The author visited Afghanistan in 2003 as part of a U.S. delegation focused on improving the lives of women. Her idea was to start a business that would employ the women of that country to make a product she could sell in the United States. Some locally woven rugs caught her eye; she carried them back home and started looking for initial funding. She set up a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and began working to construct an entirely new and socially responsible supply chain. ARZU's goal was to create a sustainable business model linking well-paying jobs to behaviors that over time would shift the cultural norm. The company negotiated a "social contract" with male heads of household that set conditions for women in the home to become its weavers: All children (including girls) must attend government school full-time, and all adult women must be "released" from the family compound to attend ARZU's literacy classes or for transport to medical clinics when pregnant. Once the business model was in place, recruiting weavers required an intensive, house-to-house outreach. But as word spread that the company would pay the local rate as a salary (rather than piecework) and that women could earn a bonus for highest-quality work, families sought to join the program. Today ARZU has a waiting list. All the company's weavers are now literate (whereas 90% of Afghan women remain illiterate), and 20% are putting a child through university. Working and earning money has developed their dignity and self-esteem, and the men of their villages have come to view them as capable human beings.

【書誌情報】

ページ数：6ページ

サイズ：A4

商品番号：HBSP-R1609A

発行日：2016/9/1

登録日：2016/9/6