At the 2025 Fair Trade Federation Conference, Mayan Hands was awarded the inaugural Social Impact Award in recognition of outstanding work in support of artisan health and well-being. 

The award recognizes an innovative sustainability project or social impact program that goes above and beyond sales to engage communities and uplift the fair trade movement.

About our social impact project: the Health & Well-being Program

From our nomination letter:One of our proudest achievements this year was launching a new Health & Well-being Program, with a special focus on mental and emotional health—an often overlooked and stigmatized aspect of care. Designed for the Maya women artisans we work with, many of whom have experienced trauma from poverty, loss, violence, misogyny, and racism, the program offered group workshops on self-care and emotional literacy alongside optional individual therapy sessions. Activities such as aromatherapy, meditative drawing, and guided relaxation provided tools for self-expression and emotional release, while validating participants’ lived experiences.

Left: An art therapy exercise during a workshop for artisan leaders. Right: Artisans chose this safe space for an individual therapy session, in a shaded banana grove behind the community school

A key to the program’s success was partnering with a Maya woman psychologist, who conducted sessions in the artisans’ native Mayan language. To ensure accessibility, workshops and therapy took place in the artisans’ own communities, with each group selecting a safe and comfortable location—such as a shaded banana grove behind the local school—fostering trust, comfort, and open dialogue.

Congratulations to our fair trade peers!

Congratulations to all of the award winners and in particular to the other Social Impact Award finalists, Women of the Cloud Forest and Nica Life, for their innovative approaches to social equity and inclusion! And thank you to the Fair Trade Federation for celebrating and uplifting the work of outstanding social enterprises. 

Mayan Hands was also a finalist for the Innovative Product Design Award, recognizing our Birds of Guatemala throw pillow collection.