Around 115.000 war widows live in Sri Lanka, because of this, over 100.000 households in Sri Lanka are solely run by a woman. These woman need a sustainable income to earn enough money for food, shelter and education for their children. The ‘weaving for independence’ is helping women to secure this income by learning women the necessary skills to produce textile products and business development.
With the award money of the Commitment Award, Julia Oestreich organized various workshops in close cooperation with various local firms and organizations. Selyn, a Sri Lankan fair trade Handloom cooperation, for example, provided the marketing and sales workshop, learning the women how to sell their hand-made textile products.