The Bebali Foundation is an Indonesian nonprofit that works alongside Threads of Life on the same 12 islands and with the same 1200 weavers. Both organizations share a mission of supporting women, building livelihoods, revitalizing traditions, and conserving dye plant ecologies, but each approaches these differently.
Threads of Life’s work to build markets can only be successful if weavers have enough dye and fibre plant resources to serve the needs of all their customers in the local and outside markets. The Bebali Foundation makes long-term commitments to work with weavers to develop sustainable dye and fibre plant supplies, and the continuing market partnership that Threads of Life offers means that weavers can commit to investing in these supplies.
To support indigenous traditions, organizations must understand the cultural-ecological worldviews of the communities they work with. Through the Bebali Foundation’s Culture Ecology Livelihoods Learning System (CELLS) platform, organizations working with indigenous communities can explore shared questions in a collaborative learning process that strengthens the cultural and environmental aspects of an organization's work. Clients for CELLS include Threads of Life and Milingimbi Art and Culture.
The Bebali Foundation was started in 2002 by staff from Threads of Life to address cultural and ecological issues too large to tackle through Threads of Life’s enterprise model. It has been funded by the Ford Foundation, World Bank, Toyota Foundation, and private donations.
