Kandahar Treasure is a social enterprise dedicated to providing employment opportunities for women in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Women artisans produce exquisite embroidered pieces using the tradition of Khamak. Khamak is a centuries old embroidery tradition where geometric designs are embroidered onto a base fabric counting the weave of the fabric without using a trace. Women create their own patterns inspired by Islamic Art and this talent is embroidered onto fabrics using their inherent artistry. Women in southern Afghanistan have embellished their homes and the clothes of their loved ones with this technique for centuries and Kandahar Treasure has brought this art form for the first time to the world market. The vision of Kandahar Treasure is to give value and importance to the fine authentic work of the women of southern Afghanistan as this work is the main form of expression of the women of this region.
MISSION
At Kandahar Treasure, we are dedicated to empowering women. We are successfully accomplishing our mission by:
- Providing economic independence to women who are home-bound – an important first step in attaining their rights and freedom;
- Enhancing the value of a woman inside her home by offering women an opportunity to provide financially for themselves and their families;
- Raising awareness among women about the importance of economics within the society at large;
- Building a brand of Kandahar embroidery nationally and internationally;
- Sustaining a business model to ensure that women can lead and benefit from their own efforts.
CORE VALUES
- Ensure women’s empowerment is an integral part of all of Kandahar Treasure’s planning and strategizing.
- Commit to working hard and with honesty and integrity.
- Function independently from any political party, government or religious institution.
- Promote and sustain leadership that is participatory and inclusive to strengthen our collective voice, power and influence.
- Ensure transparency, accountability and responsibility in the use of our financial resources.
- Strive for excellence, while being creative, bold and courageous.
CONTEXT
Afghanistan has a complex history regarding women. A patriarchal society with a general conservative outlook on life and social affairs, addressing women’s issues in Afghanistan has attracted heated debates and reactions throughout its history. Symbolic efforts to empower and emancipate Afghan women have been consistent – particularly in the past 4 decades after the communist coup d’etat in 1978. Women’s rights has been an easy policy point to arouse emotions, sensitivities, and conversations in Afghanistan and the world continues to struggle with this debate.
While policy makers globally continue to pressure societies and governments to adopt more women-friendly policies in their countries and contexts, rural patriarchal societies like Afghanistan continue to view women’s empowerment and emancipation as a threat to their national identity. Patriarchy in Afghanistan has not been convinced that women’s advancement in economy, education and the workforce is not a threat but an opportunity.
Plagued by war and poverty for more than four decades, the number of widows in Afghanistan has risen exponentially. Leadership within Afghanistan and the international community has not succeeded in systematically addressing the challenges women face in Afghanistan, particularly its widowed female populations.
While Kandahar province remains an important political and economic hub for Afghanistan, this elevated status has not enabled the women of Kandahar – many of whom are widows and/or are entirely reliant upon men in their lives – to break from the cycle of social restrictions on their livelihood, development and progress.
Kandahar Treasure was founded with the belief that Afghanistan needs to build its economy with its own production. A nation’s economy can never truly develop by relying on international aid. Developing and sustaining a national economy is the result of identifying, producing and promoting products and services that can thrive in domestic and global markets.
The centuries-old Khamak embroidery of Kandahar is experiencing the threat of becoming an endangered tradition among women artisans in this region. Machine embroidery that looks similar but is made for a fraction of the cost has created strong competition. The goal of Kandahar Treasure is to give life and value to the art – carrying with it not only history but tradition and the voice of women in Kandahar, Afghanistan. In highly illiterate and particularly politically unstable societies like Afghanistan, this art form substitutes women’s expression that would otherwise be written in poems or stories. Kandahari Khamak is the story of the women of Kandahar creating beauty and peace in the midst of instability. The resistance from these women is to continue to stitch their dreams and legacies and provide a dignified income to their children and families. The women understand and know the transformative power of their needles and threads.
FOUNDER
Rangina Hamidi is an Afghan American writer, educator, social entrepreneur, and politician who served as Afghanistan’s acting minister of education until August 2021. She was the first cabinet-level, female minister of education to hold that position in thirty years. Ms. Hamidi works tirelessly to advocate for women’s rights by empowering girls and women through social entrepreneurship and other initiatives to build their lives.
Born in Afghanistan, Ms. Hamidi emigrated with her family to Pakistan in 1981 and then to the United States. In 1988, her family settled in Virginia near Washington D.C. She earned a bachelor’s degree with a double major in religious studies and gender studies at the University of Virginia. She later completed a Master of Arts in Global Affairs and Management at Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University.
Returning to Afghanistan in 2003, Ms. Hamidi devoted herself to improving the lives of Afghans through development projects, advocacy, and, most importantly, education. Ms. Hamidi’s accomplishments include the founding of Kandahar Treasure, a full-value chain social enterprise that has lifted countless women through the production of their distinguished, traditional hand-crafted textiles. The collective’s products have been sold in Afghanistan, Europe, the Middle East, and North America.
Ms. Hamidi is well-versed in pedagogy, child development, and psychology and led the Mezan International School, a private institution, as its first principal. The school’s progressive international curriculum garnered praise for its solid foundation of Islamic education, values, and history studies. These accomplishments led the president of Afghanistan to ask her to bring her innovative approach to education as acting education minister.
Currently, Ms. Hamidi is a professor of practice with Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University in Phoenix, Arizona.
She has contributed to numerous publications and radio programs, including TIMES Asia Magazine, The Globe and Mail, Der Spiegel, Business Week, The New York Times, The Guardian, The Telegraph, NPR, BBC, and Voice of America. Ms. Hamidi has co-authored “Embroidering within Boundaries: Afghan Women Creating a Future,” which takes the reader on a pictorial journey into her own life and tells the stories of the courageous Afghan women she works with.
Rangina remains committed to supporting Kandahar Treasure through sharing the women’s stories and products globally, fundraising for a permanent center for the women of Kandahar, and speaking about Afghan women and Afghanistan on global platforms.
“Rangina Hamidi is a world-class problem solver. This becomes abundantly clear as you read her personal story in Embroidering Within Boundaries: Afghan Women Creating a Future, co-authored with Mary Littrell. When the problem was women in Kandahar, often widowed with no means of support and always sequestered, she founded Kandahar Treasure. This allowed women to work at home doing culturally-approved work and thus gain a degree of autonomy. Kandahar Treasure has supported hundreds of women and their dependents while sharing the splendor of their traditional needlework with the world.”
– Linda Ligon, Publisher
“I’ve watched Rangina Hamidi change hundreds of women’s lives with nothing more than embroidery thread and stubborn persistence. Confronting a problem that seemed insurmountable, she has harnessed the old-world decorative skills of khamak with the new-world power of social business to bring hope and respect to the women of Kandahar. I’m thankful that this story is being told. We should all be inspired by what Rangina has accomplished. The world is better because of her resolve.”
– Kellie Kreiser, Executive Director, Thunderbird School of Global Management
