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Soap4Life teaches women how to use locally available resources in a sustainable way. Soap4Life supports equally women and men of the villages to produce products from locally sourced coconuts, pig fat, fish scraps, pandan, turmeric and a variety of fresh herbs, fruits and vegetables. The villagers are trained to improve the quality of the products and also in marketing in order to increase their income. Once their soap products meet established standards, they are then offered to Fair Trade buyers for export. The training is generational as mothers will teach daughters and daughters will teach their children.
By rolling out our business model in remote villages in Lao where women become business owners, we can collectively help in eliminating gender inequality and empower women in society. We are a proud to be a part of a growing notion that says empowering women through business creates not only revenue generation, but also an entire global investment concept. What we hope our audience, donors and all stakeholders understand is that the objective of our on-going, never-going-to-die project is to create very real, tangible measures of success in the private business sector for the women whom we are teaching to make and market their soap products from locally sourced materials. |
Children's HygieneSoap4Life makes and distributes free soap to remote villages who meet the criteria of poverty and remoteness for an introductory period to promote hygiene through hand washing. We distribute the bars of natural soap to our targeted villages for their use and evaluation.
Our program makes soap available in order that the villagers may become accustomed to the benefits of using healthy soap on a daily basis rather than when there is money available to purchase a bar of harsh chemically produced imported soap. By seeing the benefits associated with regular hand washing and bathing, they realize the health benefits associated with soap. |
Vocational Training for WomenSoap4Life offers vocational training for women to learn to produce quality natural organic soap from locally sourced material.
Training includes basic business (profit and loss analysis) and marketing approaches for selling the soap products. Once the village soap makers develop the capacity to meet the demand for soap in their villages, greater production is emphasized. Soap4Life connects the soap maker with sales outlets for their excess production to include export markets, NGO purchases and tourist markets. |
Women's EmpowermentSoap4Life recognizes gender as a major constraint that is preventing women from taking part in village level committees is the fact that a large percentage of women in rural Laos have not been given an opportunity or the necessary resources to improve their standing in local society. Women Soap makers develop the skills and capacities that are needed so that they can actively take part in village level committees and income generating activities.
The women are seen by their peers as a specialist who makes and sells a product which is far superior to the chemically based imported soap which is available in some of the market vendor stalls. The recognition raises her to a higher level of acceptance in the village and thus she begins her journey on her path to empowerment. |