Economic Resilience in the Mexican Selva: 14 Tseltal Women Become Entrepreneurs
Project status: ongoing
SDGs addressed:
From ASL we continue collaborating with IXIM, A.C., a non-profit organisation that works with women’s groups in Tseltal Indigenous communities that suffer serious rights violations and inequality. IXIM, A.C. offers a training and accompaniment program to these groups in order to improve the economic, social, and environmental situation of the communities. The result of this support is the creation of savings and loan groups as well as productive entrepreneurship initiatives to improve families’ economic conditions.
Currently, ASL’s support will strengthen the community entrepreneurship project led by 14 Tseltal women in the community of San Pedro Tulijà, in the municipality of Chilón, Chiapas, Mexico. After five years working within IXIM, A.C.’s proposed pathway, they seek to consolidate an enterprise dedicated to producing food products, nutritional supplements, and beverages made with local ingredients and processing techniques that extend their shelf life and optimal consumption quality. The project has a social and solidarity economy approach, combining training, technological innovation, and business education to expand their market at local, regional, and national levels.
IXIM, A.C.’s entire support itinerary aims to empower these communities so they can self-manage their resources and find collective solutions to the social challenges they face, becoming active agents of change. The methodology used is based on respecting the sovereignty of the communities the organisation works with and on the principles of the Social and Solidarity Economy. The aim is to achieve Buhts’an Quin’al (a Tseltal term that implies harmony with oneself, with others, and with nature). To reach this goal of full self-management, a learning process led by IXIM is necessary, initially more guided but progressively moving towards full individual and collective autonomy. At the same time, the pathway must be their own—collective, informed, and transparent—and both parties must understand the responsibility and commitment involved.
Una col·laboració amb:
Un projecte amb el suport de:
