Honduras Threads (www.hondurasthreads.org)
Honduras Threads supports embroidery cooperatives in rural Honduran villages to enable women to earn money in their own communities making beautiful products in a safe environment to help themselves and their families. The first co-op was started in 2002 in Santa Cruz Arriba as a part of a mission trip from the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation in Dallas, Texas to provide the women with a way to earn money in their own village.
As organizers got to know the women in the first co-op, they learned three of the women were walking from Rincon de Delores three hours each way everyday because they needed work so badly. Three women were walking an hour and a half each way from Santa Cruz Abajo and four more an hour and a half each way from El Pedregal. They all asked for co-ops in their villages and said several more women would be able to work in the co-op if it were in their own village. Now there are more than 80 women working in six co-ops in rural communities near the capital city of Tegucigalpa. The women learn the appliqué technique and embroidery stitches as well as recordkeeping and business skills. They receive all of the proceeds of the sales, pay for their supplies (except for donated appliqué fabrics), contribute back to Honduras Threads for its services, and train their new members.
Honduras Threads provides initial training in technique and recordkeeping, the designs, donated fabrics, quality control, logistics, sales and marketing and access to supplies not available in Honduras. Honduras Threads is a form of microfinance that provides extensive training and ongoing assistance and training. The goal is to help the cooperatives achieve sustainability by working with them on production and distribution until they can take over all aspects of their businesses.
