Cacao Source began in 2019. For three years its team worked with cacao farmers and women’s collectives across Guatemala. The land was generous. The people who cared for it worked hard for very little, and some of what they needed was beyond what a cacao business can do.

We looked for an organisation in the region to support, and could not find one that matched what we saw. So we built it. Laurence shaped the idea during a one-year social impact program in India. Elisa de la Roca, an architect who builds with bamboo and with communities, became its president.

Our first year was mostly listening, in the farming communities of La Unión and Milán near Chicacao. When we asked women what they wanted to learn, they chose bamboo. Everything since has grown from that conversation.

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Visiting farming families near Chicacao, 2023.

We work with Indigenous and rural communities in Guatemala to build the spaces, skills and living land they need, with women at the centre and community decisions guiding every step.

A rural Guatemala where women earn and lead, children learn in dignified schools, and land is regenerated by the people who care for it.

Every project begins with conversations, focus groups and home visits. The community decides what it needs.

In practice: we came to La Unión with a beekeeping plan. The women chose bamboo, so we changed the plan.

Bamboo, stone, clay and local labour keep money in the region, and every build teaches skills that stay.

In practice: the Chirremox classroom is built by community members learning bamboo, stone and clay construction.

Our organisation is led by women, and women shape every project around their real days: children, care, income and rest.

In practice: childcare run by the women is part of the design of La Casa del Cacao.

We go back, we follow up, and we report what works and what does not.

In practice: when the Chicacao centre was broken into, we published the field report and what the women asked for.

Schools designed with the students and families who use them, built with bamboo, stone and clay.

School in Chirremox, Alta Verapaz, with Instituto Puente

Places where women gather, learn and earn, starting with bamboo craft.

Eco-artisan women’s centre, Chicacao · Level 3 of La Casa del Cacao

Diverse farms that can survive a bad harvest, and more of cacao’s value kept where it grows.

Cacao trees with farmers · La Casa del Cacao, San Marcos La Laguna

Elisa is an eco-social architect, bamboo designer and builder from Guatemala, with more than a decade of experience in sustainable architecture, participatory design and bamboo construction.

She is the founder and lead architect of BAMBüTZ, where she designs regenerative spaces through collaborative, community-centred processes that bring together local materials, traditional knowledge and deep engagement with people and place. Before that she was Director of Design and Construction and a partner at CASSA. She is also one of the women behind Mujer y Bambú.

At Give Back to the Source, Elisa leads our community design and building work, with a particular focus on the role of women in creating resilient territories. She sees architecture as a tool for care, community building and reconnecting with the land.

Laurence co-founded Cacao Source in 2019 and leads it as CEO. She has spent years working directly with cacao farmers and women’s collectives in Guatemala, and has a background in social enterprise and business development.

She shaped Give Back to the Source during a one-year social impact program in India, and today leads its fundraising, partnerships and communication.

women-led. Our leadership and administration are women, and so is every new role we recruit for.

Want to work with us? We share open roles in our field notes.

International network of women working with bamboo, co-created by Elisa

Rural education initiative; our partner for the Chirremox school

Circular-economy cacao enterprise and partner in La Casa del Cacao

Elisa’s bamboo architecture practice

Sustainable building enterprise that supported the women’s centre design

Donated the land for the women’s centre and hosted our first training