The NilFurat Project

Contact details

Submitted by: Neveen El Husseiny, Minister Plenipotentiary, Head of Migration, Refugees and Combating Human Trafficking Unit, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Egypt

Email: [email protected]

Social: 

• youtube.com/watch?v=OPpSsv5h9oE
• facebook.com/nilfurat/
• instagram.com/nilfurat/
• instagram.com/yadaweeshop/

VIDEO: Nilfurat Project (Short Documentary)

Introduction to the project 

Country

Arab Republic of Egypt

Duration

The project started in 2015 and joined MADE51 in 2016.

The project has been handed over to the local social enterprise “Yadawee”.

Description

A safe space of learning, expressing, experimenting and production created for a group of refugee and Egyptian women who bring together their cultural diversity and stories to make high-quality artisan products and generate income.

Project aims 

• To create a sustainable and safe income to a group of refugee and Egyptian women (currently 30 women are involved).
• To provide a space for interaction, dialogue and psycho-social support through engaging in production and learning activities.
• To establish an area-based project that is a local safe space for women and accommodates cultural diversity.

Resources used 

• Funding was provided to support all the different components (learning, psychosocial support, child care and income generation) of the project’s comprehensive approach
• The cooperation and the support of different actors, especially the local social enterprise which took over the project (Yadawee).
• The MADE51 technical and structural/institutional support to the project has built up its sustainability prospective through quality control, marketing and design support.

Partners

• Yadawee (local social enterprise)
• UNHCR
• MADE51 (UNHCR Platform)

Challenges and how they were overcome

Challenges

• The legal position of the production centre when it’s not a licensed/legally registered enterprise;
• Lack of motivated and, at the same time, highly skilled refugee women who are ready to face the challenges linked to production in the artisanal sector.

How they were overcome

In order to overcome the challenges related to license/legal registration, the centre was registered as training institute that does also production. This avoids unnecessary different licensing levels that may hinder its work.

Results of the Good Practice 

The project has contributed to generating income to a group of 30 refugee and Egyptian women’s households with consequent positive impact on the living conditions of their families.

How the project meets the GCR Objectives

Objective 1: Ease the pressures on host countries

Objective 2: Enhance refugee self-reliance

Egypt is member of the global artisanal initiative MADE 51 “Market Access, Design & Empowerment for Refugee Artisans” through the NilFurat project. The participation is managed by a local social enterprise (Yadawee) along with UNHCR Egypt. NilFurat has moved steadily from being a UNHCR-supported project to an independent and sustainable locally managed one. In February 2018, it has participated in “Ambiente” exhibition in Frankfurt with MADE51. The project has contributed to generating income to a group of 30 refugee and Egyptian women’s households with consequent positive impact on the living conditions of their families.

As the project is now getting a good amount orders, there are plans to start expanding it and engage more refugee and host community women.

Next steps 

The project is now getting a good amount of orders, especially after becoming part of the MADE51 platform, which opens doors to its sustainability. There are, therefore, plans to start expanding the centre and engage more women.