social enterprise partners - armenia
HDIF
About HDIF
Homeland Development Initiative Foundation (HDIF) is a registered NGO and social enterprise based in Yerevan, Armenia. HDIF works to initiate, facilitate, and nurture sustainable economic opportunities in rural villages, towns, and cities throughout Armenia. HDIF works to empower women as independent business operators by organising training in business development.
Refugee Artisan Group
A group of 10 Syrian-Armenian women work with HDIF. The women were born and raised in Syria after previous generations fled violence in Armenia. Most of them lived in communities that maintained their Armenian culture, including craftsmanship traditions. After the war broke out in Syria, over 200,000 of these Syrians of Armenian heritage sought safety in the homeland of their ancestors.
Currently, the artisan group, which is all women, specialises in two distinct handmade techniques – hand-felting of local sheep wool, and traditional Marash embroidery. The felting technique was learned after their arrival in Armenia, but the Marash embroidery is an Armenian technique that is hundreds of years old and, most women, was passed down from their mothers or grandmothers.
© HDIF Armenia
Syrian
emergency
Learn more about Syrian refugees and the UNHCR’s work in the region
Partners
since:
2020
Artisan
origin:
Syria
Production
Locations:
Yerevan
Features
Founder Series
Inside Look
Heritage skills
Felting, Marash embroidery
“Traditions and customs unite people around shared values, good thoughts and actions. The Armenian traditional embroidery helps us create stronger bonds with the new society, and thanks to UNHCR and MADE51 to feel appreciated and proud for promoting the Armenian traditions and culture around the world.”
Lousin, refugee artisan
