Artisan Impact: Ho Chi Minh City

When you shop at Do Good Shop, you empower our partner organization to help poor and disadvantaged women and ethnic minorities in southern Vietnam develop and market handcrafts for local and export markets. Your purchase provides training and employment, supports social and environmental programs, and promotes hope and independence.

Begun in 1990 by two social workers concerned about the plight of street children and single mothers in Ho Chi Minh City, Mai Handicrafts was built on the belief that social development is tied to economic self-reliance. Today Mai Handicrafts has expanded their reach to ethnic minorities in underserved mountain villages. The organization provides vocational craft training, marketing skills, and equipment, and enables many artisans to work from their homes or in small workshops instead of seeking work in factories. Artisans receive social and health care insurance, and may apply for scholarship funds. The organization also funds community development activities including clean water projects, and responds to environmental concerns by collecting waste material for recycling–some of which is utilized in the creation of new products. Mai is known for its creative use of renewable resources like bamboo and recycled paper, and for its array of unique decorative items.