AOW Insider | Interview: Artisan Links

Zardozi is registered as a local Pakistani social enterprise working with Afghan refugees and local female artisans who belong to low-income families. Artisan Links, as the name suggests, works with artisans in product development, quality assurance, raw material sourcing and training in tailoring and embroidery from different regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan, connecting the artisans to the market. Artisan Links plays the role of a mentor and facilitator to these artisans, who don’t have the resources to reach foreign markets on their own. Artisan Links is a guaranteed member of the World Fair Trade Organization, making sure all the artisans are paid fair wages and their products are marketed locally and internationally. Artisan Links has a well-developed export processes and production unit to support this work. For the past few years, Artisan Links has been working with the MADE51 project by UNHCR for refugees. Under the MADE51 project, we get support in product development and marketing.