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PROJECTS
Current and past
project funding
Fondation LOOM gives priority to funding projects run by local organisations and by international aid organizations with a local presence. Here, we present the projects we have funded to date.
Wings and Roots
Bildung, Sicherheit und Zukunftsperspektiven für Mädchen
Education, safety and future prospects 100 girls
At the Zay Yar Thiri Convent in Yangon, 100 girls aged between 5 and 18 are currently being cared for. They are provided with a safe home, an education and a sense of community. The majority of these girls come from northern Shan State, a region that has been impacted by armed conflict and displacement for years. The project is working in partnership with local organisations to provide educational support to these girls. The support includes school materials, school fees, contributions towards teachers’ salaries, and additional educational opportunities that prepare the girls for a self-determined life. In Myanmar, the future educational trajectory of many girls is contingent on their exam results and the subjects they choose to specialise in at secondary level. It is therefore vital to provide support, guidance and new prospects. This project provides the girls with access to education and concrete opportunities for their future.
Copyright: Foto Pokal : © Wings and Roots/ Lokale Projektpartner Myanmar
ISF Cambodia
Sewing training for women affected by poverty
This projects supports families trapped in generational poverty, living in makeshift shelters with limited access to education or steady income. By providing women from such underserved communities with professional vocational training, the project breaks this cycle and fosters long-term financial independence. Participants of the project learn technical sewing and traditional tailoring skills alongside vital business education. The flexible, part-time courses allow women to choose customized career paths, ranging from garment factory preparation to advanced tailoring. Upon graduation, participants receive direct employment opportunities or start-up capital to launch their own businesses.
By transforming these women into primary household providers, the project creates safer home environments, secures stable family incomes, and opens pathways to autonomy.
WEAVE Foundation
EmpowerHER
Refugee women from Myanmar residing along the Thai-Myanmar border are facing severe economic exclusion due to displacement, restricted mobility, and decreasing humanitarian aid. As the primary breadwinners in their households, they have however no access to legal income and no means of earning a living with dignity. To address this issue, the project promotes culturally specific textile production techniques such as weaving, embroidery, dyeing with natural dyes and sewing. The aim is to enable financial independence while safeguarding cultural heritage. As part of the project, marginalised women, including members of ethnic minorities and single mothers, are taught craft skills, quality standards and financial literacy. The project organises women-led cooperatives and opens up access to ethical and fair-trade markets, thereby securing sustainable incomes. This holistic approach has the potential to enhance women’s leadership roles and transform household dynamics. In addition, it facilitates the inclusion of disadvantaged women artisans in the economic and social life of their communities.
Institute of Social Research
and Development ISRD
Socio-economic empowerment of women through textile and tailoring training
Severe economic instability and soaring inflation have plunged families in the Northeast Indian state of Manipur into extreme poverty, leaving women—the traditional backbone of Manipuri society—stripped of their homes, assets, and livelihoods. This socio-economic collapse has heightened the vulnerability of women and children, fueling a troubling rise in gender-based violence, financial exploitation, and school dropout rates for young girls whose education is sidelined due to financial distress. In order to address the aforementioned challenges, the project focuses on empowering vulnerable and displaced women by offering comprehensive vocational training in the areas of tailoring, embroidery and textile dyeing.
By forging sustainable employment linkages with production houses and bridging the gap to financial institutions, the project fosters long-term economic independence and self-reliance. This project is designed to provide women with the means to achieve financial stability for their households, thereby also facilitating the return to school of their daughters.
© ISRD
Helvetas
Helvetas Women Empowerment Fonds
Women and girls hold the greatest potential for sustainable change in their communities, yet they are disproportionately affected by poverty and injustice worldwide. The Helvetas Women Empowerment Fund addresses this challenge by supporting around 50 initiatives that place a particularly strong emphasis on advancing gender equality. Using a systematic assessment tool – the Gender Social Equity Marker – Helvetas specifically selects initiatives that sustainably dismantle discriminatory structures and empower women to become active agents of change.
© HELVETAS
SOLIDAR SUISSE
Higher wages in clothing factories
Numerous international textile manufacturers have their products made in Cambodia - where working conditions are poor and wages are low. Solidar Suisse is therefore working with local partners to improve working conditions and enforce the rights of workers in garment factories.
The aim of the project is to strengthen workers' ability to negotiate with employers. This is why they are trained to use the "Better Factories Cambodia" tool, among other things. This is a database in which facts and figures on the conditions in the textile factories are recorded and collected. Access to this data allows workers to make fact-based arguments to employers to demand better working conditions. Furthermore, trade union representatives, especially women, are trained to effectively represent the interests of workers in negotiations.
A trade union member who works in a shoe factory in Cambodia says:
"I used to be afraid to express my opinion. I would never have dared to speak up to the factory management about the poor working conditions. I took part in many training courses: on labor law, women's leadership, social dialogue and negotiations. These have given me the confidence to negotiate with the employer and share my skills with other union members."
This project has contributed to achieving important results, such as increasing the minimum wage to 192 dollars per month and improving access to social benefits for workers.
© Solidar Suisse
TAI BAAN
Producer group training
TaiBaan is a fair trade social business that works with traditional handicraft artisans to preserve and promote Lao village crafts, create employment opportunities for villagers – mostly women – and reduce poverty.
TaiBaan works both on improving the production and marketing of the Lao multi-ethnic handcrafts traditions by broadening its product range, product quality and securing domestic and foreign markets on behalf of rural artisan groups.
TaiBaan is a member of the World Fair Trade Organization, and strictly adheres to international fair trade principles to ensure that artisans receive a fair price for their products and all benefits extend to the whole community.
To date, TaiBaan works with about 15 village crafts groups numbering more than 250 women producers across ten provinces in Laos.
© Tai Baan Crafts
TAEC
Artisan Training Programmes
The Traditional Arts and Ethnology Centre (TAEC) is a social enterprise founded in 2006 to celebrate the cultural diversity of Laos and promote sustainable livelihoods for rural ethnic communities. Currently TAEC works with over 600 artisans in 13 provinces to produce handicrafts based on traditional skills. These crafts are sold in TAECs two stores in one Luang Prabang town as well as its online shop. TAEC provides training and interest -free loans to its producers and 50% of its shop income goes directly back to the artisans.
The two weeks training consists of prototyping products Creating a color and matrial chart
calculating pricing conducting handicrafts and livelihood survey with artisans Following-up training 3–6- month later
© TAEC
Fundación Avanzar
Training programme for women with entrepreneurial mindset
Women from low-income backgrounds receive practical training in tailoring, design and textile entrepreneurship. In addition to developing their technical skills, they will also acquire a foundation in business management and entrepreneurial thinking. A particular highlight of the project is the gabardine competition, in which participants can present the garments they have designed and made themselves. The three best designs are awarded start-up capital to support the further development of their businesses. The programme is run in collaboration with the Universidad del Azuay and offers participants the opportunity to earn their own income, gain greater self-confidence and achieve greater economic independence.
© Fundación Avanzar
