Impact
you are doing good.
Each purchase helps us to protect the environment and empower indigenous peoples.
Driving gender equality
Every Mama Tierra product is handmade by indigenous peoples.
We work mostly with women aiming to support their financial independence. Indigenous women inspired us: They earn the family’s living, bring up the children, struggle for the preservation of the nature and pass on the indigenous heritage. The strategic focus is on women because they are the strongest link in many indigenous societies, but this is particularly true in the Wayuu culture, as they have a matrilineal kinship structure.
You can view in every product page the number of hours an artisan from La Guajira desert in the Caribbean needs for crafting our accessories.
The quality of the handicraft is a sign of their intelligence, skill and learning ability.
Protecting Mother Earth is at the heart of what we do.
Therefore, Mama Tierra uses organic materials to avoid the use of plastic.
Which otherwise would end up in the sea, polluting this biodiverse area in the Caribbeans or killing wild animals. Thus, Mama Tierra protects this unique ecosystem of 140 different birds and with a vast biodiversity.
For each product we calculate the the amount of a plastic bottles which are avoided by producing crafts with biodegradable organic cotton. You can find this information on every product page. Because in the indigenous reservoir La Guajira between Colombia and Venezuela, pollution from plastic products is alarming, Mama Tierra uses only biodegradable materials in its handicraft production.
Most crafts in the region are made of oil-based yarns, which always leave waste behind. Producing with polyacrylic yarn is problematic not only because of the amount of plastic that is introduced into La Guajira, but mainly because plastic does not decompose entirely. Rather, plastic breaks down into smaller and smaller fragments called microplastics, which are invisible to the naked eye and invade everything in our environment.
Ethically-made production
Each purchase contributes to improving the quality of life of a Wayuu family.
It sounds ridiculous but most Wayuu artisans can’t life from their crafts since they are paid around 2 USD per bag. Whereas with Mama Tierra these artisans can afford to feed their families and even save money with their jobs. Because each purchase at Mama Tierra contributes to bringing food daily to their tables.
Food insecurity is rampant due to lack of arable land and limited livestock farming. Precarious access to clean water and low access to staple food make starvation more likely in La Guajira. In fact, the rate of childhood malnutrition and under-five mortality is among the highest in the country. Food and water insecurities are exacerbated by the lack of basic infrastructure and the current exodus from Venezuela, together with the ongoing pandemic crisis.
The food baskets you are helping to provide with your purchase always contain nutritional local food like lentils, beans, corn, rice, corn flour, coffee and oil. A food basket is enough to feed a family of 6 members for one month. You can find out how many food baskets a Wayuu family can buy with your purchase in each product page.
Sustainability
Mama Tierra follows a sustainability strategy based on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
With our project, we follow the UN call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that also Wayuu people enjoy peace and prosperity.
Counteracting Poverty
Mama Tierra empowers women living in extreme poverty through sustainable fashion. Having fair paid jobs either improving or learning craft techniques, women can escape poverty. On the other hand, as a non-profit organization, Mama Tierra offers its own upfront payments and work materials. This helps women as they do not have to worry about using their own capital to start.
Zero Hunger
4.770 Wayuu children have died in the past 8 years in the Colombian Guajira.
La Guajira area presents the highest index of malnutrition in Colombia, showing a 2.25 times higher risk of childhood mortality due to malnutrition and disease. In Venezuela there are over 6 million people suffering from hunger daily. Mama Tierra invests its profits in nutritional programs to fight hunger in La Guajira. In the near future, we will be using innovative technologies to hopefully make it possible for every family to have its own orchard, a long-lasting solution to their food crisis.
Gender Equality
The focus of Mama Tierra is on indigenous women because they ensure the well-being of the family, securing an income and educating the children. The woman is the strongest link in many indigenous societies, but this is particularly true in the Wayuu culture, as they have a matrilineal kinship structure. Matrilineality means that the identity and possessions of a person is passed through the mother’s line.
Honest jobs and economic growth
Artisans working with Mama Tierra receive stable monthly income, thereby benefiting from financial independence. Their salary is up to 25 times higher than other weavers receive. This allows the women to work in their ancestral land, escaping obscure jobs often a 12 hours car-ride away from their families. Working from home allows the artisans to look after their children, the elderly among them and watch after their livestock.
Reduced inequalities
Wayuu indigenous are a minority group in Colombia and Venezuela being over-proportionally affected by poverty, child mortality and discrimination. By empowering indigenous women with sustainable fashion, Mama Tierra fights inequalities. We foster and promote indigenous culture reducing thereby the chance for the Wayuu from Colombia and Venezuela to suffer from discrimination.
Responsible production
Mama Tierra uses sustainable materials such as GOTS certified cotton yarns. In addition, Mama Tierra also uses a plant-based leather made of cactus rind from Mexico, which is partly biodegradable, and leather made of pineapple leaves fiber. There shall be no more plastic polluting indigenous land. We offer upfront payments, work materials and training courses to the women we work with. Having a social anthropological perspective, Mama Tierra holds partnerships at eye level.
Protecting the environment
Mama Tierra leads a nature conservation project in Venezuela to save flamingos. The «Los Olivitos» lagoon is the habitat, shelter and nesting area of the largest population of flamingos in the Caribbean. The UN declared it a Ramsar area because of its biodiversity. The coastal lagoon is also home to sea turtles and endangered animals such as the manatee, the coastal caiman and the great anteater. By protecting the lagoon, we also protect the animals living in it for future generations.