A Small Support Changed Arkan’s Life
Iraq has a large number of widows, due to years of war, who find it difficult to earn their livelihood especially after US occupation in 2003. Women empowerment is the need of the hour in this conflict economy country. Over 3 million Iraqis have fled the country due to poor security situation and many widows have become refugees in their own country after sectarian strife started in 2005. Arkan’s story would motivate many women, donors and aid workers.
But then, shortly after moving to Tikrit, she came across International Relief and Development (IRD), a US based NGO running a Community Stabilization Program (CSP) funded by the USAID. She was put in touch with Sahara Economic Development Organization (SEDO), which was responsible to roll out business skills and related training programs for CSP/IRD to improve business skills of unemployed Iraqis to help developing micro businesses. It had designed a program specifically for illiterate persons, many of them widows, who needed to acquire business skills to start a micro business.
Arkan joined a training program on “How to Start a Business” in July 2008 along with 15 other hard working but illiterate women. After completing the course she applied for a grant from IRD/CSP and received a sewing machine, as in kind grant, to help her start a micro business. SEDO also helped Arkan to create a business plan which was a prerequisite to receive the grant. At that point, there was no looking back for this ambitious mother of two.
Arkan took a loan from her friend to buy fabric and other raw materials and then started making curtains and clothes for her neighbors. After two months, her business was so successful that she managed to pay back the loan. After three months she bought an additional sewing machine for her 15-year old daughter, Reham, who had been working with her mother from the start to help fill orders as they poured in. Soon Arkan’s family income rose to $300 a month.
Arkan’s relationship with IRD/CSP had been so beneficial that her older daughter Aseel also registered with the SEDO for a similar business development course for literate women. Aseel so impressed her teachers that SEDO hired her in an administrative position. Now, thanks to the two incomes and Arkan’s fame for using different sewing styles to create traditional embroidered designs, family’s monthly income is up to $500, more than enough to pay for rent and other necessities.
“My life changed forever and I no longer worry about my daughters’ future,” she smiles. “Being a refugee is no fun, but in my case it brought me into contact with the IRD and USAID funded CSP, where I found a happy ending.”
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