The gold thread

Zardozi work is an ancient form of embroidery basically done with gold or silver zari threads. Now-a-days it is also done with coloured metal threads.  It is also known as metal embroidery. Zardozi is believed to be one of the most intricate and lavish hand- stitched embroidery styles. This art of embroidery was originated in Persia which was brought to India by Moghuls, reaching its zenith under the patronage of Emperor Akbar. Zardozi embroidery saw its decline during the reign of Aurangzeb. It was revived after the independence. Zardozi embroidery is equally popular in Iran, India and Pakistan. Today, zardozi is part of high fashion.

Traditionally, zardozi embroidery was done mainly by men. And this particular field of embroidery was dominated by men, but not any more. There are a number of women who are now learning this craft in Pakistan as well as in India.  Their numbers are growing partly because of rehabilitation and livelihood schemes run by some of the NGOs and philanthropists. The case in point is ‘Dera Jattan Zardozi Centre’ where a hundred girls in the remote village in Bhawalpur are learning this craft. The establishment of the centre is the outcome of the joint efforts of Shaiyanne Malik of SamanZar and Shama Usman of TRUCE - in collaboration with ILO’s GE4DE project (Promoting Gender Equality for Decent Employment programme. This project, which began in 2010, is a joint initiative undertaken by the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Canadian government, and a number of local governmental bodies and NGOS, including Musarrat Misbah’s Depilex Smile Again Foundation and Shaiyanne Malik’s SamanZar Empowering Women (SEW). The Dera Jattan Zardozi project was started with an aim to help poor local women generate income by introducing its ornate gold and silver thread patterns to urban fashion, especially bridal wear.

The journey began:
Shaiyanne is a seasoned bridal wear designer. Her interest in the various embroidery crafts led her to explore remote areas of Pakistan. As an extensive traveller she saw that there was so much talent available in the country - artisans with priceless skills and yet no linkages to bring this skill into the limelight. She decided to bridge the gap. This led her into contact with various organisations which sought her help in skill development and product development and hence she became a trainer and a consultant. While explaining Dera Jattan Zardozi Project Shaiyanne says, “The project came about when I visited Dera Jattan in 2008 on the invitation of Usman Hameed and his wife Shama Usman of TRUCE, a trust set up by them in the village, providing quality education to over 300 children. They wanted me to impart training to the village women. So being a bridal wear designer I decided to teach them zardozi, a skill I was proficient in, but I could not do this alone so I brought in my karigars who had been working with me for years to help me, with more and more girls wanting to learn I saw the potential of the project growing but I also needed financial support. That was the time when I was introduced to ILO’s GE4DE’s project, I gave them a proposal to become a financial partner with me. They came on board and there has been no looking back.”

Since Dera Jattan is a poor village, it was easy to identify women who could benefit from the training. Among the key features of the community in Dera Jattan are early marriages, large families, domestic violence, high illiteracy, poor living conditions and rigid cultural norms. These social conditions were taken into account while mobilizing the community. Women interested in training were invited to visit the training centre that was centrally located. Furniture, training equipment and raw material everything was provided by the training centre. Master craftsmen from Karachi were brought to Dera Jattan who stayed on the same premises and delivered training. It was a different experience for both the trainers and the trainees as it was the first time the craftsmen lived in a village and became the part of community. Since the trainers were not young men, the community did not show much resistance. Rather, both instructors received with much respect from the community. To support every day operations at the centre, women were trained to manage the accounts, procurement, and management of the centre.

Talking about the mechanism of the project Shaiyanne elaborates, “Shama gave the venue of women’s centre free of charge while I provided free skills training skills training - bringing in skilled karigars from Karachi on a rota system to live in the village for a year, provided all the salaries, material fabric and tools needed for the training and took care of all the travel board and lodging expenses including electricity gas and water and wear and tear expenses of the centre. ILO took care of providing a training fee to 70 girls while taking care of their transportation as well. So, it was quite an equal partnership in terms of funding. We provided zardozi bridal wear embroidery training to the women, craft which was primarily men’s domain. Altogether 120 women were trained by us and ILO as the number rose from 70 to 120.”

The road to success:
26-year-old Salma Rahim, a master-embellisher from the Dera Jattan village in Bahawalpur, is a success story. She got trained from the centre and now she is running the centre independently. Salma is also the recipient of Shell Tameer Award, granted to her in 2012, celebrating her great work in her community. “From a very young age I used to embellish garments for local tailor shops. Despite strong resistance from the men in my family, I sought to upgrade my skills through training. Under the supervision of the SamanZar Empowering Women programme, trained craftsmen from Karachi travelled to the village of Dera Jattan to teach women the craft of zardozi embroidery,” says Salma.

