Leadership Workshops

Central American Leadership Development

Red de Mujeres por Justicia Social y Economica

STITCH is committed to supporting women's leadership development by providing training to women workers organizing for better work conditions and higher wages to move their families out of poverty. Over the past ten years, STITCH has provided training on diverse topics such as gender, organizing skills, and finance among other subjects suggested by the women themselves. These trainings are not solely focused on concrete skills; instead they also provide women with increased self-esteem, better analytical skills and a better understanding of the forces that impact their lives and work.

In 2004, STITCH began a process to create a collaborative women's leadership training manual to expand our training capacity and systemize our work. The group selected four modules with multiple chapters: Gender; Globalization; Women's Leadership; and New Directions in Unionism. The chapters were written by STITCH's Guatemalan staff person (an expert from the Guatemalan women's movement,) presented to the labor advisory council for their feedback, edited to incorporate the feedback, and then tested with local unions before they were finalized. STITCH began the project by training our partners on popular education techniques and improving their critical skills. The labor advisory council, which was developed during the curriculum process, has also become a formal network for advocacy for Central American labor women.

Over the past five years as STITCH continued to write and edit the curriculum, we trained women workers throughout the region.

In 2005, STITCH assisted women in the textile industry in Guatemala by bringing organizers from a successful campaign in Honduras to share strategies. In 2006, STITCH held a round of work sessions in Honduras with the technical/training team of COSIBAH (Coordination of Honduran Banana Unions.) This workshop allowed them to develop a regional workshop to build the capacity of the trainers in each banana union that is part of the Latin American Banana Union Federation (a federation that represents 45,000 workers throughout Latina America .)

In 2007, STITCH completed the three year curriculum project and spent significant time evaluating its impact. Women involved in the project reported they have used the information gained from STITCH to integrate themselves in the leadership structures (including the boards of directors) of their unions and have inserted specific clauses in the collective bargaining contracts that have benefited the thousands of other women in their unions, for example, permissions for paid time off for education, increased maternity leave, and equality of wages, salary adjustments and others.

In addition, during a training session sponsored by STITCH in 2007, two new union federations (both led by women) were founded and approved by the government in 2008 in Nicaragua . STITCH will continue implement the curriculum fully within the region during the next three years by developing women's union leadership schools and a larger regional network between women.

In 2008, we formed the Escuela de Formacion Policita ( School of Political Formation ), which is composed of the women from the original focal group as well as new participants. These women are the core of STITCH programming, and participate in the regional trainings offered several times per year. They then disseminate the information and techniques learned to their local communities and unions. In 2009, the women renamed themselves the Red de Mujeres por Justicia Social y Economica (Network of Women for Social and Economic Justice) and truly took ownership over their roles as activists. This group is an integral part of our work, and provides a platform for political statements, actions, and support to women region-wide.

In 2009, STITCH focused on issues of sexual violence in the work place and in the women's personal lives. It is an issue that has surfaced again and again, but the women were not ready to face it until now. This theme will continue throughout 2010 as the women both address their personal issues and work to create policies condemning sexual abuse and violence in the work place.

US Leadership Development

ELLAS (Empoderando Lideres Latinas, Aliadas, y Sindicalistas)

STITCH's US program underwent a shift from being workshop driven towards the establishment of long term alliances with organized groups of working women of color currently focusing in the South. This shift allows us to better utilize the proven structure of the Central American Program and effectively shape and customize the US program to the needs and realities of immigrant working women in the US.

Throughout the summer of 2009, STITCH met with various labor and immigrant rights groups in the southeast to identify organized communities in need where the STITCH model and curriculum could be implemented.

In May 2010, STITCH partnered with MPOWER (Mississippi Poultry Workers for Equality and Respect) in Forest, MS to launch a pilot phase of our US program modeled after our Central American program using the Women, Labor and Leadership Curriculum Project.  The US Program currently works with up to 12 women who identify themselves as Latina immigrants in the formal and informal workforce, the majority of them poultry workers. 

The adaptation of the curriculum to the realities of Latina immigrants has far exceeded our expectations and the women are currently searching for ways to collaborate with other women groups in nearby areas as well as, allocate resources to further advance the skills they are learning through STITCH.  Alike many women immigrants in the US, the women have identified language, education, and sexual violence and abuse as the main obstacles impeding their leadership development.

In October 2010, STITCH began to aggressively reach out to and collaborate with partner organizations in Canton and Jackson, MS.  In our goal to form a wider network of working women of color who are organizing for social and economic justice, the US program has taken on the name ELLAS (Empoderando Lideres Latinas, Aliadas, y Sindicalistas), Empowering Latina Leaders, Allies, and Women Unionists. In the coming months we will work to establish a support network of organizations used as a platform to exchange ideas.

Labor Solidarity Exchanges

Our training exchanges bring together people from different sectors (banana workers, maquila workers) as well as from different countries. Read some of our past reports below for more details.

• Training Exchanges in 2004
(Honduras, Guatemala)

• Training Exchanges in 2003
(Honduras, Guatemala, United States)

• Training Exchanges in 2002
(Honduras, United States, El Salvador, Guatemala)

• Training Exchanges in 2000
(Honduras, United States, Nicaragua, Guatemala)

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