Displaced by Conflict, Connected by Design
The Pomegranate Project (“the Project) was created to harness women’s individual and collective power. Our holistic model is Greece’s first.
Our all-women team provides protection and empowerment services for refugee and asylum-seeking women who are survivors or at risk of gender-based violence. Under one roof, we offer skills acquisition classes, psycho-social support, social work, childcare livelihoods and shelter. The model was intentionally designed to proactively remove as many barriers as possible, so that our participants can recover, rediscover their resilience and become fully re-integrated in their new home-country.
As part of our livelihoods program, women from various nationalities co-create and co-design with our art director, Porfyria, to create every item you see on our e-shop.
Art Director - Porfyria
The products are the result of an intricate combination of different cultural backgrounds and legacies. All materials used in our products are locally sourced in Greece, while the designs and creations are made exclusively by women participants at our Project’s women-only safe space located in Athens. The products are created with semiotics in mind, drawing on the symbolic representations of folk art from the homelands of their makers.
The designs tell unique stories and convey the varied languages and cultures found within this Project. Through shared collaboration, each woman expresses her creativity and discover what unites them all, while maintaining their individual voices through the designs produced.
Design - Colette
Women also come to the Project to connect with each other and exchange knowledge and experiences. They become more confident in expressing their views, comprehending their rights and standing up for themselves within the family unit.
Having access to a fair and livable wage gives them the resources, opportunities and choices that allow them to be part of society. We are dedicated to fostering economic empowerment and stopping refugee and asylum seeking women from being taken advantage of, or subjected to unfair labour practices, exploitation and discrimination.
Women's economic empowerment initiatives suggest that when a woman has employment outside her home it can bring in more money for her family; this could potentially reduce her vulnerability to gender-based violence as she would have financial independence from her partner if she needs to leave an abusive relationship.
Economic empowerment of women can result in increased visibility within markets, communities, and workplaces. This can lead to a greater ability to seek support from family or friends if they experience gender-based violence. Therefore, economic empowerment may provide a protective factor against such occurrences.
All sales are directly reinvested back into the Project to sustain our operations.
We have a long-term vision where sales of our products will sustain the Project, minimising assistance from donors, provide employment to refugee and asylum seeking women and expand our reach, offering vocational training, Greek language / Basic IT Literacy courses, psychological and psychosocial support, long-term housing solutions as well as sustainable income sources that focus on honing their existing talents, skills and interests.
To date, we have managed to provide a stable and fair living wage to 9 women from Congo, Afghanistan, Iran and Uganda.
Visit our e-shop to support our work.
Atalanti Moquette Hadjipateras
Director
Legal representative
Action for Women Hellas MKO
