Bigodi Women’s Group
The 40 voting members and 150 weavers of Bigodi Women’s Group, which is chaired by Betty Tinka, have worked cooperatively for more than 15 years to perfect their crafts and to expand their markets worldwide. The group sells baskets, mats, bags, jewelry and other crafts at the KAFRED-office in Bigodi trading center, at the Kanyanchu Visitor Centre in Kibale Forest National Park, and worldwide through export.
The women use local materials such as millet straw, banana fibres, raffia and Phoenix palm leaves, and natural dyes, all from plants that the women grow themselves at their homes.
Ten percent of all sales from crafts go into community development. Over the years, this income has funded the Bigodi Pre-Primary (Nursery) School, and it has helped support orphans, widows, the disabled and other disadvantaged people in the community. The group promotes conservation, takes school children on field trips, and produces songs and plays with conservation messages, as ways of creating awareness among the wider community.
Buying handicrafts is onsite and prices vary depending on the size, materials, shape, dyes etc.
Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary 