Our fields of action and the projects we support
The Foundation has decided to deepen relationships with women in the Southern hemisphere in order to facilitate their emancipation and improve their living conditions. Here are a few aims we hope to achieve through the projects we support :
- better social integration thanks to economic emancipation
- more and better education as well as training for girls and women
- the setting up of new companies
- awareness among the public in the North of the plight of women in the South.
 Travel diary, Amisse Foundation / AVSF French NGO - Bolivia 2011
Wednesday, June 8 - El Alto, Q’antati women artisans cooperative
Q’antati means “sunrise” in Aymara, the indigenous language spoken by the women of the Q’antati cooperative. “The sun rises on us, the women, our future, our children’s futures, and the future of our country of Bolivia” are the words of one of the first women in the cooperative, which was founded twenty years ago.
Established in 1979, Q’antati now involves 25 women who weave and sell alpaca clothing in the United States and Belgium. The Amisse Foundation has supported Q’antati in renovating their workshop and purchasing weaving machines to improve production and open new markets. New orders are already coming in from a chain of stores in the United States.
“The cooperative made it possible for me to raise my six children, and I’m proud because my daughter went to school and is now a nurse at the La Paz hospital.”
“I’ve always seen my mother work very hard and I’m proud of everything she has done for Q’antati. My hope is that the cooperative will live on and develop as much as possible. “
   
Thursday, June 9 - Village of Cobija, in the Bolivian Amazon in the department of Pando
We leave for the Amazon on the Brazilian-Peruvian border. Presentation meeting by Cioec (Integrating Coordinator for the Rural Economy Organizations of Bolivia) about the use of castanaou Brazil nuts collected and sold via fair trade.
A tour of the Coinacapade cooperative, which stores Brazil nuts and where the group’s women manufacture products from these nuts (oil, candies, cakes, decorative objects).
  
Friday, June 10 - Amazon Rainforest - Florida Community
A tour of the Amazon rainforest, explanations about harvesting Brazil nuts and rubber. A meeting with farmers’ wives, discussing their needs and their desire to form cooperatives to generate their own business activities around Brazil nuts.
  
Wednesday, June 15 - La Paz
A visit to the premises of the NGO AVSF, post-visit debriefing, discussion of current and future projects.
Thank you to Sarah, Jaime, Catalina, and Barbara for their hospitality and clear explanations…
Q'antati, the Women Artisans of El Alto, Bolivia
  
The objective of the Q'antati project is to assist the Bolivian women most affected by the harsh rural, geographic, and climatic setting and challenging life engendered by such conditions. The textile craft industry helps women add to the family earnings, serving as a source of employment and complementary income.
These women currently hand-make clothing from Camelidae wool, including gloves, hats, scarves, and sweaters, which they resell on the domestic market, as well as on markets abroad through international fair-trade networks. By helping modernize their business, the foundation assists in improving their productivity and production quality. They can thus differentiate their products on the market and create new products, as well, while preserving their cultural savoir-faire. The plan is to introduce a level of mechanization with full respect for the traditional knowledge possessed by these women, so as to help them adapt to a market ever on the lookout for new designs and products.
This six-month project will unfold in three phases:
• bringing the weaving workshop up to industrial standards and investing in machines and equipment.
• training associates in production techniques and innovation/production launches.
• training the association’s leaders in the arts and crafts industry.
The mission’s objective is to create better working conditions (premises, machines, etc.), guide an improved manufacturing approach (raw materials, production time, billing management, etc.), and enhance notions of a development strategy (tourism-related sales, fair trade, etc.). This project will help the women of Q'antati ensure that the association and their incomes last well into the future. Taking such action will mean the women will have a say in their work and future, and will be involved, over the short- and long-term, in both management and decision-making.
In partnership with AVSF www.avsf.org or www.ruralter.org.
1 femme, 1 foyer, 1 forêt (1 woman, 1 stove, 1 forest) - Burkina Faso
  
The purpose of the 1 femme, 1 foyer, 1 forêt project is to help the most destitute households, with a particular view to supporting women shea butter producers, while also raising their awareness about the broader issues of protecting the natural environment and, more specifically, the shea tree.
In concrete terms, the project’s plan is to reach 1000 professional women in the shea supply network in 2010 in the Léo, Koudougou-Réo, and Ouagadougou regions of Burkina Faso. How? By helping these women producers obtain the improved stoves needed for producing shea butter via a local partner microfinance institution, which would also guarantee them training in repayment of their loan and use of the stoves. These improved wood and gas stoves help reduce energy loss, save wood, and limit the harmful smoke generated by the traditional fireplaces the women use, which can be hazardous to their health.
1 femme, 1 foyer, 1 forêt thus makes it possible to:
• Sustainably organize and support production and marketing networks of improved wood and gas stoves for shea butter producers, while allowing better working conditions and enhanced production for these women.
• Raise the population’s awareness on issues of sustainable development and decrease by half the women’s consumption of wood for cooking, with positive impact on environmental protection and health improvements.
• Encourage the local partner microfinance institutions to diversify their financial and non-financial services and become true promoters of sustainable development, particularly in the fight against deforestation.
Amisse Foundation travel diary - Benin-Burkina Faso - September 2009
   
Tuesday September 22
Arrive at Cotonou in Benin, with Hubert de Beaumont from the NGO Tech Dev. Leave for Sakété to meet with the cooperative of 38 women. Meet with the women, the NOA Association, and Pierre Thoo, program leader at the Bureau d’Appui aux Artisans (craft industry support bureau).
Wednesday September 23
Tour storage and processing workshop that is under construction and which will help women better store the corn that they buy, allowing them to transform it into gari for sale, or to produce palm oil with palm nuts. Visit other women’s organizations around Sakété, also processing and selling corn and palm oil. Leave for Burkina Faso.
Thursday September 24
Arrive in Ouagadougou. Meet Burkina managers of NGO Entrepreneurs du Monde. Visit a women’s association having had access to microcredit through the Asiena network for financing machines to support them in their various activities (weaving, dolo beer production, etc.).
Friday September 25
Meet with the social entrepreneurship manager of Entrepreneurs du Monde to assist in financing improved wood stoves, helping women optimize their working and production conditions, particularly for shea butter processing.
Meet with Mr. Ouedraogo of APSERN and Helvetas; APSERN addresses sustainable exploitation of natural resources and to find outlets for plantations and networks being built (Moringa, organic cotton, sesame, etc).
Saturday September 26
Tour a spirulina farm with Entrepreneurs du Monde. Spirulina is a microalgae containing a wealth of nutrients in very small quantities. This substance is priceless in situations where malnutrition is a concern. The Asiena network, in collaboration with Entrepreneurs du Monde, helps women grow and sell spirulina through access to microcredit and the follow-up to and monitoring of these loans. Visit fields of Moringa, a tropical, multi-purpose, fast-growing, and drought-resistant tree. Moringa is now the subject of growing international interest from NGOs, researchers, and the private sector as a nutritional supplement, a water treatment flocculant, cosmetic oil, a vegetable, and fodder.
Sunday September 27
Visit the ABPJF cooperative which employs 80 women in the processing and export sale of organic and certified fair-trade shea butter. Meet with ABPJF president, Mrs. Nikuema. |
