At the completion of the BLCF funded in project in 2008, 350 young Afghans – 40 per cent women and many disabled – will have been educated and trained to be financially independent through a sustainable 'fair trade' economic model for embroidered goods with potential to transfer to other sectors such as dried fruits.
Many Afghan and UK partners were brought together for the project, including underprivileged young men and women, trainers, NGOs, business and branding experts, the Afghan government, carpet wholesalers and retailers and the Afghan community in the UK.
The lead partner is Afghan Action, which links the project's commercial and charitable aims. In late 2005, a training school was started in a purpose-built space in Karte Se in Kabul with management and security staff and the all important trainers. Two skilled master trainers design and supervise the production of carpets using traditional Kazak, Aqhchal, Andkui, Chakoshi, Mazari and Uzbaki Kazak designs and hand spun, mostly naturally dyed wool from local Ghanzi sheep and goats.
Ten experienced trainers are responsible for recruiting and teaching the trainees to weave on looms of varying sizes. The traditional eight colours used in the designs are red, cream, light blue, dark blue, orange, green and yellow mix, gold and black. The woollen strands are hand knotted onto a tanista base around horizontal foot cotton warps and vertical cotton alghaaj wefts on looms of varying sizes. The carpets are washed, hand clipped and inspected by a master trainer before a label guaranteeing authenticity is attached and the carpets are despatched to London.
The young trainees, who receive a fair stipend during training, are provided with daily meals and have access to onsite health care and education, as do all workers. They work from 8.00 am to mid-day and from 1.00 to 4.00 pm six days a week and also receive daily literacy, numeracy, IT and business skills classes accredited by the Afghan Ministry of Education.
The graduates who choose to work in the factory receive a basic wage and additional volume payments for their monthly output of carpets. While there has been some trainee turnover, 150 young men and women had been trained by August 2007 and 75 people employed in the carpet factory. Usually, there are between 40 and 50 trainees at any one time. Many of the graduates have an entrepreneurial spirit and choose to establish their own private carpet weaving businesses after training.
To ensure the programme is sustainable long-term, the lead partner, Afghan Action, sells the 'fair trade' and 'naturally organic' hand made carpets directly to individuals and organisations through promotions, exhibitions and fairs, through its website and selected retailers. The aim is to generate enough income through carpet sales, ethical gifts and sponsorship for the organisation to become self sufficient by 2008.
To date, more income is coming through sales than sponsorships after one of the project's early lessons: the UK carpet trade is strongly competitive and constant marketing effort is needed to demonstrate that Afghan carpets are unique, highly prized Middle Eastern art forms, produced by hand under fair trade conditions and contributing to the revival of the Afghan economy.
Despite a major international construction effort, co-led by the UK government, Afghanistan remains one of the world's poorest countries, struggling to get back on its feet while remaining dependent on military, charity and government aid.
The Afghan carpet weaving project enables disadvantaged young people to get an education and training that may otherwise have not been affordable. Their training stipend and graduate wage and incentives under fair trade conditions bring in badly needed income for both the young people and their families. The graduates who establish their own businesses are helping communities re-establish the traditional carpet industry, which in turn is an alternative to working in the poppy trade.
For more information contact BLCF fund manager, the Emerging Markets Group at this address