“It is audacious to aspire to end human rights abuses in an unsettled nation, but GoodWeave’s progress in just one year proves to me that where there is a willingness to try, much can be accomplished.” – Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner, And the Mountains Echoed, and A Thousand Splendid Suns

GoodWeave International works to end child labor and trafficking in the rug industry and to support weaving communities around the world. Building on its nearly 20 years of experience in India and Nepal, GoodWeave expanded to Afghanistan in 2011. Many people said GoodWeave couldn’t succeed in this war-torn country. Today, GoodWeave is proving them wrong, and the very first certified Afghan rug reached the market last winter.

The journey of that rug was not easy – it took building faith in communities that have seen too many short-range development projects. It took adapting GoodWeave’s best-in-class supply chain monitoring program to reach women weavers hidden on home-based looms. And it took delicate, even dangerous, negotiation to ensure that girls found working would have the chance to learn.

PROTECTING CHILDREN, ADVANCING WOMEN

Carpet production is Afghanistan’s largest legal industry, employing approximately 2 million weavers and another 2 million in related activities. The vast majority of looms are found in homes, which means the work is done out of sight by women and often by children. According to UNICEF, a third of elementary school-aged children are put to work, including many who are sold into bonded labor, sexual exploitation and early marriage.

At the same time, many Afghan women are de-facto breadwinners for their families having lost the male head of household. While weaving is a viable occupation for women, working in isolation often leads to exploitation and many end up beholden to traders who do not offer fair compensation. GoodWeave’s programs generate demand for adult labor, increased wages and improved working conditions, which mean more and better jobs for women.

WHAT ARE GOODWEAVE’S PROGRAMS IN AFGHANISTAN?

Market Promotion: GoodWeave cultivates demand for child-labor-free rugs through consumer awareness campaigns and importer outreach in North America and Europe, using market forces to motivate producers to forego child servitude. Promotions in prominent shelter magazines feature a new line of “Made by Afghan Women” rugs certified by GoodWeave expected to hit the market in early 2014.

Monitoring and Certification: Companies that join GoodWeave open their supply chains for visits by our inspection teams. Those that meet the strict no-child-labor standard are issued certification labels for their rugs. In Kabul, GoodWeave has formed an all local inspection team, which relies on female inspectors who are able to access home-based looms in a culturally-sensitive way.

Child Rescue, Rehabilitation and Education: Through its loom monitoring activities, GoodWeave identifies child laborers and offers them counseling, medical treatment, education and, if necessary, a home. GoodWeave is able to use market pressure as a basis to negotiate with the parents to educate their daughters. Many of these girls are so isolated that they scarcely leave their homes, forced to work long hours, they have no contact outside their families. No other program would likely be able to reach them.

“I always kept dreaming of drawing and writing on a paper, and playing with a pen between my weaving fingers, and now I can.” —Zuhra (name changed to protect her identity)

Prevention Programs for At-risk Children: GoodWeave provides early childhood education and daycare services for preschool children in key carpet-making areas, such as its early child development center for 40 preschool age children in Shahrak-e-Qalinbafan (“Burgh of the Carpet Weavers”). Another center is planned to open in Kabul in 2013. GoodWeave’s experience has shown that intervention at this stage puts children on the path to learning while giving mothers time to focus on their craft and earn more income.

Health, Safety and Economic Opportunity Programs for Adult Weavers: GoodWeave works to raise the standard of living in weaving communities, thus addressing the root problems that often compel parents to send their children to work rather than school.

WHAT’S NEXT?

With U.S. State Department support, GoodWeave has launched Weaving Opportunities for Women in partnership with Ariana Rugs. GoodWeave will create a woman-run, centralized training and production center, called Tapish (rhythm in Dari), to expand the market for carpets made by Afghan women, while fulfilling industry demand for skilled weavers. The rugs are expected to hit the market in early 2014.

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For more information about GoodWeave’s work in Afghanistan, please visit www.goodweave.org/afghanistan, sign up for our newsletter, or contact Beth Gottschling Huber, International Programs Officer, at [email protected] or tel 202-234-9050.

All photos © U Roberto Romano, courtesy of GoodWeave

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