80, El Kasr El-einy str. Garden City,
Cairo
Cairo Governorate
Egypt
- Arts
- Heritage
- International/Cultural relations
- Youth and education
Karama Foundation for Social and Cultural Development was founded as the development arm of GebRaa social enterprise. The two institutions were established to help marginalized Egyptian artisans find new markets for their threatened crafts, so they would feel economically and socially empowered. We work to promote a series of disappearing crafts by supporting product development to match the needs of socially conscious local and international customers while striving for unique production, as well as offering training to artisans as we aim to inspire pride in their cultural heritage. Karama currently works in Historic Cairo under a project funded by Drosos Foundation to support artisans of inlay handicraft. The project’s main goal is to achieve socio-economic development for our artisans and their families. The organization has one founder and staff of 7 employees consisting of one project manager and 6 staff doing the operational, sales and marketing responsibilities. Sources of funding Karama is mainly grants from donors to achieve approved projects.
Karama Foundation seeks to achieve economic, social and cultural development for the bearers of the intangible Egyptian heritage with all its elements, which include traditional handicrafts. The goals of the foundation can be explained in the following points:
Reviving traditional handicrafts in Egypt.
• Achieving economic and social development for craftsmen.
• Achieving cultural development by investing in the various elements of the intangible Egyptian heritage.
• Development of environmentally friendly handmade products.
• Raise the awareness of Egyptians and foreigners of the historical and cultural values of the intangible Egyptian heritage.
The main project Karama currently works on is reviving the Egyptian traditional inlay craft, the activities of the project achieve the following goals and objectives:
• Achieving economic development for craftsmen by: Creating new designs that match the modern taste , but preserve the Egyptian identity and the cultural component of the craft, and help craftsmen open new markets inside and outside Egypt to promote and sell these products.
In addition, the Foundation is responsible throughout the project period for making new agreements with clients from different sectors to implement and purchase a large number of products that allow to achieve an increase in the craftsman’s income by 15%. Finally, the Foundation participates in international exhibitions to display artisan products.
• Improving the safety conditions of workshops by providing them with the safety tools necessary to maintain their health condition
• Achieving social development for craftsmen by training them on the necessary skills to improve their own work, such as financial management, marketing and quality standards, introducing them to the direction of global markets and how to implement new products with international standards.
• Training a new generation of young people on the craft of inlay and make them aware of its historical and cultural values and the importance of maintaining high quality for the survival of the craft.
• Giving lectures in universities and schools on Egyptian restrictive crafts that are threatened with disappearing and the importance of preserving them as an essential part of Egyptian identity and history, and the importance of encouraging Egyptian-made products because of their impact on achieving social, economic and cultural development for craftsmen and their families.
Through opening a dialogue among Karama and other network members in Egypt that work in heritage field. This will be done through networking events, organizing debates with other Egyptian members to discuss the ways in which we can support youth empowerment and boosting cultural dialogues.
Karama's main objective is to support Egyptian traditional handicrafts, which is classified as a significant part of the Egyptian intangible cultural heritage. We believe that cultural dialogue is one of the important means of cultural elements to thrive and be safeguarded. By joining the ALF network, we will have the chance to support our artisans to be more open to other cultural, other techniques and skills of doing the same traditional handicrafts they practice in different countries, meanwhile introduce other networks to Egyptian heritage and culture bearers, whom UNESCO named” human treasures”, which will eventually lead to preserving Egyptian cultural heritage and boost cultural diversity