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Training in traditional Quechua clothing making for women in Tarabuco

Horizons 19

Context

Bolivia is one of the poorest countries in South America and still suffers from a significant divide between its rural and urban populations. 231,000 rural inhabitants live in extreme poverty, facing limited access to property and declining productivity. These social problems are inextricably linked to the climate disasters that affect the region's agriculture, such as droughts and soil erosion. These impoverished agricultural populations face a difficult job market, pushing them to migrate north.

This growing migration rate appears to threaten the country's cultural richness, symbolized in particular by its 37 official languages. Indeed, we are witnessing an acculturation of communities to dominant Western societies, leading to the gradual disappearance of ancestral practices and traditional clothing.

It is from this observation that the Horizons 19 association decided to offer training in the Rijch'Ariy center to 10 peasant women from Tarabuco, teaching them how to make and sell traditional Quechua clothing.

Project objectives

  • Contributing to the economic empowerment of farming families through the making and selling of traditional clothing
  • Preserving and promoting Quechua culture
  • Contributing to the emancipation of women in Tarabuco

Activities

  • Cultural painting workshop
  • Training in sewing and traditional clothing making
  • Clothing sales training
  • Renovating the center to host events
  • Organization of a cultural promotion festival

Direct beneficiaries

  • 10 women farmers who are participating in the workshops
  • A total of 350 people, including families, other trained individuals, and expected festival-goers.

Social networks

Through its Microprojects division, the La Guilde association, in partnership with the French Development Agency, supports the implementation of microprojects in the service of sustainable development internationally.