The Pulsar Foundation is proud to participate in this entrepreneurship project of 40 Colombian women, in the TEJI-UVITA weaving cooperative.
These women, passionate about weaving, do not have a stable job that provides them with the necessary conditions that allow them to live with dignity. Many of them live from the only source of income from rummaging (small street sales, washing and ironing other people's clothes, cleaning floors, odd jobs). They are women entrepreneurs, some of whom are victims of violence and mothers who are heads of households with limited economic resources, who must also answer for the upbringing and education of their children.
The impact on the beneficiaries of the project is that they do not dedicate themselves solely to domestic activities and sporadic jobs, but rather that they manage to enter the labor market by facilitating the undertaking of their own business that provides them with the means to be able to maintain a dignified life for themselves and their families. Achieving women's socio-economic autonomy gives them independence when it comes to making decisions and facing violence, exploitation, enslavement and sexual abuse.
This project not only has an impact on the beneficiaries themselves, but also on the children and young people in their care, avoiding deficiencies at all levels, especially education, to help make them less susceptible to drug addiction, alcoholism, prostitution and are the target of irregular groups (guerrillas, paramilitaries, and common crime).
Thanks to this project, the cooperative will be able to strengthen itself by hiring a person who can carry out a study of local markets to improve sales channels, in addition to acquiring different machines and materials to improve their products.
