Watch: The women’s cooperative tackling unemployment in Jordan

Watch: The women’s cooperative tackling unemployment in Jordan
By Alexandra Coulton


The TreadRight Foundation has released a video about its People project in Jordan; the Iraq al-Amir Women’s Cooperative.

Hosted by Céline Cousteau, the TreadRight experience was meant to gain a greater understanding of the Iraq al-Amir Women’s Cooperative, their work, goals and struggles.

Unemployment for women in Jordan is at around 33 per cent in urban areas and even higher than that in rural areas.

The cooperative was founded in 1993 to help women in Jordan become financially independent and raise their standard of living by increasing income and preserving local heritage.

Managed and run by local women, Iraq al-Amir has provided training projects on a variety of heritage handicrafts for more than 150 women from all villages of the Wadi Seer district of Jordan. The products are then also sold in the gift shop, as well as online.

Jordanian sustainable tourism consultant, Muna Haddad said the TreadRight Foundation is supporting the Iraq al-Amir Cooperative and will help them upgrade the gift shop, provide merchandising expertise and allow the group to expand their food services, creating more income opportunities for the cooperative’s members.

“We’re working together to help the cooperative to become a viable business.”

“As an organisation and with the support of the TTC family of brands, we are working to make travel matter,” Shannon Guihan, Program Director, The TreadRight Foundation said.

“The Iraq al-Amir Women’s Cooperative is a perfect example of the kind of initiative that can harness the power of travel and tourism and use it to make real, sustainable positive changes in people’s lives.

“Now TTC has the honour of introducing our audiences to those stories through our new video and by taking guests to visit the cooperative in Jordan.”

The TreadRight Foundation’s People pillar encourages the cultures, traditions, and arts of the communities TTC visits, seeking to enable these communities to experience the true benefit of travel and tourism through economic empowerment.

This is achieved through support of micro-enterprises and community-based travel and tourism initiatives that build a positive future for community members and their families.

TreadRight looks forward to helping TTC’s family of brands continue to make travel matter, working with influential storytellers, aligning with sustainability leaders, and partnering with meaningful projects across the planet.

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