“For a rural woman to conceive, let alone initiate, an independent venture involving the women in a conservative village is a phenomenal leap of faith. I couldn’t have taken it without the support from women like my mother who believed in me all along even as I was divorced for seeking skills and empowerment in a patriarchal milieu where the only job for men and women is cotton farming. And I couldn’t have done it without the help of women like Shaiyanne Malik of SamanZar and Shama Usman of TRUCE who trusted my ability to deliver by giving me the skills and exposure, along with the responsibility to pass it onto the other women of my village.”

The success story of Salma is quite an inspiring one. “My attitude towards self-sufficiency is what sets me apart from others. It took as little as ten rupees to set me on the path to entrepreneurship. When I was a child, my father gave me ten rupees and I got a needlework hoop and some yarn. I learnt the basics from the women in the neighbourhood. We didn’t have money to go to school. Most of my time was spent embroidering clothes for women in the village or my cousins. Slowly, as the reputation of my work spread, I started getting work from the village people who got orders from the tailor shops in the town bazaar. I got to know other women in the village working at home and sometimes when I couldn’t do it alone, I would give them work and paid them.

“My biggest break came early in 2012 when I was selected by Shell Tameer for the top Social Enterprise Award sponsored by the British Council. The British Council award selected me for the leadership exchange programme to introduce me to best practices in business, preparing to lead and manage Dera Jattan Zardozi project effectively. The British Council and Shell Tameer have provided for IT and English language trainer for a group of girls including myself in the village,” explains Salma.

One of the pre-requisites for the trainees is to have an identity card. The project facilitated rural women in getting ID cards and opening bank accounts to transfer their stipend to. These two steps were important to address gender needs of underprivileged women of Dera Jattan. This kind of exposure to opportunities has resulted in women adopting unconventional professions - trainees from the village of Dera Jattan are now producing high end products for fashion houses in Karachi and Lahore.

Happy shiny present and tomorrow:
The response to training at the Dera Jattan Zardozi Centre has been tremendous. Incentives such as stipend, future employment and provision of transport have helped motivate women to attend training. The women have become empowered and are earning a decent living. They are supporting their families and many of them are educating themselves.

“I have worked in the village for over five years now and the level of awareness has grown enormously. They have visiting cards, face book pages and I am in contact with them on a daily basis. My signature line Shaiyanne Malik’s ‘Earth’ is exclusively for my Dera Jattan women. Recently, to solve their transportation problems SamanZar bought them a 15-seater rickshaw which they maintain themselves. They now look after the running and upkeep of the Centre themselves,” informs Shaiyanne.

According to Salma, “The project has managed to marry rural craft into high-street fashion by creating marketable products for reputable style houses in Karachi and Lahore. By partnering with fashion labels like SamanZar and Banto Kazmi, we have made possible to secure skills, savvy and employability for rural women, refining our product by engaging designers and master craftsmen from urban metropolises of Karachi and Lahore to work with rural women, giving them access to quality training.”

“I now lead a team of 90 women at the Dera Jattan Zardozi centre. The project has a face book page and internet access. Working with SamanZar, we have also rented racks in a store in big cities which carry the brand ‘Dera Jattan Zardozi’,” says Salma proudly.

“The centre continues to train and engage women, some of them earning as much as Rs 8000 for their work. Although the training programme is open to the entire community, preference is given to the deserving women with commitment to work after training. As the girls grow more confident and adept at their work, they take over management of the centre. Already, women are branching out on their own, opening little units at homes and elsewhere, supplying directly to the market. The centre will always be there, new women who want to learn will be offered in-depth training along with all the marketing tools and linkages,” commits Salma.

Salma has high ambitions. “I aspire to expand the centre to include 200 rural women in the training and work plan. I have great aspirations for the Dera Jattan Centre to become famous for bridal work in Pakistan.”

The zardozi work doesn’t involve the use of products that are in any way detrimental to the environment. It is a traditional craft involving working with thread and cloth, providing women the opportunity to support their families and themselves. The zardozi project has large prospects for sustainability, driven by the presence of an economic opportunity and community ownership. The project is meant to help a community with a poor economic background but strong commitment to build on an existing opportunity by receiving training and apply it to real economic activity.

 —With Aurangzaib Khan