Aarong Production Centre (Ayesha Abed Foundation)
The Ayesha Abed Foundation (AAF) is an organisation that aims to provide avenues for employment and income generation for underprivileged rural women. It is an enclave for women, formed to uplift them economically, through their work as producers, and also socially, through their development into entrepreneurs. The Foundation provides an appropriate working environment, financial and technical assistance, and training to develop the women’s skills in various crafts. The Foundation was established to commemorate the memory and work of late Mrs. Ayesha Abed, a co-worker and wife of the Founder and Chairperson of BRAC. The work that is done in the Foundation is a testament to her commitment to the issues of education, training and employment opportunities for disadvantaged women. It was she who in 1976 initiated all the present major activities of AAF in Manikgonj.
The AAF aims to work with the most underprivileged women in the society. These women are often the most neglected and are in need of much assistance and support. The AAF plays the role of a facilitator. The women are placed in an enabling environment, with other women of similar socio-economic backgrounds. They are trained and then given the opportunity to generate income. One of the major challenges that these women have to face is that they are marginalised and they, on their own, have no way of becoming part of the economic system. This is where the AAF steps in, helping such marginalized women out of their peripheral existence in society, and giving them the opportunity to become involved in sustainable enterprise. The AAF is closely interrelated with other programs, especially BRAC Development Program (BDP) and Aarong. The women workers of the AAF come from the BDP organized Village Organizations. Working at the AAF thus gives the women access to other BRAC programs. All of the AAF’s finished products are sold through Aarong, which additionally provides designs, raw materials and financial support to the AAF. Since AAF supplies exclusively to Aarong, it is treated as Aarong Production Centres.
Goals
- Empowering destitute rural women by providing opportunities for employment and income generation.
- Ensuring commercial success of the enterprise of women producers.
- Reviving traditional skills of rural artisans.
Services
- Free Medical check-up including free eye treatment, eye-glasses and treatment costs for severe illnesses
- Advance wage payments for employees in need
- Day care services
- Workers retirement fund
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