A truly handmade experience by the women of Mandawali, East Delhi, India 6 years ago, a group of teachers walked through the lanes of Mandawali, a low-income community in Delhi, India. An area defined by unemployment and hardship, the teachers’ eyes were caught by a flicker of peach colors, so stark against the urban backdrop. The flicker was a girl, running around in a beautiful dress her mother
had created for her. As the teachers moved through the back streets, they realized that behind closed doors lay huge potential, as unemployed mothers quietly created things that the world was yet to see…
An invisible dot on the map, Mandawali is one of the many places in India experiencing the repercussions of a lack of education and employment opportunities. At the heart of the problem are the women of Mandawali, of whom only 20% are employed, with 90% of their income going to their families, 55% more than that contributed to families by employed men in the area. ( a report by Clinton Global initiative)
In 2014, Khwaab started its journey with a dream to financially empower women by imparting creative skills and using these skills to create products. These are now marketed to a global platform with earnings retained by the women and funneled into the well-being of the children and communities. With this dream, these 26 female artisans have gone from earning a few hundred rupees a month to an astonishing Rs. 8,000. We wish to facilitate even more livelihoods, with 500 female artisans receiving an income of between 15,000 to 20,000 rupees a month. Bear witness to their stories, and take this journey with us to make our vision at Khwaab a reality.
