Harvesting A Brighter Future
Ñepi Behña - Mexico - Women's Empowerment - Climate Action
Dear Friends,
I’d like to introduce you to Domi:
"Being a leader isn’t always easy but my plan is to move forward and help the group to grow and to always learn new things to improve ourselves," says Domi. "My hope is that my children and grandchildren can one day be artisans in the cooperative."
Grandmother
Member of the Otomi indigenous community
Gardener
President of a women’s cooperative
Trained installer of water tanks
Teacher
Artisan who makes beautiful woven crafts
On top of all that, Domi is also one of the most innovative social entrepreneurs we've met all year.
Domi is the president of a fair trade artisan’s cooperative where she and a group of industrious women produce and sell beauty products made from native plants like agave. Local, renewable resources that provide real economic opportunities in an area with few other options.
Your support this year will make a world of difference for the women of Ñepi Behña, our partner in rural Hidalgo, Mexico that works with indigenous women and families.
Your support means that IDEX can provide Ñepi Behña with a grant to reach over 500 women and their families and over 1,200 community members with the resources they need to improve their lives.
IDEX is committed to providing leaders like Domi with the resources they need to change lives and helping put your support where it will make the most impact.
Through Ñepi Behña, the cooperative members are gaining new skills – creating new products, financial planning, and computer skills – so they can take their cooperative to the next level and expand to new areas and reach even more women.
The women have accomplished so much, but many challenges remain:
With climate change on the rise, severe floods and freezes have hit this desert-like region hard. Families struggle to maintain their supplies of food, water, and firewood.
On top of already high rates of unemployment, many men have been migrating to urban areas. And while the global financial crisis has now seen some men returning, there are still few opportunities for work.
It is the women who are now becoming the only source of income for most families. And it is the women who are leading the way to transform their communities.
Your support means that the women of Ñepi Behña can implement not only their work with artisans but also other high-impact low-cost solutions to poverty: with training to grow vegetable gardens and build water-capturing tanks and with workshops to empower each other as decision-makers and as leaders.
The need has never been more urgent. Unfortunately, funding for the kind of grassroots development we’ve long advocated for, one that puts the power back into the hands of the people, is dwindling.
With this urgency comes a great opportunity for each of us to make a difference. I hope we can count on you to make a gift today.
What better way to end the year but on a hopeful note? One where you can say that you helped women like Domi to end poverty in their communities?
On behalf of the people whose lives you help transform when you give to IDEX – the many farmers, artisans, homemakers, health workers, and many other courageous individuals who make up our partner organizations – Thank You.
Rajasvini Bhansali
Executive Director
Watch the video below, showcasing the wonderful work Ñepi Behña does for its community:
Can you help Ñepi Behña grow and reach even more women?
Whether you can give $35, $60, $125 or more - gifts of all sizes will have a significant impact in the lives of women who deserve our solidarity.
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IDEX identifies, evaluates, and grows the best ideas from local leaders and organizations to alleviate poverty and injustice around the world. Grants to our international partners come entirely from our network of passionate and engaged supporters. Please donate to IDEX today.