model that adapts to the reality of women artisans.
Of the eight sessions scheduled, four have already taken place. At each meeting, participants deepen their understanding of the fundamentals of cooperativism, not only to reinforce their own process, but also to define strategies to facilitate the understanding and appropriation of these principles in other groups. From the beginning, the methodology has been participatory and focused on the reality of the group, allowing knowledge to flow naturally, based on dialogue and shared experience.
The first session was dedicated to strengthening coexistence and trust among the participants. Although many have worked together for years, this space opened the possibility of reflecting on the importance of community as the foundation of cooperativism. Not only did they reaffirm the ties that bind them together, but they identified ways in which they could transmit this cohesion to future groups seeking to organize as cooperatives. What emerged as a dynamic of integration transcended into an affirmation of their collective identity and common purpose.
The following sessions focused on the values underpinning cooperative work. Through the exchange of knowledge, the women identified the essential qualities for building a community based on equity, solidarity and co-responsibility. With each discussion, the idea of a cooperative ceased to be a theoretical concept and became a tangible tool capable of transforming realities and strengthening the local economy. At the same time, the need to design pedagogical strategies arose to transmit these values to other women, ensuring that each group that embarks on this path has the necessary foundations to sustain itself and grow.
One of the most significant moments of the process was the reflection on the financial commitment involved in setting up a cooperative. Beyond the numbers and economic contributions, the participants understood that this commitment represents trust in a common project, the will to sustain it and the determination to make it grow. Different ways of contributing to the cooperative's sustainability were explored, from economic resources to in-kind contributions, and strategies were discussed so that each group could evaluate its financial viability and build security in its self-management process.
This program not only seeks to strengthen the cooperative that promotes it, but also to lay the foundations so that other women can replicate this model with clear and accessible tools. In the coming months, in addition to finalizing the sessions, work will be done on the preparation of a manual in the native language and visual materials that will allow these lessons to be shared with other groups of women artisans. The expectation is not only to consolidate this process within the cooperative, but also to inspire and accompany other women on their way to autonomy and recognition in the textile market.
The impact of this process is not only measured in terms of knowledge acquired, but in the personal and collective transformation of the women who have experienced it. With each session, the cooperative ceases to be an ideal and becomes a firm structure; a space for opportunities and growth. What was once just a working group is now a strengthened community that moves forward with the certainty that by working together they can build a more just, dignified and sustainable future.
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By Karla Aguerrebre | Project Leader
By Karla Aguerrebere | Project Leader
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