LOCAL HANDICRAFTS FOR WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

Berd is a town in Tavush province of Armenia, located only 4 km away from the front line with Azerbaijan. Berd Bears is a producer partner of Homeland Development Initiative Foundation (HDIF) and is run by the Berd Women's Resource Center Foundation (BWRCF), providing employment for 35 talented women from Berd and the surrounding villages, which is often the only source of income for their families.

In February 2011 in Berd, Anahit Badalian, with the help and encouragement of United States Peace Corps volunteer John Hart, founded BWRCF. For the first project, they arranged a showing of the local women's handicraft group and invited American-born toy-design expert and Honorary Consul for Norway and Finland, Sir Timothy Straight, to visit Berd. As Timothy Straight had recently founded an organization for promoting job creation through hand made products, and was looking for new Armenian talent and products to develop, the fruitful cooperation between them started. Together, they discovered unique handmade teddy bears being crafted by a small group of local women. The women employees learned the technique for making these one-of-a-kind bears, which was brought to the town by a German nun, Sister Hanna, who had preserved the art through generations.

The high quality of the bears and the story behind them is positive across borders and ethnicities. The original handicraft group has expanded from a handful of women to almost thirty full-time specialized knitters, crocheters and seamstresses, all bringing their talent and creativity to Berd Bears. 

On July 2-5, Berd Bears were exhibited and sold at the Navasartian Games and Festivals in Van Nuys, California. From the stage, several thousand Armenian Americans were told the story of Berd Bears and how the husbands and sons of many of the women making Berd Bears are defending Armenia’s front line. The response was enormous, with many people coming to the HDIF stand to offer their support for this important project.

Business, marketing and human resources trainings partially funded by the Global giving donors, provide Berd women with knowledge on how to manage their human resources, how to use social media to advertise their products and how to achieve financial stability.

By supporting Berd Bears, you are supporting a larger cause: allowing a hardworking woman to receive a fair wage for her traditional craft and thus providing income for her family in an otherwise abandoned economy.