Update from the Executive Director

Just back from Guatemala: it’s amazing to see impact we’ve had in our partner communities this year!

We work with nearly 400 women artisans who would have very little income without our help. And they have all had full time employment for the past few months! Just imagine the impact that has been having – their kids are having nutritious meals, all of their children are in school, and many of our partner artisans have been doing things to promote their families’ health (things that for Americans may seem very basic, but are a big investment in the regions where we work) like paving their floors (no more dirt floors!)

Members of three jewelry cooperatives and I discuss their work with Mercado Global.

It’s exciting to see how everyone working together – artisans, designers, sales team, clients, donors, advisors – has resulted in such big accomplishments. Our new partnerships with major specialty retail chains, catalogs, and department stores are now going to make it possible for us to double the number of women’s cooperatives we work with over the next 6 months. Stay tuned on how you can help us bring this model to more Highland families.

On this trip I met with many of the new groups that have been asking to partner with us.  The only income the women in these groups have right now is the pennies that middlemen pay them for their artesanias (check out the blog entry below for more details).  They have no savings or market of their own, so they have had no option but to work under these exploitative conditions.  We’re hoping to raise the funds to bring these groups into our program – if we can raise the funds to train these new groups and finance sales for them, we already have the sales base in place to provide fair wage income to them and many other new groups.

All very exciting …