First Three Days in Pana

Our work in Panajachel continues…

In the past two days we visited the offices of Mercado Global in Panajachel. We had a meeting with key local staff (Lidia, Delia and Elma) and we were extremely impressed with the ladies’ knowledge and professionalism. They filled us in on the activities of Mercado Global and some of the challenges they face in their day to day operations.

We also met with Emelia, the volunteer coordinator, and some of the volunteers working for Mercado Globa from the US. On the day of our visit, one of the volunteers was providing training on how to make jewellery.

Mercado Global works with local women cooperatives in Guatemala and they offer these women a market to sell their beautiful handcrafted goods. Women working in the cooperative have the opportunity to earn 3-4 times more than what they would usually make. Some of the challenges Mercado Global is currently facing are related to sourcing raw material including finding reliable and timely suppliers and finding quality and variety material (beads, organic cotton). Our mandate is to help with this challenges. So, we spent the day yesterday booking appointments with potential suppliers in “La Ciudad” (Guatemala City), Antigua and the surrounding area of Lake Atitlan.  Early next week we will do our rounds of visits on the secured appointments.

Stay tuned!