Leveraging community wisdom to create long-lasting change

Like all great stories, ours begins with a group of women who challenged the status quo.

They grew up in a community with limited resources and even less opportunities for dignified work, forcing them to engage in high-risk work in the garbage dump. In 2008, these women decided this wasn’t the reality their children would inherit. After learning how to make jewelry out of recycled paper from a local university program, these women decided to pursue the craft and sell their products to generate an income. They called their entrepreneurial initiative Creamos, which means “we create”, in Spanish.

Since then, their initiative has grown into much more than they ever imagined. Today, Creamos accompanies hundreds of women out of dangerous work towards a healthier futures. Through programs that target pervasive gender inequities and economic insecurity, Creamos’ combats low education levels, high rates of gender-based violence, and structural exclusion from the formal employment sector which are all prevalent within the target community.