Projects
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN
EJAAD WOMEN’S WORKSHOP
Women have access to a place to gather and learn and also sew and create. They have an income to support them while the mens jobs are nonexistent. Also the girls can gather safely in your beautifully designed learning center and we can all say…’I’m not giving up!’
AWF PEOPLE
SARAH SCHOFFEL
GILES FREEMAN
Ejaad is an empowerment project that provides provide economic opportunities for Afghan women through creating and selling traditional and contemporary embroidery designs. Income earned by Ejaad’s female artisans supports a wider community of 300-400 people amid a humanitarian crisis where 13.3% of men are unemployed and more than 50% of Afghans live in poverty.
Ejaad approached Architects Without Frontiers in 2021 with a plan to develop a workshop and learning centre, where women can work safely and share their skills and designs, as well as studying English, Dari and information technology.
AWF Network Partner SJB worked closely with Ejaad to design a discrete, thermally efficient and culturally appropriate building incorporating an office, a sewing/embroidery workshop area, a learning area for literacy and computer classes, a small library, kitchen and bathroom facilities and a roof terrace.
Construction took place during the triple challenges of an economic and humanitarian crisis, a global pandemic and the return to power of the Taliban, and the building was completed in 2023.
Year: 2021
Status: Building Complete
Partners: SJB
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