BEADWORKS

© Erin Moroney

WE ARE IBU IN ACTION:

• Ibu Foundation funded $20,000 for supply kit distribution

BeadWORKS is a handicraft business that harnesses the rich beading tradition of the women of northern Kenya. They work with community conservancies to provide training, resources and support to women so that the they can participate in the BeadWORKS’ community-to-market value chain. The income the artisans earn from beading enables them to survive and improve their families’ lives without resorting to environmentally damaging activities such as charcoal production, or overburdening their fragile grasslands with sheep and goats.

But BeadWORKS is about more than beads. It is about empowerment. BeadWORKS takes advantage of being with the women to improve their skills and to talk about hygiene, about their children, about savings, about business. When a woman understands how BeadWORKS works as a business, she can apply the same principles to other parts of her life. BeadWORKS develops women who can speak for themselves, who can do things for themselves, who have savings, who can think about the future, who can plan for their kids. Empowered women have the confidence to stand for Board seats in their Conservancies, advocate for conservation and promote investments that improve livelihoods.