The Machakos District Cooperative was established in 1964 as an umbrella organization to market coffee for producers in the Machakos area, a hilly region about 75 kilometers southeast of Nairobi. It has since expanded and now represents a variety of "cooperative societies" which produce agricultural products (cotton, dairy products, corn, fresh fruits and vegetables, honey) as well as handcrafts.

The handcraft section of Machakos works with 20 women self-help groups and 6 handicraft cooperative societies from marginalized areas of the district, bringing together over 6000 individual artisans.

Handcrafts are made using local materials- sisal, soapstone, and wood. Men from the Akamba tribe supplement their incomes from agriculture with woodcarving and the Akamba women are skilled sisal basket weavers.