Tibetan women of the Tongde County are essential to keep the community together: by committing to grant their children access to education, health and to a job. In contrast to the abandonment of rural villages, they create new job opportunities and preserve the ancient cultural Tibetan traditions.
We decided to work with the women on the one hand to strengthen their communities and on the other to give them the opportunity to receive training and then access the productive system, by being responsible towards their traditions and safeguarding the values of the Tibetan cultural identity.
Through informal groups of women already active in the villages of the county, we organised workshops on technical skills for traditional handicrafts targeted to 90 nomadic Tibetan women. We also organised a course on entrepreneurship and management for 30 women. ASIA has also facilitated the establishment of cooperative of traditional handicrafts for women, the setting up of a shop where to produce and sell traditional clothes and the realization of a a catalogue of traditional fashion in English, Chinese and Tibetan.
Futhermore, the women beneficiaries of the project take part in the Cultural & Art Festival of Tongde County (a yearly event that involves whole the community and the authorities of the County to promote the traditional culture).