This project aims to empower women by offering a sustainable opportunity for crochet skill acquisition using plastic yarn from single use waste plastic bags. The project will also strengthen links between ladies, encourage community cohesion and increase social capital.

We will encourage a health related discourse through the course by fostering conversations around public health whilst creating craft products. These will include conversations that educate women about sanitation, childbirth, nutrition, mental, sexual and reproductive health, amongst other things.

This project started on the 31st of October 2017 aims to run for a year. We identified interested local ladies on the IDP camp to work with. In an early meeting about what they wanted, we could recognise specific assets in the ladies that would to contribute to this project and made a community assets plan.

We created a collective of ladies that using learnt crochet skills, could focus on using discarded plastic bags to create artwork and quality sellable products. We hope in learning these skills the ladies will themselves develop some leaders to teach this skill to interested community members and encourage ownership and self-management.

Our team provide time, resources, quality control and administrative support. We purchase and distribute essential craft supplies, provide quality assurance, training and networking opportunities for participants and will evaluate the pilot at the end.