WAKAMI FOUNDATION
Wakami Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization that focuses primarily on the lives of rural women and their struggle to generate sources of income for their families. We support business training to these rural women in order to transform cycles of poverty into cycles of prosperity. Currently, we support work in rural communities of Guatemala with two methodologies:
Inclusive business methodology
Which incubates, establishes, and strengthens rural businesses mainly led by women through nine training cycles conducted over a two-year time span.
Smart Investment Methodology
A platform that provides access to products and services to these women – allowing rural families to invest their income strategically in order to improve their homes and their children’s education and nutrition.
Currently, our support is focused on more than 8 Guatemalan regions. Our partner on the ground in these areas is Communities of the Earth (“COTE”) a Guatemalan non-profit that implements the methodologies that we support.
WANT TO LEARN MORE?
our social programs
Impacting the lives of over 500 women.
Scholarship Program
We want each child in the Wakami system to have access to education. Since many children in Guatemala do not finish school, we provide scholarships to our artisans’ children to keep them in primary and secondary school. We are proud to say that Wakami children have a 140% higher attendance rate than the national average. If you are interested in supporting our scholarship program you can learn more here
Nutrition
We believe each child deserves to live a healthy and happy life, with good nutrition at the core. Our nutrition team carefully monitors the nutritional status of our artisans’ children. We focus on improving early nutritional development, which is why we focus on infants, young children, and women of childbearing age. Through hands-on workshops, we educate artisan families on healthy food choices.
Business Training
Our business training incubator challenges women to dream, something most have never been asked to do. They learn the ins and outs of establishing and running a formal business. Each woman is provided with a network of support and resources. Once completed, we become their first customer! This program has allowed more than 500 women across 20 different businesses to gain access to global markets.here
Healthy Homes
Once women have a source of income, they are more likely to invest in their family. We promote healthy families and communities by providing access to products such as water filters, smokeless stoves, and solar energy and covering 50% of the cost. Nearly half of Wakami women have benefited from this program.
