Rural Women Ensuring Well-being of Family and Community During the Crisis – Tamila`s Story

Tamila Kapanadze is a teacher and a mother of two children from the remote village of Toloshi in Aspindza municipality. Along with the small income, Tamila and her husband have to pay the bank loan, which causes additional financial problems. So Tamila decided to support her family and start an extra business. She always helped the villagers to sew different things, but she had an old sewing machine which did not let her sew properly.

Thinking about development and a better future, Tamila joined the Women`s Economic Empowerment project supported by UN Women. Within the framework of the project, she participated in the grant competition and purchased two sewing machines. Then, step by step Tamila began the preparations for the sewing business.

Tamila had big plans as she was going to sew linen and sell it, but this period coincided with the spread of COVID-19 in the country and she continued her activities in another direction. There is an emergency situation in the village of Toloshi, as in many other parts of Georgia due to the virus. Because of the long distance, the residents do not have access to pharmacies and various stores. Life is becoming more difficult for locals. Due to the pandemic, the demand on face masks has increased. That is why Tamila decided to help her community during this difficult period and started production of multiple using masks.  With already remained material she sewed 50 face masks. Following the recommendations and hygiene standards, Tamila distributed 20 masks free of charge to the elderly in 20 families from the village, and sold 30 in about 15 families. “There is a high demand on my face masks, but I can`t sew more because the resources that I use for sewing are running out. Due to the current situation, I can no longer buy the relevant materials”.

Despite everything, Tamila does not lose hope. In the framework of the project, she plans to take a sewing course to further development and knowledge improvement. “In future, when I take courses, I want to diversify the service and also think about remote sales as well”.

The project “Women`s Economic Empowerment through Social Mobilization and Capacity Building” is funded by Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC) and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), implemented by Kakheti Regional Development Foundation (KRDF), Taso Foundation (TF), and CARE International in the Caucasus (CARE).