A textile collective for Eldorado-Diadema, Brazil

We have frequently gained feedback on the Eldorado Textile Project through personal interviews, and recently we undertook a more formal evaluation by means of a questionnaire. Lucas, who received his first professional work experience as a teenage reading mediator for ACER’s reading project for local schools and is now part of ACER’s administrative team, recorded the anonymous responses of 20 members of the embroiderer’s group via an app on his mobile phone.

We asked participants to rate their embroidery and machine sewing skills prior to joining Eldorado Textiles and at the time of the survey. Prior to joining, 55% had no embroidery skills, and the remaining 45% rated their skills as basic. After taking part in the training sessions, 5% rated themselves as having no skills, 20% as basic, 70% as good or very good, and 5% as having professional skills. There was a similar pattern for machine sewing skills, with no skills decreasing from 65% to 10%, basic skills increasing from 25% to 35%, and good to professional skills rising from 10% to 55%.

Before joining Eldorado Textiles, 55% of the respondents mended their own and their family’s clothes or household textiles, but this rose to 90% after joining. The number who did not mend their clothes or household textiles decreased from 45% to 10%.

Finally, participants were asked if they had taken training sessions held by other organisations as a result of their participation in Eldorado Textiles. 55% stated that they had, 36% of them with outside organisations, and 64% with partner organisations of ACER, which focus on garment making rather than the production of artisan products.

As expected, the survey results demonstrated that participation in the Eldorado Textile Project led overall to significant improvements in both embroidery and machine sewing skills. It also led to a substantial increase in the mending of clothes and household textiles and inspired more than half of the participants to take further training sessions in textile skills. These findings demonstrate the effectiveness of the Eldorado Textile Project in the acquirement of textile skills, the application of these skills in the home, and in the encouragement of further personal development.

Thank you so much for your support, which is changing the lives of women living in a disadvantaged area of São Paulo.