Nos actions en faveur de l’empowerment des femmes au Vietnam

Our actions in favor of women's empowerment in Vietnam

On this Mother's Day, we would like to celebrate the lives and work of the 60 weavers we support in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Burma. What is the daily life of these women who live 10,000 km away from us?

A typical day in the life of a weaver

Weavers generally start their day by working in the fields, which allows them to feed themselves but also sometimes to sell part of their production. The day begins very early, around 6am! Most of them live in near self-sufficiency. It is only when they return from the fields, or when there is little agricultural work, that they weave.

They divide up the orders and tasks according to the villages. For example, in Dien Bien Phu, the weavers cultivate, spin, dye with plants and weave cotton!

Here, No winds the cotton threads.

We present to you the talented H'GrocEn, in the middle of weaving the superb Cim Lio turquoise cushion ! On the latter float geometric patterns inspired by a majestic flight of birds. She weaves by hand, at her own pace and in small quantities, which is in line with the concept of slow design: producing less and better.

KSor Aly, for her part, weaves in her house in Pleiku. Patiently, she interweaves warp and weft to weave, little by little, the fabric that will be used to sew a pretty blue cushion, which bears her name. She is meticulous because, like us, she is passionate and she likes a job well done!

KGut is passionate about dyeing and weaving; her dream is to pass on her know-how to her daughter!

How does Opportunity for Women integrate the “social” component into its project?

At Opportunity for Women, we are happy to collaborate every day with the weavers and very proud of their beautiful creations! Indeed, our association has given itself the mission of boosting the empowerment of women from different ethnic minorities in Southeast Asia. By empowerment, we mean “realizing oneself personally and professionally, through one's own abilities, in order to progress in society and improve one's living conditions”. The women are truly actors in the project and it is together that we modify the patterns in order to adapt them to your contemporary interior.

Our goal is to promote the artisanal work of weavers, by ensuring their good working conditions, their fair pay and by participating in their professional training.

In this way, we encourage craftswomen in the exercise of their know-how, by helping them structure their activity and by promoting their access to resources that can allow them to create and develop. In addition, their work is paid at its fair value based on the time spent on the creation of each design. We make it a point of honor to pay women a decent daily wage, which allows them to live well and finance the schooling of their children. We agree with the craftswomen on the value of this, by revising the average local wage upwards.

Vocational training actors

Through sales and donations, we fund equipment and training for weavers. In May 2022, the weavers of Dien Bien Phu improved their plant dyeing techniques through training with a Vietnamese expert.

A big congratulations to all the weavers and a happy Mother’s Day to all!

Would you like to make a donation to fund the professional training of weavers? Visit helloasso !

Thank you for them!

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