Rural Women’s Day: Meet the 2025 UNDP Equator Prize Winners

The Cooperativa de Mujeres Artesanas del Gran Chaco (Gran Chaco Women Artisans’ Cooperative), also known as COMAR, has been awarded the 2025 Equator Prize by the UNDP’s Equator Initiative for its contribution to the preservation of ancestral knowledge, community organization, and the generation of sustainable income for more than 2,600 Indigenous Wichí, Qom, and Pilagá women. This work has been carried out in collaboration with the social enterprise, Matriarca..

October 14, 2025

In the Argentine Gran Chaco –where dirt roads turn into mud and distances between communities can span over 500 kilometers– a group of Indigenous women began weaving more than just crafts. What started as a network became an organization through which they gained independence.

"Our roads are mostly dirt, and it can be really hard to get out when it rains," explains Norma Rodríguez, president of COMAR. Together with Jessica Sosa, the cooperative’s secretary, she leads a network that now empowers more than 2,600 Wichí, Qom, and Pilagá women.

Group of villagers outdoors around a wooden loom; a woman sits at the loom in the foreground. — COMAR

The initiative took root in the year 2000, when a handful of artisans began meeting to coordinate their production, improve quality, and access new markets. With the support of Fundación Gran Chaco, COMAR was formally established in 2009.

"Everything we weave is handmade. There's no machine that can help us create what I’m wearing," says Norma, holding up a textile made from chaguar, a native plant fiber. Every knot and color carries a legacy of ancestral wisdom — and a firm commitment to economic autonomy.

Three people, two women and a child, gathering sticks on sandy forest floor.

Jessica Sosa adds:

"Each woman, each artisan, makes their own family income. They're the ones buying food for their households"

Craftsmanship has become a source of dignity and opportunity for many women. Connectivity has also been woven into the network: when rains make roads impassable, they are still connected through technology.

"To connect with each other, and give value to our ancestral knowledge," says Jessica. "I'm very proud of where we are. I didn’t have these skills before, and now I do, thanks to the organization."

Person weaving a basket from reeds in a bamboo-walled workshop. — COMAR

With Matriarca's support, a social enterprise created to strengthen their market access, COMAR’s crafts now reach Japan, Switzerland, the United States, among other countries.

"Through the organization, you feel that connection with others, and that means a lot to me," Jessica says, referring to the bond among women from different communities.

This year, COMAR was honored with the 2025 Equator Prize, an international award presented by the UNDP’s Equator Initiative, which recognizes community-based solutions that reduce poverty through the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

Norma reveals:

“I’m very happy and very grateful that we were recognized with this award"

Rural Women’s Day

The recognition comes in the context of Rural Women’s Day celebrated this year under the theme: “Rural Women Rising: Building Resilience through Beijing+30.” The day aims to spotlight the inequalities rural women still face, highlight their role in decision-making processes, and address the digital divide.

"Working with women in the communities is my duty," Jessica proclaims: "Women have the skills and the strength to do so many things."

Because in COMAR, as in so many corners of the rural world, collective weaving is what sustains, transforms, and uplifts. "Together, you are never alone," says Jessica. "If you’re feeling down, the other women are there — and that strengthens and inspires you. There are many barriers, but you have to be consistent and patient to achieve things."

In the Gran Chaco, the weaving continues. And with every new thread, the women’s network grows stronger.

English