Jobs for Palestinian refugee & low-income moms in the West Bank

According to the ILO, unemployment rates in the West Bank have increased over the past several years with unemployment rates as high as 63% for young women. Our mission is to create lasting economic opportunities for refugee and low-income communities in Palestine by creating jobs for women artisans. At our artisan center, located in Zababdeh in the northern West Bank, we train and employ skilled women artisans to make beautifully handmade children's toys for the global marketplace. We are already selling our toys in 12 states across the US! 

A long waiting list

We have a long waiting list of talented women artisans who are looking for work, but we need your help to be able to train them and give them jobs. As we build workforce capacity in the West Bank, we will be able to produce more toys and eventually create a self-sustaining business for years to come. Our mission is to creating long-lasting economic and social change in the West Bank by employing refugee and low-income women so they can support themselves, their families, and their communities.

For every $11,000 raise, we can train and employ two moms for six months  

With your support, we can:

• Train new refugee and low-income women artisans in Zababdeh, and eventually through other artisan collectives in Ramallah, Hebron and Bethlehem

• Buy necessary sewing machines, materials and equipment to expand our children's toy and accessory product lines

Rahaf, CCF toy artisan since 2015 & lead embroidery artist

Abeer's story (CCF artisan since 2012)

"I came to this place not knowing how to do anything, starting from square one with the tatreez (embroidery) and colors to make the children's toys. I love this place and I am determined to stay here and to grow from this experience. We are making these toys for children to enjoy. We hope to make more toys for them to get excited, so they’ll like the colors, and so they’ll enjoy how the toys look to make it educational. Hopefully with our designs and persistence, the [center] can stay in our area where we hire many women from our society. Our society needs women to work and not stay at home, that they go out and obtain their own salary and help their families with extra costs through this organization. We now have so many expenses to educate our children, pay for rent, transportation, and for our homes. This organization allowed me to contribute by working. I would urge any woman to work with such organization, to be determined to have goals, and to find her place in such an organization while bettering herself and her family. Through that, she can educate herself and give encouragement to her children."

Abeer embroidering at the CCF artisan center in Zababdeh

From academia to social enterprise

Dr. Janette Habashi, professor of educational psychology at the University of Oklahoma, is the founder and executive director of Child's Cup Full. She grew up in the old city of Jerusalem and has centered her academic research on children's education and development in the Middle East. She has seen that the primary barrier to opportunity for many artisans in the West Bank is access to the international market, which is why she decided to build the Child's Cup Full toy brand with her students in 2012 at the University of Oklahoma. We currently sell our toys online and in stores across the US. Over the past year, we've received more orders than we can fulfill, which is why we need to build workforce capacity to keep the momentum going!

As Assistant Director, I help Dr. Habashi and the artisans market and sell in the toys in the US. Our goal is to eventually generate enough business to grow our artisan center as a successful retail/wholesale business in the US! Until then, we are relying on supporters like you to help us build capacity and buy the machinery we need to create high quality products for our toy collection. 

I recently visited Zababdeh to work with the artisans on some new products for the Fall/Winter!

Building a successful brand in the US

We know that building a brand and developing a successful product line is hard work. That's why we have organizational partners like Aid to Artisans and The Creation for the Creation of Economic Wealth, as well as a dedicated team of volunteer designers and marketing consultants to help us get Child's Cup Full toys and accessories in stores across the US and around the world!

We are a small organization, so all contributions make a difference! 

Please support us if you can, and share within your networks!