A Community-Based Artisan Production Export Project

Cloudforest Initiatives community-based artisan project aims to provide autonomous Maya communities with a non-agricultural base of support with the manufacture of low-tech artisan crafted iron and wood products, to strengthen their organization and struggle for self-determination, and to promote the preservation and management of available forestry and other natural resources.

History of the Project

The project started in 1996, when the prototypes of the ornamental handcrafted wood and iron bookcases were designed and produced with the help of San Cristobal de las Casas' artisans. By the end of 1997 over sixty bookcases had been built and transported to the US for retail. In March, 1998, Cloudforest Initiatives started to work with the organized Maya-Tzotzil group of Magdalenas in the Chiapas highlands. We reached an agreement to work together starting with a training program and the construction of a community owned workshop. Throughout 1998 four young men took courses in forged ironwork and carpentry. In order to learn the project management, they also took classes in math, accounting, drawing, basic design, and Tzotzil/Spanish literacy. The training program and production has been housed in a San Cristobal building. In the summer of 1998, a beautiful community owned workshop was built in the village of Magdalenas. To date, more community people have received artisan-work training and are presently working in the production of these carefully crafted iron and wood products.

Travel Seminars

Staff at Cloudforest Initiatives have been leading educational delegations to Chiapas and Central America for over 20 years. We follow an action-reflection methodology to observe, analyze and reflect on our experiences in Chiapas on a daily basis. We do this with regular reflection/debriefing sessions. We work by forming a community of learners to help one another with our travel experience. In our travel programs you will have the opportunity to meet with many sectors of society and experience many aspects of the culture.

Programs typically include: discussions with human rights workers; with women's rights organizers; with church leaders (Catholic and Evangelical) working for social justice; political parties and citizen organizations; economic and political updates and analysis to better understand the reality in southern Mexico; anthropologists and other academics; visits to indigenous villages, to Zapatista communities and to internal refugee camps; as well as cultural visits to environmental reserves, museums, archaeological sites and eco-tourism resorts.

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