Author: Leslie Vryenhoek
Aidemi: Women’s Creative Studios Association, of Kyrgyzstan, is an active member of HomeNet Eastern Europe and Central Asia (HNEE/CA). Their mission, based on the traditions of their ancestors, is to develop innovations with the aim to increase international awareness about Kyrgyz craftsmanship.
The women from the villages of Naryn region have been working together for more than 15 years. Initially funded under a project with the IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development) in partnership with the Aga Khan Foundation, the women decided to organize further and continue working together once that project ended in 2017. The Association has more than 300 home-based workers organized across most rural areas of Kyrgyzstan, notably Issyk-Kul, Talas, and Naryn.
Svetlana Balalaeva, a longtime leader of the Association, notes that Aidemi operates without registering a legal entity, which does not contradict the legislation of Kyrgyzstan on non-profit organizations. However, the founders and members of Aidemi have the legal status of Public unions, small rural cooperatives, Design studios.
The women make attractive designs based on ancestral knowledge, including products such as Kyrgyz felt carpets “shyrdaks”, wool felt hats and slippers, eco-printed silk scarves, silk scarves with wool felt inserts, felt souvenirs and other household textiles.
Aidemi facilitates Masterclasses for the women in techniques such as felt technology, cold and hot batik, leatherwork, embroidery and doll-making. They also teach marketing, market access, new equipment and finance, as well as arranging market exhibitions of the women’s products.
Svetlana notes that since 2017, the Association has been cooperating more closely with trade unions and are now also focusing on social protection. She notes, “We provide professional skills to the groups so they can become more independent and make more money, such as exporting wool slippers to Japan, creating carpets and souvenirs out of wool felt, and weaving rugs.”
In addition to the passing of traditional crafts skills along generations, the work also helps rural women to earn funds they would otherwise not have the opportunity to access.
Burulush Zhamanbaeva, a former math teacher from the village of Min-Buoak in Naryn Oblast, organized one of the crafts women group in 2009. Svetlana notes that in Naryn Oblast, many leaders of craftsmen, having mastered traditional craft techniques from a young age, worked as school teachers during their working careers. This is a mountainous region of Kyrgyzstan, where many women with a certain level of work experience have privileges for retirement due to the harsh climate. After retiring, Burulush created a women’s crafts group and taught them how to make felt slippers, which they constantly improve using eco-friendly methods and designs.
Burulush Zhamanbaeva
Burulush says “When I visited Hungary, Uzbekistan as part of an IFAD project, and then Bulgaria with HomeNet, I saw what they did with exhibitions and marketing.” From that experience, she was able to increase orders for the slippers, including to a Japanese company who buys them wholesale.
Aidemi also provides training on green rural technologies such as ecoprinting, and Burulush teaches the women how to “run the numbers” on a product to be sure they are operating at a profit and not at a loss. A group of women from the village of Min -Bulak opened a small sewing workshop, using premises and equipment provided by the Community Development and Investment Agency of Kyrgyzstan (ARIS). As part of the Ford Foundation’s Social Justice grant program HomeNet International provided seamstresses with patterns for sewing popular clothing items.
Kyrgyzstan also has a considerable number of home-workers, sewing garments provided to them by middlemen. The middlemen provide the materials and samples, and if a piece costs 100 KG Som , the middlemen take 50 KG Som, leaving the home-worker with 50 KG Som for her hard work. The orders are then taken by the middlemen for sale to Russia or Kazakhstan.
In 2024, homeworkers from nearby villages and suburbs of Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, united in a self-help group “Bereke” as part of the Ford Foundation’s Social Justice grant program, at the initiative of master seamstress Aigul Omurzakova. They help each other distribute patterns of popular clothing and sew clothes that they sell without intermediaries, which significantly increases their income. In 2024, this group became a member of HomeNet Eastern Europe&Central Asia. I The Aidemi Association trains home workers, helping them become independent, primarily paying special attention to migrants from Tajikistan, including single women with disabled children, who can sew clothes at home.
The impact of working independently can be significant. A homeworker in Bishkek makes 200 KG Som for a dress, while in the villages of Chui region, 120 soms. Middleman would take 80 KG Som. However, if a home-based worker, working independently, can buy her own materials and make the dress, she can sell it for 1,000-1,500 KG Som, keeping a profit of anywhere between 600-900 KG Som.
Most women are sewing both for middlemen and independently now, using their earnings to support their families.
Svetlana notes that “independent home-based workers make better earnings, but also the social environment is better because they used to work alone but now they can connect with each other and share experiences and learn from each other. They make friends and share ideas, and this increases their confidence. The attitude towards the woman also changes – in her family and her village – when she is making money and becoming the breadwinner in her home.”
