Dedicated to supporting women in the impoverished and overcrowded Chitungwiza township in Zimbabwe, Eco Africa Social Ventures is a New York-based nonprofit that provides Zimbabwean women with the means and ability to supply food and other essentials for their families.
The beginnings of Eco Africa Social Ventures were born in 2003 as a social enterprise called Eco Africa. At this time, Eco Africa helped groups of unemployed and unskilled women form a crafting collective.
When a catastrophic economic crisis began to occur in Zimbabwe in 2007, Eco Africa expanded their support system by forming Eco Africa Social Ventures, a nonprofit organization.
Only recently known as the breadbasket of Africa, Zimbabwe is now one of the poorest nations relying on famine relief to feed it’s ever more desperate population.
For Zimbabwean women, life is particularly bleak. Many husbands and breadwinners have fled to neighboring countries to find work. Disease and contaminated water supply in these local townships have created horrible living situations for Zimbabweans—with the average female life expectancy at a shocking 34 years.
Eco Africa Social Ventures raises funds to support the women, and seeks out sustainable markets for their exceptional crafts. 100% of the income goes back to Zimbabwe to maintain the crafting initiatives, and pay for raw materials, weekly wages, daily lunches, food packages for the artisans’ families, daycare, and scholarships for the artists’ children.
One of the many benefits women receive from Eco Africa’s craft workshops is long lasting friendships and emotional support. As the women work together, train each other, and learn from each other, a nurturing and supportive relationship forms that helps the women to cope with the daily difficulties of life.
Eco Africa’s focus is to help the women of these crafting collectives remain healthy and well nourished, despite the often appalling economic conditions that surround them and that enable them to continue to earn income from the work they love. With the vision to create more and more jobs for women, and to play a significant role in helping to revitalize the amazing crafting culture of Zimbabwe, Eco Africa hopes to expand their programs in hopes of relieving poverty, disease, and economic crisis.
Some of the gorgeous handmade gift products created from the women in Eco Africa’s crafting workshops have been included in museum stores and fair trade stores across the USA, Europe and Australia. Some of the retailers in the USA have included The Smithsonian, Disney Stores, and Kate’s Paperie.
For more information on this astounding initiative, or to learn more about how you can help, visit Eco Africa’s websites and blogs:
Non profit website: http://www.ecoafricasocialventures.org
Order fulfillment / shopping cart: http://www.helpinghandsforafrica.com
A school fundraising idea to sell products: http://ecoafricafundraising.org
Blog: http://ecoafricasocialventures.blogspot.com/


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