Principales áreas de trabajo relacionadas con la Convención:
NGOimpacto has over 11 years of experience working with Indigenous communities in Mexico, particularly in Los Altos de Chiapas. We collaborate with more than 700 women artisans and 300 small-scale producers through community-based programs focused on safeguarding intangible cultural heritage, gender equity, and sustainable local development.
Our flagship program, iTextil, strengthens the transmission of ancestral textile knowledge by supporting the formation of cooperatives and providing training in technical, organizational, and leadership skills. All processes are conducted in Tsotsil and Tseltal by Indigenous facilitators, ensuring cultural and linguistic relevance. In parallel, iBarro revitalizes traditional pottery in Amatenango del Valle through intergenerational and intercultural dialogue. iAgrodiversidad promotes ancestral knowledge related to biodiversity and food sovereignty, and iComunicación supports Indigenous women as narrators of their own heritage and experiences through media and storytelling.
NGOimpacto developed the Decálogo del Saber Artesanal Textil, an ethical framework for working with Indigenous artisan communities. This tool was co-created by and with women artisans, who are the main cultural bearers of textile knowledge. It affirms their right to decide how, when, and with whom to share their heritage, ensuring respectful, horizontal, and sustainable collaborations. The Decalogue is now widely used by civil society organizations and institutions across Mexico as a model of good practice.
Through our platform Viernes Tradicional, we document traditional dress and clothing practices, map community heritage, and monitor cases of cultural appropriation. The platform raises awareness and creates visibility for communities, especially in the context of fashion, cultural identity, and rights.
NGOimpacto was honored in 2020 with the Jeonju International Award for Promoting Intangible Cultural Heritage, in recognition of our community-based approach to safeguarding heritage through women’s leadership and ethical development. This international award, granted by the city of Jeonju in collaboration with UNESCO-affiliated bodies, acknowledged our commitment to participatory, sustainable, and culturally grounded practices.
In 2024, we were once again invited to participate in the Jeonju Forum for Tourism, reaffirming the ongoing relevance of our work in the fields of intangible heritage and community-led tourism. NGOimpacto was also awarded at the Paris Peace Forum in 2020, selected as one of the top 10 global initiatives for our work in cultural preservation and sustainable tourism.
We have participated in major international events, such as Vancouver Fashion Week, showcasing co-created, ethical fashion collections developed by women’s cooperatives. These opportunities strengthen visibility, intercultural dialogue, and global solidarity.
NGOimpacto’s proven methodologies and community-centered approach position us to offer valuable advisory services to the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Our work is rooted in the recognition of intangible heritage as a living, dynamic process that must be preserved and promoted in close dialogue with its practitioners. We are committed to contributing technical knowledge, field-based experience, and ethical frameworks that support the Convention’s implementation in culturally grounded, participatory, and sustainable ways.
Objetivos
NGOimpacto was founded in 2012 in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas, under the name Proyecto Impacto Consultores A.C. We are a civil society organization committed to the sustainable development of Indigenous peoples.
Since our inception, we have focused on self-management, social entrepreneurship, and the strengthening of productive activities for local sustainable development, promoting ethical value chains and raising awareness among consumers for responsible markets. Our guiding principles include ethical trade, gender perspective, social justice, and both human and economic development.
We recognize the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage as a fundamental component of our institutional mission, promoting its protection, transmission, and revitalization through community-driven initiatives.
Through the promotion of leadership, empowerment, and decision-making among the women we collaborate with, we have become an interdisciplinary team that values connection and dialogue. We serve as a bridge that fosters the exchange of knowledge and strengthens partnerships and collaborations to deepen the visibility of the factors that shape our direct work with communities.
NGOimpacto currently channels its efforts into generating inclusive economic growth as a means of achieving sustainable local development, especially through Juxta Nation, our leading social enterprise. Our objectives remain focused on strengthening and expanding the work of the organization to promote the autonomy and resilience of Indigenous and vulnerable communities in Mexico.
Our work is aligned with the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, incorporating community participation, cultural diversity, and human rights as cross-cutting principles across all our programs and actions.
Cooperación
NGOimpacto understands communities and territorial dynamics as part of a living system. This perspective guides our organizational model and strategic planning through a Transformation Model anchored in a Theory of Change. This theory reflects a deep understanding of the roles, interdependence, and interdisciplinarity among all actors in the system.
Our collaboration with communities, especially Indigenous women artisans who are key cultural knowledge holders, is based on principles of co-participation, shared responsibility, and mutual learning. We co-design processes that strengthen autonomy, decision-making, and cultural continuity, recognizing communities as co-creators rather than recipients of development.
As part of our methodology, we construct systemic maps to identify interacting variables in our areas of influence—social, cultural, economic, and environmental. These maps help us develop flexible, experience-based strategies that respond to real needs and evolving territorial contexts. Community participation is fundamental to validating, adjusting, and evaluating these strategies.
Our programs are designed with an adaptive and reflective approach, regularly incorporating feedback loops, monitoring tools, and collective analysis sessions. This allows for real-time adjustments and strengthens resilience in the face of ongoing social and economic changes.
Programs like iTextil, Juxta Nation, and Viernes Tradicional exemplify this approach. Through them, we have built long-term partnerships with artisan cooperatives based on ethical collaboration and shared decision-making.
Our work centers not only on cultural preservation, but also on the collective construction of systems that sustain the transmission, innovation, and dignified recognition of intangible cultural heritage.
NGOimpacto’s methodology is not externally imposed; it emerges organically from a participatory vision where women, families, and communities are at the center of safeguarding efforts. We view ourselves as part of the system—not above it—and act in harmony with the elements and people that give meaning to the living heritage we seek to protect.
