Récit de changement
Wanda: Weaving her future in Bolivia
June 3, 2026Dawn is breaking over the high-perched city of La Paz, Bolivia. The sounds of honking horns, street vendors, and chatter gradually fill the humid air left behind by the night. I, too, am getting ready to leave my home for the business I had been struggling to grow for 23 years. At least, until quite recently...
Women in Bolivia have a high labor force participation rate, yet over 70% of them are in informal employment, mostly in low-productivity entrepreneurship without social protection. This strong presence contrasts with precarious conditions: lower incomes, limited access to credit, and fragile social security coverage. Furthermore, women face a structural care burden, spending an average of 39 hours per week on unpaid care work, compared to 14 hours for men, which restricts their economic opportunities. In this context, their autonomy is further hindered by high levels of violence: roughly 7 out of 10 women have experienced some form of violence in their lifetime.
My name is Wanda Magariños, and my journey began just like most of these women. My husband left me a few years ago when our three children were still very young. While I had been a homemaker until then, I had to find a source of income to provide for them after he left. So, I decided to put to use the ancestral weaving techniques passed down to me by my grandmother. As the colorful threads skillfully intertwined beneath my fingers, I felt useful, and I could run this business from home while watching over my children.
However, I was quickly confronted with a major challenge: who was I going to sell my creations to? People in my immediate circle could buy a few pieces, of course, but it was far from enough to secure a stable income. I already knew that my solution might lie in the market streets of Sagarnaga or Linares, and in the maze of alleys surrounding them—the true beating heart of craft sales in La Paz. But how could I rent my own stall and buy materials with absolutely no capital in my pocket?
Breaking out of my business isolation
These questions formed a vicious circle that was hard to break, until the day I found the leverage to break out of my business isolation through CECI and the MESyCJB collective. I was then able to access microloans to buy my raw materials and receive training in business management from international volunteers to overcome my obstacles. MESyCJB integrated me into trade fairs and into an extraordinary community of supportive peers. "When problems and doubts piled up, it was my companions at MESyCJB who gave me the strength to keep going and to always move forward." My business has finally stabilized to the point where I can now support the career dreams of my three children in the fields of healthcare, engineering, and music! Today, I am no longer just surviving; I am truly thriving. It just goes to show, it is never too late!
Today, I am free to choose my projects and how I want to market them. I regularly create custom designs for my clients, which has gradually built me a solid reputation for quality. It is essential for me to offer high-end products because the more satisfied my customers are, the more my clientele grows!