MEKONG QUILTS SOCIAL ENTERPRISE TURNS 22!
An innovative and successful project!
As part of Mekong Plus’ long-term community development programs, Mekong-Quilts is a program launched in 2001 that aims to :
- create meaningful employment for poor women
- Improving their overall living conditions and those of their families
- Establish a sustainable, profitable social enterprise whose profits finance community development programs in the same villages, in a spirit of solidarity.
All profits are donated to Mekong Plus, helping to promote sustainable development and gender equality. Our two core actions.
A rewarding job, generating additional resources for the community. In 20 years, we’ve trained a thousand Vietnamese and Cambodian women in sewing, quilting and decorative object making. Thanks to you, they have doubled their income, enabling them to escape from extreme poverty.
Our social enterprise, Mekong Quilts, promotes the creation of objects from raw materials available in Vietnam: water hyacinths, bamboo, papier-mâché, fabrics and more.
More than 100 women have highly rewarding and remunerative jobs, independent of the seasons and climate, or agricultural prices. They stay with their children and earn extra income.
Thousands of families have been able to earn a better income as a result.
Mekong Quilts europe
Our European showcase of Mekong Quilts handicrafts
Mekong Quilts Europe is the European showcase for the handicrafts produced by Mekong Quilts, a social enterprise in Vietnam that promotes sustainable employment for disadvantaged women in Vietnam and Cambodia.
We promote sustainable production methods that respect the environment and biodiversity. We ensure non-discrimination among craftspeople, the economic emancipation of women and fair remuneration for local producers. We make our customers aware of the challenges of responsible consumption and international solidarity.
Rumdoul – Cambodia – Employment assistance
For 80% of households, at least one adult leaves home for several months each year. They seek work in Phnom Penh or other distant provinces.
When they can join one of the artisan groups, for quilting or papier-mâché, the women can stay in the village and look after the children. They are paid by the piece, and the most skilful earn far more than those who go off to work in the factory.
For Khmer village women, conditions are tougher. There’s no electricity, and by 5 a.m. it’s no longer light enough to work.
Mekong Quilts is constantly coming up with new designs, as customers are often loyal and ask for what’s new… Smaller products sell better, and always those with a Vietnamese or Cambodian touch, such as the highly prized Sapa fabrics.
Over the last 3 years, management has managed to cut fixed costs by 1/3. The priority is to increase sales, which will result in a much-needed increase in employment in the villages.
testimonial: mrs bé
Madame Bé and her household of 4 lived on very little: €13 per person per month… She thought, with a broken heart, of taking the children out of school. But she was able to join a neighboring quilting group, and there her income increased: she now earns almost €100/month, which has doubled the family budget! What’s more, she’s learned a beautiful and difficult trade.
Between quilters, we talk about life’s worries. Mékong Plus gives training from time to time on health issues, how to make a good vegetable garden or raise chickens without them dying during the rains…
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Mekong Plus guarantees transparency and efficiency. With news from the field, you get regular updates. Schoolchildren say thank you, because they were in danger of dropping out of school.
Tens of thousands of villagers also contribute to the solidarity fund!
A single mother finally gets by with a “pig bank”!
Schoolchildren collect plastic waste and we make cheaper, stronger benches for the school.