Handicraft workshop for women

Project Duration:01.07.2015 – 30.06.2017

Number of Beneficiaries: 50 women

Location: Gyumri (Shirak Province)

Background

During the implementation of the different projects Armenian Caritas discovered the need of vocational trainings the insure somehow the economic stability of poor and marginalize families. Started with similar pilot project which was implemented in 2005-2006 and involved a small number of women who suffered domestic violence, since 2007 the project grew into a fully operating workshop with locally recognized quality education. During the years of 2007-2016 over 120 women have attended the short-term and long-term trainings at the workshop and due to the application of acquired knowledge and skills are now able to somehow contributed to the improvement of the living conditions of their families.

Goal

Since July 2014 Armenian Caritas started the third three-year phase of the Handicraft Workshop project with a goal of providing women with opportunity for gaining economic independence thus decreasing chances of violence against women.

Objectives

To train 50 women as sewing specialists and to provide them with additional handicraft skills using peer education methodology; to raise their self-esteem through provisions of psychological consultancy and through organizing social events; and to provide women with small business running skills to insure their employability and economic independence.

Activities

Throughout the three years (2014-2017) of the project the beneficiaries will be divided into five groups and each group will undergo 12 months-long sewing training parallel to which short-term trainings in knitting, batik and beading will be provided.

The sewing training will be provided by a qualified specialist with the assistance of volunteer peer educators recruited from the number of our best former graduates.

To insure the future employability of the graduates we have planned to provide them both with the skills for running and managing own small business, and with sewing kits comprised of sewing equipment and some materials, which would enable the women to generate own income.

Beside the deeper focus on employability of women, another innovation as compared to the previous years of project is provision of individual and group psychological consultancy: the letter is running in a form of a regular Women’s Club facilitated by a highly qualified psychologist.

To insure even better quality and more compatible production, we have also started to involve a designer for the practical phase of the training, who will assist us in producing lines of clothing with contemporary design that have more demand in the market. Thus we will both assist the women in their future marketing strategy and produce items which are more likely to be sold during the exhibition-sales on local and national levels.

The regularly organized social events such as shows of each line of clothing produced by the graduating groups, exhibition-sales, charity events for the beneficiaries of other projects of Armenian Caritas will increase the self-confidence of the women and also help them value their own capacities and skills.

Beneficiaries

Women who are subject to domestic violence, young girls from poor families who can easily become victims of trafficking, girls from orphanages, single mothers, divorced women, mothers who have many children and whose husbands are unemployed, refugees and women from very poor families.

Partners: Renovabis

Budget: 70 000€

Project manager: Gayane Norikyan

Coordinator: Nelli Harutyunyan