Tailoring: A Small Business Skill for Afghan Women

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AIL’s Learning Centers (LCs) give refugee and Internally Displaced Persons the opportunity to learn many subjects. They often start out with tailoring/sewing and Fast Track Literacy classes, then as their confidence grows they take on new challenges. One of the most popular classes offered is tailoring because these refugee women need to earn money.  So far in 2018, 1,054 females (491 adolescents) are studying tailoring in Herat LCs and 376 in LCs in Kabul and other provinces.

AIL tailoring students are grateful to be able to learn a useful skill which they will use to make clothing for their families, saving money and to earn money as a small business.  Some students are able to fast track through tailoring class and become excellent tailors very quickly. They gain a skill but also a sense of accomplishment in completing the course and now being able to contribute to the economic situation of the family by starting a small home business. 

AIL encourages students to be resourceful and to recycle items when possible.  “The sewing class teacher at one center told her students to bring plastics, for use as a lesson material, from home. They used the plastic to cut out colored patterns from it. They can keep the patterns and use them repeatedly during the sewing course. Using the free materials to make useful patterns is really noteworthy idea for both teachers and students.”

Learning an income generating skill helps with family finances but also raises women’s self- esteem and their standing within the family. Husbands appreciate their wives ability to learn new skills even at an older age and are now seen as able to help with the family economics. 

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Women and girls come to Learning Centers (LCs) wanting to learn a skill that they can use to make money to help their families. There is a need for sewing skills training and this will encourage women to take part in economic activity beyond their households.  So far in 2018, there are 1,054 females taking sewing classes in Herat and 464 in the Kabul area.

Amena is a graduate of a sewing class at a Herat LC. She says this about her life, " I am a young girl. My family are poor as my father can only buy something to eat, nothing else. I have lived in a very hard situation my whole my life. My father is the only one who earns money for our family. I have no older brother to help my father. We are four sisters.I was very hopeless before I joined the center. But when I heard that there are free classes at this center I rushed to join. After a few times I learned lots of sewing skills and started to sew clothes for my sisters. Now I am able to sew each kind of clothing. I have my own business and I sew and earn money. I am very happy about it and thatt I can help my father with the expenses of our daily life. I proved that there isn't any difference between boys and girls if the ground is paved for them to be improved.  I am thankful for Professor Sakena Yacoobi who established this center and changed my dark life and the lives of thousands of people like me."

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AIL is working towards: SDG Goal 4 – Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.