Liderezas Mayas Project

Organization: CARE International
Team: Ximena Gutierrez
Semester: Fall 2007

The university in conjunction with CARE would like a GPIA Practicum team to perform a feasibility study on the possibilities of working with Mayan women in Guatemala to design and produce handicrafts for a broad market. CARE through its Lideresas Mayas program currently works with a group of Mayan women in the Guatemalan highlands, who have identified their textiles and handicrafts as products that they would like to sell more broadly than their village market.

The project is part of a potential long-term collaboration between CARE and Parsons School for Design, Milano School of Management and Urban Policy, New School's Anthropology Department and the Graduate Program in International Affairs in designing courses and projects with the Mayan women to assess the U.S. market, modify designs accordingly and plan and run a small business for the apparel's design and export. Central to this strategy is the creation, through internet connectivity and courses in design research and marketing, of a direct dialogue between the Mayan women and their targeted customer base.

Feasibility Study - The program is in its beginning stages, and for Fall semester, the immediate need is to try to plan the entire program, and map out next steps for the different stakeholders. For the Practicum project team, the semester's work will involve planning and producing a full feasibility study, elements of which may include:
 
The Mayan women

  • The range of craft objects/apparel that they currently make.
  • Where do they make their traditional objects/apparel? Where geographically? In what kinds of facilities?
  • In what volume do they currently make their products?
  • Are the Mayan women in Guatemala interested in designing apparel to appeal to the U.S. market?
  • What are their interests as regards accessing the U.S. market?
  • Are they interested in mass-production or craft?
  • Would they want to engage the maquiladoras in mass production?
  • Are they interested in engaging manufacturers, department stores of consumers directly?
 
The Market
  • Where is the market for these goods?
  • What comparable goods exist and where are they sold?
  • How does CARE's American audience perceive the Mayan women's current craft objects?
  • What would they value and to what extent (price, etc.)?
  • What kinds of education would be necessary for CARE's American audience to value the Mayan women's current craft objects?
  • Understanding of value chain and consumer "movement" needs from this enterprise (including secondary research around similar ventures and consumer research, focus groups).
  • What would the minimal fiscal return need to be for the project to be considered a success?

Training / Courses
  • Courses needed (if any) to meet Mayan women's needs and desires (Fashion, Anthropology, International Affairs).
  • Courses required for the Mayan women of Guatemala to begin to respond to their customers' interests through modifications to their apparel's design and craft traditions. Courses modifying traditional apparel to respond to the needs of a market as identified through market research processes.
  • Courses in design and integration of business plans throughout the process.
  • What kind of training would be required for the Mayan women to engage in remote direct communication with their targeted customers?

Production/Logistics
  • What are the logistical pieces and expenses of translating the women's designs to mass market production in a socially responsible way both in Guatemala and in the United States?
  • What are the logistical pieces and expenses of commercializing the women's designs to appeal to the United States market?
  • Getting them here physically?
  • What are the conditions of Guatemala's production sector? What elements of their conditions are of benefit to the project? What elements of their conditions present a challenge?
  • Who owns the maquiladoras? What condition are they in?
  • Technical capacity for telecommunications, technical support needed on set up of computers, etc.
  • Logistical pieces and expenses of translating the women's designs to mass market production in a socially responsible way both in Guatemala and in the United States.
  • Transport and shipping
  • What kind of equipment would be necessary for all aspects of the project?

General
  • What's been done in terms of comparable interventions (Americans going to international communities to help design/market craft objects to sell to the U.S. market) and how have people responded? What are the lessons learned?
  • What are the costs associated with answering each question?
  • Financial implications analyzed in all areas
  • Outcomes of phase presented: Go / No Go decision

Ethical Questions - Such a project has many and complicated ethical questions. Expect ethical questions to be a constant topic of inquiry and debate throughout the semester. One issue will be exploring where the project benefits go - the Mayan women, students, the university, CARE.

Long-term goals
  • Poor women benefiting from globalization.
  • Transcending mere economic empowerment and achieving social empowerment.
  • The concept is supposed to be an alternative model for globalization, where the poor and marginalized can enter the globalization process of the design industry from the high value point rather then through the lower one.
  • Anti-Mayan bias is common in Guatemala. But interest in products used in the United States is high. Therefore, if we are successful in establishing a market in the US we can expect that local market will be created as well.

The Practicum team will work closely with the New School faculty committee in formulating goals, objectives, activities and strategies; and in setting parameters for the feasibility study.

Final Product: A full Feasibility Study with an executive summary, a program timeline, and a budget. It is also important to note that the end result of the feasibility study may be a decision not to undertake the project.
 

Core Documents


Terms of Reference
Timeline
Final Presentation

Additional Documents


2007 Fall - CARE International - Liderezas Mayas Project.pdf

Navigate: All Fall 2007 practicums