Connecting Armenians of the World.
The Syunik region of Armenia is the most remote region of Armenia and suffers from the highest unemployment in the country: 67%, of which 70% are women. Furthermore, with high unemployment rates, there are also high rates of work related migration. The purpose of establishing Wool to Carpet Studio is to combat the two issues through job creation and economic development in the largest village in the Syunik region: Goris.
Goris and the surrounding villages operate mostly on subsistence-based agriculture, and the largest resource in the area is sheep. However, the wool was mostly considered a waste product and was unused. The idea of this project is to take what was once considered waste and create a marketable, high-demand product produced by local women. With training and funding assistance, we are working on restoring a once prosperous workshop into income generating opportunity for the women of Goris community and surrounding villages.
Recently, the workshop of the Goris Handmade has been moved to cultural center located in Verishen village. The cultural center hadn`t been used since Soviet Union collapse in 1992.With our partners* we raised most of the money needed to begin renovating the workshop to an operational level. However, with the help of our partners, we hope to not only finish renovations, but to transform the Goris Handmade project into a touristic attraction that can potentially draw more tourists into the area.
We are purchasing raw wool from local farmers in the 8 surrounding villages under a rotating purchasing plan. This purchasing plan will allow us to source wool from various villages and expand the positive economic impact of the project outside of simply Goris.
The escalation of the military conflict in Artsakh conflict zone in September 2020 caused forced displacement of more than 10,000 people – mostly women, children and the elderly – from Artsakh to the community of Goris in Syunik province: the first entry point to safety in Armenia. While the majority of the displaced families moved on to different locations in Armenia, some 4,000 displaced individuals have remained and settled in the Goris area. Being based in Goris, Goris Handmade has remained one of the first responders, a front-line NGO offering humanitarian aid to people from Artsakh. As we were already working with and supporting the vulnerable population in Goris, largely women and elderly, we expanded our activities to help the people affected by the conflict. Since December 2020, more than 600 displaced women and men have been registered with Goris Handmade seeking help for various needs, but most of them look for jobs and livelihood opportunities. The need assessment that we conducted helped us understand their professional profile and capacity, and vocational needs and motivation so we could design our interventions in a more targeted and productive way. Furthermore, we expect to tap into existing touristic attractions in the local area to create a developmental hub based around the sustainable jobs associated with this project.
Currently, 12 of Goris Handmade employees are ladies from Artsakh and rest are women facing financial hardship from rural areas of Goris.
