Sharjah project to aid poor women

The aid organisation Oxfam will be helping women in Sharjah produce and sell handmade items.

SHARJAH // The Sharjah Business Women Council (SBWC) and Oxfam GB are collaborating on a programme to empower women.

The two organisations have signed a memorandum of understanding to launch Intilaqah, designed to help poor Emirati women who work from their homes.

Under the programme, the women will receive help with funding, promoting and marketing their hand-made items.

Sheikha Jawaher Al Qasimi, the chairwoman of the Supreme Council on Family Affairs and honorary patron of the SBWC, said she had seen a need to support such women and help them to develop after a visit to the eastern and middle regions of the emirate.

Sheikha Jawaher, wife of the Ruler of Sharjah, said she had been impressed by the women, who embraced and kept alive traditional crafts.

The SBWC and Oxfam will exchange knowledge and information, share lessons on small and medium enterprise development and provide support to promote entrepreneurship, said Moza Al Khayyal, an SBWC board member and head of the programme.