EWA Afghanistan Sewing Course
Status, motivation and making decision
09.03.2015 |
WECF with Katachel e.V, our partner in Afghanistan, have been working in Kunduz, Northern Afghanistan to empower young women since 2012. Our EWA initiative (Empower Women - Benefit for All!) aims to create sustainable development and long-term opportunities for women and their communities. Our project in Kunduz is a 3 month sewing training course for young women who wish to become professional seamstresses.
The project aims to provide a means to create a sustainable and independent income for the women of Kunduz. The course is for poor and illiterate women and secondary school girls, so far 400 women have been trained. The course is comprehensive and the certificate gained is recognized by the government, therefore providing the participants with a great foundation. Upon completion of the course each woman is given a sewing machine to start her own seamstress business.
Since the completion of several sewing courses we have been keen to learn how the women who participated in the course feel it has impacted their lives and their community. Together, WECF and Katachel e.V conducted a questionnaire to find out more.
The women were asked what their motivation for wanting to attend the training course was. The majority of women stated that they took part because they find sewing to be a therapeutic and enjoyable activity and the vast majority also stated that they were interested in the course as the training would provide them with an opportunity to generate their own income to support themselves and their families. With the income generated, the survey found that most women were concerned with financially contributing to their families well-being. Malnutrition is a pressing issue facing the development of Afghanistan, 2.2 million people suffer from food insecurity and 1.2 million children are acutely malnourished (OCHA, 2014). Providing increased food for their families was the top priority for earnings to be spent on.
When asked about the future of their businesses, many women stated that they would be working from home and making clothes for their family and neighbours. A small percentage expressed aspirations and plans to work outside of the home, to set up their own shop or produce garments for a company or designer.
At WECF we are delighted with this project, we see the women empowered and their community benefiting. The women that were trained on the course now have the opportunity to meet their own and their families needs, contributing to their happiness, capacity and empowerment through the sale of the garments made.
This project is entirely funded through donations, to provide financial support to this project please donate. Without your donations we cannot continue to train women enabling them to become empowered through a sustainable income.
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