The Yabal NGO was originally founded in 2005 to offer support to two communities in the highlands of Guatemala that were severely affected by Hurricane Stan. In time, their programmes developed and focused on what was economically sustainable for the new location and abilities of the local people - they started the fair trade women's weaving project and collaborated with the women in the communities to create the Yabal accessories brand, a sustainable fashion enterprise to sell their handmade textiles both locally and abroad, with the goal that the social enterprise will reinvest the profits into social programs in their communities.

The artisan social enterprise provides fair trade jobs to a group of 60 women weavers and artisans. They sell their products in the store as well as connect the artisans with international clients and designers to create products for export. This program provides monthly jobs to each women in the weaving group, which is usually the only source of income women in these rural communities have access to and allows them to provide food, health care, and/or education to their families. In addition they provide on-going capacity-building workshops for the women weavers.  

In their social programme Yabal supports the larger communities by providing support where is needed, always decided together with the communities. This can include: yearly educational scholarships for the high school children of the artisans, reforestation projects, a women’s savings and lending circle, and a community run micro-credit program in one of the artisan communities. 

For more information, please visit their website.