19 September 2017

ASEAN@50: 50th Anniversary Celebration Features "Maybank Women Eco-Weavers"

A REGIONAL COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT PROGRAMME

Maybank Foundation’s Flagship Programme Maybank Women Eco-Weavers was featured at the ASEAN 50th Anniversary Celebration held at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta. This regional programme of Maybank Foundation aims to further promote traditional textiles globally in a sustainable manner, and at the same time create business opportunities for underprivileged women that will lead them to economic independence.

This is the first time Maybank as a corporate organization in the ASEAN Region was invited to participate in an ASEAN programme taking into account the objectives of the programme which is in line with the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Blueprint which seeks to promotes high quality of life with equitable access to opportunities and protect human rights. At the same time to preserve the arts and culture of the ASEAN Region.

The Maybank Women Eco-Weavers Programme is currently running in 3 ASEAN Countries namely Indonesia, Cambodia and Laos. In Indonesia, the programme partner is Asosiasi Pendamping Perempuan Usaha Kecil (ASPPUK) and operates centres in Lombok Tengah, Lombok Timur, Sawah Lunto and Tanah Datar supporting some 200 textile weavers. In Cambodia, the programme partner is Color Silk Foundation and having a training centre in Takeo Province named as “Maybank Silk Weaving Training Centre” which have successfully trained 50 new weavers and 26 more undergoing training. In Cambodia the programme also runs a sericulture programme to plant Mulberry trees which is a crucial part in the cultivation of silk worms and silk threads production. Currently there are 140 families growing Mulberry trees under this programme and have since planted more than 20,000 Mulberry trees. In Laos, this programme partners with Lao Sericuluture Company known as Mulberries which currently supports the entire silk weaving eco system in Xieng Khuoang Province, Laos PDR.

Weaving loom from Indonesia with ASPPUK as our programme partner.

Weaving loom from Cambodia with Color Silk as our programme partner

The Maybank Women Eco-Weavers programme also helps to sustain local heritage and culture as well as help build the capacity of new weavers. The key focus is to preserve, sustain and promote traditional textile making techniques with modern fashion in order to connect and identify collective value, in an environmentally friendly manner.

The Maybank Women Eco-Weavers programme is one of Maybank Foundation’s flagship programmes which is essentially designed to promote commonalities in ASEAN countries by enriching and promoting traditional woven textiles in a sustainable manner for various communities as well as helping underprivileged women becoming economically independent whilst advocating financial inclusion at the same time. It is targeted at women eco-weavers from the urban poor and marginalised community.

The programme is supported by the ASEAN Foundation as it is an evolving common mission to preserve the ASEAN cultural heritage and contribute towards building the ASEAN identity

Maybank Foundation is the corporate responsibility arm of the Maybank Group, which seeks to positively impact communities in markets that Maybank operates. The Foundation’s programs are focused on six key pillars which are Education, Community Empowerment, Healthy Living, Arts & Culture and Environmental Diversity.