As our Supporters will know, in June 2010 the ICF Charity Bank for Small Businesses funded its first initiative carried out in partnership with one of our trusted affiliated charities- The Baghdad Charity to Protect the People. We started our project by interviewing women from the Al Grai’aat district on the outskirts of Baghdad, to determine who really needed work, and who really wanted to work! We provided 43 women with sewing machines as a loan for them to pay back. As well as materials and accessories that we provided to help these women start up, we organised a 5 week intensive training course to help them learn valuable skills that they needed to sustain a successful sewing business.
The women were so enthusiastic to get to work, in just a few weeks they made so many beautiful and well tailored clothes that we decided to hold a special Bazaar for them in Baghdad, which gave the women a perfect opportunity to market and sell their clothes.
After another interview process that we carried out with staff from The Baghdad Charity to Protect the People, we are about to embark on another phase of our project to provide work for another 45 women!
A lot of these women are widows or mothers of children with disabilities- not only do they need to survive, but after the hardships and tragedy of decades of war and sanctions, most of these women need to feel that they can bring about change for themselves. We endeavour to ensure that they are provided with the right materials and training so that they can succeed in their new businesses to support their families. Not just today, but for generations to come!
This is an investment that can't fail. To donate or lend to the Charity Bank for Small Businesses so that we can improve our current project, get more women involved and even start more employment projects, please click here to donate