Cooperative Partnerships
AUDA partners with cooperatives and small businesses committed to fair trade and community development. Through these partnerships, more than 200 children in the Lake Atitlan area have received scholarships. AUDA primarily works with these three women’s cooperatives:
Grupo de Mujeres Tejadores Ajbatz’Bal’ – San Juan la Laguna, Sololá, Guatemala
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The Ajbatz’Bal’ cooperative is a group of 26 indigenous Tzutujil women living in San Juan la Laguna. These women, though most of them abandoned by their husbands, each have families to support, totaling 96 children.
Due to their impoverished situations, they rely on some of the profits from the woven goods they sell through Ajbatz’ Bal’. All the textiles made by this cooperative are carefully-crafted hand-woven goods. Plants found around the lake and in Guatemala are used for dying the thread: blackberries and violet for purple; chilque for light green; seeds of achote for red; carrot for orange; oak bark for brown, nanci for pink; and avocado tree bark for light brown; many other colors are made from combinations. Then, the women weave the textiles on a backstrap loom before crafting them into beautiful useful and/or wearable items of the traditional Guatemalan style and stitching. Women in this cooperative receive the first half of payment with the order, and another payment once the goods are delivered. When the goods are sold through AUDA, they receive scholarships for their children, and community development funds-- thus it adheres to the “Fair-Trade” promise.
Cooperative members: 26 women
Children (indirect beneficiaries): nearly 100
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Artesanas Tzaput – Choa Cruz Tzaput, Sololá, Guatemala
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During the early 1990’s, these women formed the Artesanas Tzaput cooperative to create a support network. Currently, the cooperative holds group meetings occasionally to review their goals, which ultimately is to increase the number of children who receive a formal education.
Their artisan cooperative also allows the mothers to provide for their children while still living in their native highlands community and also maintain the Mayan weaving traditions. Due to the economic and psychological stress this community has experienced, most women in the Artesana Tzaput cooperative never attended school. Women in Tzaput exclusively speak Kakchiqel, one of Guatemala’s 24 indigenous languages. With the help from AUDA and Education & More in Guatemala, mothers in the community have been able to send their children to school.
Cooperative members: 16 women
Children (indirect beneficiaries): more than 50
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Asociación Mujeres Artesanas Ixkoqa Tzolojya / Mujeres Analizadoras – El Tablón, Sololá, Guatemala
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Artesanas Ixkoqa Tzolojya was founded in 1992 when the women of El Tablón recognized the need to generate their own income to make a living after their husbands left them.
El Tablón’s close proximity to military barracks resulted in a high number of disappearances during Guatemala’s civil war. Women from the community are still recovering from the resulting financial and emotional strain. Now, the women have formed a strong cohesive group where they have established their own goals and evaluate their issues yearly. Ixkoqa Tzolojya cooperative is known for the quality and range of their designs in jewelry, textiles, and baskets. They have made sales at two schools in Quetzaltenango and at the local tourist market in Panajachel. With the help of AUDA and Solomon’s Porch in Panajachel, primary and middle school scholarships were awarded to the children of El Tablón. As the sales of their products increase, this cooperative hopes to build a community center where additional cooperative members can be trained and mentored as an entire group.
Cooperative members: 28 women
Children (indirect beneficiaries): 30 |
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