Hagar Design
shop > hagar design products“Enabling vulnerable women to overcome past traumas and gain skills to become independent and productive.”
Following the genocide in Cambodia in the 1970s the country remains one of the poorest in Asia with high unemployment. Many families have had to resort to “selling” women and girls into prostitution.
The Hagar Project works to meet the needs of these destitute
women and children living on the streets of Phnom Penh.
The mission of Hagar is to:
Assist mothers and children to transform their lives;
Counsel mothers to overcome past traumas; Empower the mothers with values, skills training and employment
assistance so they can go back into the community as independent,
productive individuals.
Starting in 2001, Hagar Design has developed from a small sewing
programme into a well-respected commercial company that currently employs
more than 80 disadvantaged women. Hagar Design is one of three highly acclaimed social
enterprise companies that have been started by the Hagar Project in
Cambodia including a soy milk factory and a catering company. Profits from these
businesses support Hagar's social projects, including the House of
Smiles education project and the Hagar Shelter project.
Hagar Design make a beautiful line of silk accessories including handbags, scarves, and purses, and their new range of contemporary recycled bags has been very popular. In 2004 Hagar Design was awarded the G-Mark Good Design Award and in
2006 Hagar Design gained fair trade status through IFAT. To find out
more about the Hagar Project visit www.hagarproject.org
The work of Hagar is making a powerful difference in many lives, but people trafficking in Cambodia is still a very dangerous problem. For more information on how you can get involved and help stop the slave trade and trafficing of women and children. Check out the Stop the Traffik campaign and their project in Cambodia.
