HerCraft is an initiative of Coins for Change Vietnam, funded through the Empowerment Plan program that increases livelihood standards for disadvantaged mothers and their families within Quang Nam and Thua Thien Hue provinces.

 

Through the development of traditional handicraft methods adapted for the modern market, HerCraft nurtures sustainable, cooperative business models that improve the financial and social capacity of women’s groups, as well as contribute to community development and the conservation of forest resource in the regions. 

 

Who is HER? 

She is the ethnic minority woman who was married off as a child and now has one herself;

She is the domestic violence survivor who never wants her children to undergo the trauma she had to endure;

She is the woman with a baby and a husband who abandoned her to face the harsh experience of raising a child alone in a community that scorns single mothers;

She is every low-income mother who wants to use the skills she has to provide a brighter future for her child,

 

What do they CRAFT?

Mostly toys and accessories, but there are no limitations as long as they are handmade, cute and safe. 

Through the development of traditional handicraft methods adapted for the modern market, HerCraft nurtures sustainable, cooperative business models that improve the fiscal and social capacity of minority women’s groups, as well as contribute to sustainable, community development. It is estimated that each woman who successfully graduates from our training will earn no less than 2.000.000 VND/month.

 

 

Why We Exist?

Our beneficiaries are mothers who come from extremely disadvantaged backgrounds that give few opportunities to succeed. They are part of strict households that hold onto traditional gender roles, are minimally educated, have few marketable skills, and mainly rely on agricultural livelihoods of cash crop farming, forest resource collection, and logging, neither of which allow families to escape the vicious cycle of poverty.

HerCraft improves livelihood standards and gender equality in our project areas while having the additional effect of preserving local environments being stressed by the overuse of natural resources in the Annamite mountains. By developing a model of women collaborating in production and handicraft trading in two main sites, Quang Nam and Hue provinces, the project will generate a sustainable income for women and communities involved, while indirectly benefiting environments around them by reducing local forest degradation and empowering disenfranchised women.

 

Why do all products have replaced parts?

We believe in being different. We want to celebrate the variety and show that any different colors or patterns are beautiful. Any "Defect" makes any creature wonderfully unique.

 

 

The inclusive decision making Business Model

HerCraft improves livelihood standards and gender equality in our project areas while having the additional effect of preserving local environments being stressed by the overuse of natural resources in the Annamite Mountains. By developing a model of women collaborating in production and handicraft trading in two main sites, Quang Nam and Thua Thien Hue provinces, the project will generate a sustainable income for women and communities involved, while indirectly benefiting environments around them by reducing local forest degradation and empowering disenfranchised women. 

 

Our artisans are represented in our management team and board! We believe that in order to truly change things, we can’t monopolize the conversations and decisions that affect so many. Opening opportunities for livelihood is not enough; we have to open the opportunities to decision-making and governance. 

 

HerCraft Objectives

1. Strengthen traditional weaving techniques and weaving-based businesses for ethnic minority women living in and around the Quang Nam and Hue provinces of Vietnam;

2. Nurture small, cooperative business initiatives that will improve the capacity of women’s groups and contribute to community development;

3. Mobilize sustainable resources from the community (people will use their land and resources to carry out the Hercraft program and continue to do business in the future);

4. Reduce pressures on local forests through the development of alternative and sustainable livelihoods.