More than a year has passed since the beginning of the project “Empowering indigenous women in Guatemala through technical and business training oriented to self employment”, co-financed by OFID, which the FPSC develops in the regions of Sololá and Chimaltenango, in consortium with the local partner FUDI (Foundation for Integral Development).
This vocational training project is aimed at indigenous women living in extreme poverty, enabling them to strengthen their knowledge in three areas that are in great demand in the local market: crafts, food processing and agricultural production. The training programs are carried out with a methodology adapted to the beneficiaries, who have a very low or no level of education, and who in most of the cases also have difficulty understanding Spanish.
Once acquired the knowledge about the elaboration, manufacture and production of these products, in a second phase they will be able to commercialize them directly and to create their own projects of auto-undertaking, incorporating them, in this way, to the productive process. To this end, the project supports women in this second stage, through the accompaniment and continuous support in the formulation and monitoring of their business plans, and providing materials and equipment necessary for the start up.
By strengthening the opportunities and access to women’s formal economy, and thus their autonomy, it also contributes to equality between women and men and, likewise, to the economic growth of these impoverished areas, generating entrepreneurship projects.
In these months of project execution, the development of the same march as expected, having exceeded the number of beneficiaries planned for this year. To date, 328 women have received training in workshops related to bakery, basketry, jewelry or handicrafts, among others. Many of them, moreover, have already started their own businesses, having the opportunity to sell their products through the trade wing of the Ixoqi Association.