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Implementing for AusAID, Bebali Foundation selected a partner community; constructed an oil press; supported training in the production of avocado, temanu, and candlenut oil; and found markets when the project’s marketing partnership fell through.

A core value of Bebali Foundation’s research is the return of results to community partners, which it does in the form of documentation and video.

A central request from weavers at the Bebali Foundation’s 2005 weavers’ festival was for a reliable supply of Symplocos cochinchinensis bark, a plant material necessary for achieving the red dye that was rare in the markets and of obscure origin. Website: plantmordant.org

Bebali Foundation encourages weavers’ group members to set aside a small percentage of sales for running the group and trains them in managing these funds. This saves the group leader from having to pay for communication and hospitality costs.

Bebali Foundation documents traditional red dye practices, replicating and testing these in the Threads of Life dye studio, and bringing results back to weavers in the field, improving the value of their products.

Bebali Foundation has used participatory research methods since holding two 100-weaver week-long festivals in the mid-2000s. Acknowledging weavers as experts in their traditions, field staff use their cultural, botanical and technical knowledge to facilitate transmission of skills between generations.

The core of Bebali Foundation’s work is the development and support of community weavers’ groups, facilitating skill development and market access that individual weavers struggle to achieve.

Historic indigo production for local cultural needs could be fulfilled by harvesting from the wild, but changing landscapes and increased demand require cultivation, for which Bebali Foundation offers the necessary support.

CELLS is the Bebali Foundation’s knowledge management system supporting indigenous peoples in the preservation of their traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and their continued use of textiles and crafts that embody and transmit this knowledge.