Mujer Virtuosa

On March 8-12 I went to Honduras, my country, to establish relationships with artisans from Lempira and Intibuca. I was invited by FUNDEIMH, a Non Profit organization that works towards the development of women in Honduras and also by the President of the Congress and his wife, Juan Orlando and Ana Hernández.

The purpose of the trip was to meet and talk with various artisans, look at their craft, get a better understanding of their home and work environment, resources available to them, and needs.

Mrs. Divina Guevara de Tercero, one of the founders of FUNDEIMH, planned an extraordinary trip where I was able to visit 5 municipalities from Lempira and 2 municipalities from Intibuca. At each municipality I was greeted by their Mayor and by many local artisans. Most of the artisans were women and many of them expressed gratitude because it was the first time that they were given an opportunity to be heard.

I saw a lot of need but I also saw much potential. Many of the women were members of organized coops and had a basic understanding of how to make a product and sell it. However, they lacked training in many areas such as: pricing their products at a fair wage, making products that are marketable with good quality and design, understanding and reaching their market, purchasing raw materials at lower costs, meeting production deadlines and most importantly they did not know how to mass produce their craft.

For example: I asked them “If I wanted to buy 500 units of one of their crafts, how long would it take to make them, package them and deliver them? What would be the total cost?”  They wouldn’t know how to answer those questions. In fact, one of the artisans responded: ” Well these baskets are made out of a unique type of pine tree and sometimes we spend all day looking in the forest for it and we come back home empty handed…so if you are lucky you will find enough to make 2 of these baskets” With this kind of response, a production of 500 baskets is out of the question.

Despite the lack of training, each of these women are eager to learn and put their hands to good use. Within them is a deposit of energy waiting to be guided in the right direction. It is my desire to tap this energy and with it sustain families and hopefully even communities. The questions are how and when.

How? By creating a team of artists, designers, business entrepreneurs, non profit organizations and government officials that partner with the artisans to provide:

• Training in:
  • Product Development
  • Design
  • Production
    • Quality Control
    • Efficient use of time and resources
    • Raw materials and finished goods inventory
    • Identifying Supervisors within their coops to keep track of production, inventory and quality control
    • Accounting and administrative skills
  • Becoming a Fair Trade Coop
  • Packaging and shipping
• An opportunity to compete in the Local and Global market place
• Community art projects that create employment
• Communication liaisons between the customer and the artisan
  • An intermediary that communicates on a weekly basis with a network of artisan coops and with the customer
  • An intermediary that acts as the distribution warehouse for  finished goods and raw materials
  • An intermediary that handles sales and order fulfillment
  • An intermediary that organizes training workshops
    • Organizes location, times, transportation, etc.
    • Arranges logistics for the technicians

The above illustration explains the partnership model I am proposing. Click on the image to get a more clear view.

When can we get this started? It already has! I am gathering a group of artists, designers, and business owners to partner with FUNDEIMH and the President of the Congress of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández. It is my hope to coordinate this project and develop a successful repeatable model that can be implemented in other communities in Honduras and other parts of the world!

This is my new art project…not necessarily the traditional art piece you would think of!!!!