Located in the quaint town of Ollantaytambo, Cusco, Peru, Awamaki is a Peruvian and U.S. 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that promotes community development through fair trade artisan cooperatives, sustainable tourism operations, and local community education. In particular, we believe that empowering the local women through successful market participation, as both consumers and producers, is linked to economic opportunities, growth, and improved well-being that result in lasting social transformations.

OUR MISSION

Our mission at Awamaki is to collaborate with the greater Ollantaytambo community to create economic opportunities and improve social well-being. We partner with cooperatives of rural Andean women to provide training and market access. The objective of our efforts is to provide women with a reliable source of income so they can increase their families’ quality of life and well-being. 

Our partner cooperatives weave, knit, spin and sew. At Awamaki we offer trainings in quality control, product development and technical skills improvement. In our trainings, we teach color combination, methods to dye fabrics naturally and weaving to measurement to weavers. Furthermore we teach fiber selection and spinning yarn of specified weights to spinners as well as stitching and reading patterns to knitters. At last we educate seamstresses in sewing, garment pattern-making and design. 

We envision highly skilled Andean women artisans engaged in the market economy, running successful cooperative businesses, and leading their communities out of poverty.

Interns and long-term volunteers contribute greatly to Awamaki's program development and daily operations across all our programs, and they are crucial to the achievement of our mission. Additionally, our staff and volunteers have the opportunity to live and work in the heart of the Sacred Valley, where they are immersed in the region's Incan heritage and are just a quick trip away from many of Peru's best cultural and historical sites.

OUR STORY

Awamaki was founded in early 2009 to provide market access to a cooperative of ten women weavers from Patacancha, a rural Quechua community in the Peruvian Andes. Awamaki’s founders, Kennedy Leavens, Miguel Galdo and Emma Hague, had worked with the weavers at Awamaki’s predecessor organization, a local museum, for two years. When the museum could no longer support the project, Miguel, Kennedy and Emma formed Awamaki to continue their work with the weavers.

Since 2009, Awamaki has grown to include other programs in economic empowerment, education and skills development, and sustainable tourism.

OUR OPPORTUNITIES FOR VOLUNTEERS

As a volunteer at Awamaki you are offered different positions in different departments. You can either show your creative side in the marketing od the design department, or support the sustainable tourism department with your great ideas to reach people. No matter what department you are in, you will still get to know the amazing community of Ollantaytambo, work together with the artisan women, help out at our Awamaki Fair Trade Store in town and thus support our programs' development and the indegenous women. 

Because all our programs are located at the same site, there is just one, transparent breakdown of fees for all programs offered. That way you know exactly how much of your money goes towards the local community.