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Lima — A UNDP project on textile recuperation blooms in the weaving community of Matinga, Cusco. The concept underneath this project is to create economic sustainability, while expanding the market demand for the keepers of a tradition dating back over 5,000 years in the Andes.

Matinga, located at 3,200 m above sea level, is approximately an hour drive from Peru’s leading tourist destination, Downtown Cusco. But in terms of economic integration into the thriving royal Inca capital, it is rather far away from Downtown Cusco. It is very much limited in terms of communications, state presence and access to services.

“We were able to overcome the initial silence of the Matinga women. Not all of them are bilingual in Quechua and Spanish, and they did not believe that their weavings had any commercial value,” said Emilia Bustamante, Small Grants Programme coordinator.

“If there is a noticeable change, it is the number of women improving their Spanish skills and becoming bilingual, so they can handle business outside the community.”

Carmen Sonia Chambi is among those native weavers from Matinga who came to Lima a few months ago, along with a large group of weavers, alpaca knitters and organic health product developers. She is here to show her recent batch of products.

“It was after the first fair in Lima in 2006 that they felt validated,” Bustamante explained. “They sold directly to consumers and received compliments; this broke their reluctance and brought them close to us at UNDP.”

Peruvian weavers inherit one of the world’s most ancient textile traditions. Some researchers even argue Peru has the oldest textile history in the world. Textile making, a craft still cultivated mostly by Andean women, has been associated with communications and deity worshiping. They were symbols of status and authority for Inca rulers and remained a communication channel for the families.

The initiative began with the development of a baseline for traditional products usage. Then the challenge was the incorporation of original dyes, derived from thousands of local vegetation from the Andean valleys. The Small Fair showcased a variety of products, including textile samples ready to enter the market, displaying iconography passed on from generations of women within each family since pre-Columbian times.

Gender-based division of labor is still important in the Andean tradition, so men remain in charge of the greenhouses for the natural dyes. Naturally, UNDP’s project incorporates the gender element. The project in Matinga seeks to empower women in market development and community representation by continuously reinforcing their leadership.

“In the beginning, men did not allow women to sit in the programme meetings or even to enter the new greenhouses freely,” Bustamante recalled. “Now, we are at the point where women consider the re-investments and profit balance, as they develop small business tools.”

As the market has responded positively to the products, women have gained confidence and autonomy. There is also a nation-wide trend conceptually aligned with the UNDP initiative: reverting production quality to the original pre-synthetic standards.

The use of pre-Columbian iconography and natural dyes from local species, as well as the best available ovine wool have brought the community of Matinga the possibility of introducing their weavings to the global market. It is even possible that Matinga will become part of the rural tourism circuit in the near future.