Mara

Meet Liliana David.
She is 34 years old, married, with two kids. She lives in Scoreni, Straseni district. She graduated from a professional college as a tailor. She hasn't been working for more than 5 years, as she lost the job she had in Chisinau and the village doesn't provide any job opportunities. She would look again for a job in Chisinau, but now she has the kids and she would like to be close to them, and, taking the bus everyday to Chisinau and back and other expenses would take away half of her salary anyway.

Liliana is one of many women in this village who go through the same experience. Unlike the others, Liliana didn't leave her kids to go to Moscow (the most common place women from the village go to earn money) and lives with her husband and two kids on one small salary of her husband. Nevertheless, she is a happy person, but she could be much more fulfilled if she would have a job.

What can we do?

My name is Gigi and I'm only 28. I have traveled the world a bit, volunteered a lot and worked as a marketing specialist in different companies and countries like, Italy and Moldova. But all this only made me want to do something more and more meaningful. The emigration in Moldova is a big problem and the lack of jobs in rural areas leave women with no choice. But I think we could all contribute and try to change the situation. This idea is my focus and a goal I left my job for, and my determination to make it work is all I can think of. I am truly looking forward to have some social impact and contribute to the development of local communities involving women. Mara Woman organization aims to create jobs and engage women from poor families, traffic victims, physically disabled women in rural areas of Moldova. We will create workshops in these villages, where women are going to be given all the necessary trainings in order to make knitted clothes with an original design that we will sell online. Each contribution will help foster the implementation of the project and help more women. To make the knitted clothes we will use special knitting machines with some of the elements handmade. Each machine will make it possible to engage one woman. The more machines, the better.



What We Need & What You Get

The project already started in the village called Scoreni, where the local mayor supports it and tries to help as much as possible. The school provided us with space for the workshop inside the school and pays for the utilities in exchange of the founder, Elena (a colleague), to teach the students English for free, because the school doesn't have an English teacher this year.


The funding will go:

1. First of all to buy the knitting machines. One of the cheapest machine found in Chisinau costs 15332 MDL = 1197$, which has very basic functions, but very user friendly, which means that women don't have to have any special knowledge, after some trainings, they will be ready to start working.

I am planning to buy around 5 machines, to involve 5 women, which means 5985$

2. To buy the needed yarn to start the production we estimated 2000 $, that will allow us to produce around 130 pieces.

3. To buy the needed infrastructure for the workshop (tables, chairs, etc.) - around 800$.

4. Women's salaries for the first 3 months, until the company starts bringing profit to be self-sustainable.

5 women will knit

1 woman tailor = 6 women involved

Each woman will get around 210 $ (2700 lei - taxes = 2000 lei), a basic starting salary, pretty good for villages.

210 x 6 x 3 = 3780 $

12700$ for a start!


THE OUTCOME!
1. Knitted with care
These clothes will be knitted one by one with care by these women using the knitting machine and some hand made details.

Each woman will have a profile on the platform online, and people will be able to see who knitted their sweater, for example and where do the profit goes.

2. Remarkable design
The designer will come up with truly remarkable designs, full of colors, decorative elements and very stylish, which will attract everyone's attention.

3. Help for women in need
Each piece of cloth will have a label that will say: “I empowered a woman”. In this way, every customer will feel his contribution and will know that the money are going for a social cause. The online platform will stress a lot on the social problem the idea it tries to solve, so people will be able to see the meaning and the results from their contributions.


The Impact
Mara Woman aims to create a favorable environment, where women have access to jobs, information, trainings and a community worth living in.
Because the country has a high rate of migration of women abroad due to lack of opportunities, the organization was created to ensure that women in the rural areas of the Republic of Moldova have enough jobs in their local communities and don't have to leave their families in order to find a job in another country.

Besides giving women professional training and job opportunities Mara Woman aims at developing social projects together with the local authorities in order to improve the community and solve the problems available. Projects such as:

Women's Academy
The project will provide women with all the necessary information and assistance in order to improve:

Health and how to protect themselves from different external factors;

Sexual education;

Sport practice;

Psychological assistance;

Other informational necessities.


Grants for future women entrepreneurs
We will create a special fund for which any woman can apply in order to open their own small business to satisfy different needs of their community. Besides financial assistance, women will have access to trainings and informational support.


Social projects for young people
Investing in young people is investing in the future of a country. Involving them at an early age in different social projects can teach them how to make changes by themselves and learn that it is possible to do it. They will benefit from trainings on project management, leadership, team management so they could come up with their own social projects and with our help implement them and improve their communities.


Projects in cooperation with local town halls in order to solve the most acute problems people have and those with which we can help as a company.
Thus women won’t only help their families but also they will contribute to the development of their communities.


Other Ways You Can Help
Any help is welcome, and there are different ways you can get involved:

1. Help spread the word and share the idea.

2. If you are not from Moldova, share eventually our products and help us promote our products in your country.

3. You can volunteer, either here in Moldova, by helping with the mission, or abroad by helping promote our products to reach our target.

4. If you are a designer, send us some designs that we can materialize and we can promote your ideas and you can help us create remarkable knitted clothes.

5. If you have a used table or a chair, we can use them for the workshop.

6. Any other help or ideas are welcome!

Thank you!