Our goal is for our women members to understand the concept of democracy and how those principles can be applied to every aspect of their lives.

Our Annual Leadership Assembly coincides with International Women’s Day and brings two women from each community together in one central location to meet on a topic of interest to each of the groups. Once assembled, the members discuss challenges each of their communities is facing and listens to solutions found by other communities. They discuss issues that concern OB and share new ideas for future projects. The process works similar to the concept of a representative body that brings the concerns of its community to a central group and then returns to their community with insights gained from the broader discussion. We invite local and internationally known speakers to offer an interchange of experiences. The 2011 theme of Conscious Vote & Democracy in your Community and Country, coincides with the 2011 Guatemalan National Presidential election.

Women’s Active Political Participation Workshop

Our workshop on women’s active political participation is a follow-up to our 2011 Leadership Assembly, during which we convened and discussed the history of Guatemalan Maya women’s citizen participation, and its implications for quality of life, particularly in relation to the upcoming September 2011 presidential election. The community follow-up visits will ensure information dissemination about the legal process of voting, rights of indigenous persons in Guatemala, and making a conscious vote, among others. back to top

Cooperative Group Organization

Working cooperatively as a group takes a lot of effort and huge commitments on the part of the members. Oxlajuj B’atz’ Community Facilitators provide technical assistance on a regular basis to our member groups in conflict resolution, developing and strengthening boards of directors, and creating and revising a set of internal group rules. back to top

Group Administration

Our Community Facilitators provide technical assistance to the groups to assist them in developing a set of operating principles, (with a vision and goals) and implementing a functioning, self-sustaining system for the administration of the group. Through workshops and dialogues, we work with them on how to evaluate past group challenges, divide responsibilities amongst the group members, and how to manage the group funds that are earned (either initiating a fund or investing existing funds). back to top

Oxlajuj B’atz’ is in the process of transforming the organization into being member owned and operated by the women’s artisan cooperatives. There are several steps towards reaching this goal. We have been teaching the women small business skills directly related to our Fair Trade Store so that the women begin to have a sense of what’s involved in business management and eventually take shifts working in the store. We will hold community discussions in the groups, with the following objectives:

• Work with each community group to identify how they want to participate – what role they want to play in the governance of the larger organization;
• Determine what is feasible for each group in terms of membership fees and participation;
• Identify women who have served on boards or have taken on leadership roles in their cooperative groups that can play a more prominent role in the governance of the entire organization by serving on the General Assembly;
• Once representatives from the groups are determined, they will receive training in leadership, decision-making roles, and the functioning of a General Assembly, and then are inducted into the new Association. The General Assembly of the new Association will include representatives from each community group who will meet in a central location to determine the direction of OB. back to top

Community Interchanges of Ideas and Experiences

Every year, we hold our annual in-community interchanges of experiences with participating groups, to help overcome the barriers of isolation. During these exchanges, groups are offered the opportunity of traveling to another member community and spend the day sharing issues, techniques, and education and learning experiences. We select different communities each year depending on the needs and concerns addresses in the communities. All communities have or will have the opportunity to participate in this interchange of experiences as a member of OB. back to top

Annual Group Incentive

The Annual Group Incentive is given once a year to the group that has most exemplified the principles they’ve learned in the democracy workshops. This is the group that is the most participatory, the most democratically developed and shows a high quality in their artisan work and group organization. Each year the selected group is given a diploma of recognition and rewarded with a prize that equals $500. Our 2010 winner was WAQXAQI` K`AN from the Chuacruz community. back to top