For more than 40 years, Pakistan has been one of the world’s largest refugee-hosting countries. As per the UNHCR estimate, there are more than 1.3 million registered displaced people present in Pakistan, consisting mainly of Afghan refugees. Due to constant turbulence, war, natural disasters and regional instability, today, second and third generations of Afghans live in Pakistan as displaced people.

Since 2021, as per the Government of Pakistan, there has been an inflow of an estimated 600,000 refugees from Afghanistan. When the devastating floods hit in 2022, there was another wave of refugees, and in February 2023 the UNHCR launched a one-time cash assistance scheme to help the Pakistani state manage their economic needs.

In October 2023, the Government of Pakistan began the process of sending more than 700,000 refugees back to Afghanistan. However, for many young adults and children, they had never come from Afghanistan. They had been born and bred on Pakistani soil, registered with Pakistani ID cards with no idea of what life in Afghanistan was like.

Tahira Afridi resides in Peshawar and has been working with Afghan refugees for more than 25 years. “In 1985, after the Soviet-Afghan war, all these Afghan refugees had come into Pakistan. This Danish lady saw these Afghan women sitting at a hospital suffering from bad mental conditions and decided to help them.” Consequently, she founded DACCAR Sewing Project, an organization that actively began engaging with these refugees.

In 1996, after getting married and moving to Peshawar, Afridi began to work with Sewing Project as a volunteer, juggling motherhood and her work, refusing to compromise on either one, steadfastly dedicated to both. Once her children went for higher education, Afridi began to work full time, eventually heading the organization. Meanwhile the organization, after undergoing several metamorphoses became Artisan Links in 2017. Working in what she refers to as the “embroidery sector,” Afridi has consistently engaged Afghan refugees in meaningful creative work and taking their work global.

Keeping safety, security, and cultural sensitivities in mind, Afridi has been a constant presence in these refugees’ lives, actively going to their camps and focusing on women in particular. “We have a mobile team that goes to them, delivers raw material to them, and the artisans work from where they are. Our team then brings the semi-finished product back to the workshop and then we finish it,” she explained.

“When we work with them, we are very sensitive to their culture and we take great care in who goes to visit them. Only Afghan females from our office visit their homes, they speak the same language and we explain to them and their male family members why we are there and what we are paying them for. We have to be very transparent and we help them by working with and keeping their cultural values in mind.”

Post 9/11, all the NGOs in the local area closed down and moved to Afghanistan. With no one around to help these refugees, Afridi stepped in to engage previous refugees but also the next lot that came in due to the US-Afghan war.

At that time, Artisan Links was actively working with 3,000 artisan refugees. With constant turmoil in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, the war on terror in full swing, the flow of refugees went back and forth, resulting in 800 artisan refugees registered on Artisan Links’ database.

Afridi even sends work across the border to Afghanistan, an almost impossible feat requiring meticulous planning, organizing and logistics scheduling. “It is a mission, when you start working with these artisans, you develop a connection,” said Afridi. More than a professional connection, there is also a cultural link on the basis of language.

“We speak Pashto and many of the artisans speak Dari, but by working with them my office staff has learnt Dari and the artisans started speaking Urdu. We are not just economically beneficial to each other but there is cultural engagement as well on the basis of cuisine, dress and more.”

For men, it was while living in refugee camps in Pakistan that Afghan men saw Pakistani men playing cricket and adopted the game. Months before the second Taliban takeover, the first national women’s cricket team of 25 players was formed.

However, Afridi noted that the cultural exchange between women was most evident in their clothing, Pakistani girls, especially those residing in the province of KP, adopted Afghan craft into their clothing, particularly the loosely draped shalwar from Pakistan. 

Artisan Links had been gaining recognition internationally for their work in economically empowering refugee artisans, and also for establishing a high quality of work which was actually an investment in skill development, ensuring their products remained in demand.

By taking their items, each one hand embroidered by an Afghan refugee artisan, Afridi worked tirelessly to showcase their products at international fairs and cultural events. From being invisible to the world, Artisan Links made international audiences aware about these women who were given a chance of being seen with dignity and respect through their work. Artisan Links remains the only Pakistani organization to be part of the World Fair Trade Organisation.

In 2017, UNHCR started an initiative called MADE51, an umbrella organization in which Artisan Links was the first Pakistani organization to join. “MADE51 are game-changers for all of us. The international market is not easy for us to access and we do not run on funds and we run on our own income. Made51 saw our potential, they saw how we deliver our products on time, our emphasis on quality and how we worked with refugees. They connected us to Chloé,” explained Afridi.

The French fashion house collaborated with Artisan Links to create a tote bag which went global for its stunning craftwork. “We made embroidered strips which were sent to Italy and Spain where these bags were assembled. They were very good to work with; they did not question us at all. They worked on the patterns we suggested, then the color combinations and sketches came in and then the sampling started,” continued Afridi.

With a timeframe of only three months, they had to produce embroidered strips of two different sizes. Consequently, production and training took place simultaneously, adding to the pressure. A total of 800 artisans in Pakistan and Afghanistan were trained to work on the strips, which were then used in the bags. “It was worth it,” Afridi proudly remembers.

As per the MADE51 report: “through the collaboration, 606 Afghan refugee women living in Pakistan as well as 30 Afghan women living in the border region in Afghanistan have been able earn reliable income according to Fair Trade principles.”

Economic impact aside, which in itself was a significant achievement since it enabled women to earn and support their families, Afridi observed another significant impact of this collaboration in the artisans – the confidence that had developed.

Focusing more on the quality of their work, the dedication was towards ensuring that the product for which they were being trained for was met with approval – not simply because it was Chloé, but because they felt seen and valued as women, as artists. To be given that respect of being a person worthy of producing something substantial meant everything to these women. While the world would never know them, the world would know their work.

“The financial aspect or the cultural impact is huge for us but for them it is very small. For a poor person who lives in a camp or in a mud hut with limited access to electricity, who has to go and pump water, the value lies in recognition of their work,” said Afridi.

Being a member of the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO), Artisan Links has actively trained and educated artisans as well about product creation, quality, pricing so that the artisans realise the value of their work and skill as well. One of the biggest impacts was that female Afghan refugees were suddenly seen in a new light in Pakistan. Up until that point, there had been little to no efforts to engage with these artisans.

“I get a lot of requests to bring the artisans, such as to invite them to Geneva for the refugee forum, but culturally it is not possible for them. 

Male members of their communities do not allow them to leave their homes and even when we ask the artisans they cannot. They also do not have passports or other documents so it is an absurd idea to take them abroad,” said Afridi.

But through their creative work, these women were seen without any compromise on their culture – they were seen through their skills, they showed their value and they proved that they were and are capable of producing work that is acceptable at the international level.

Just through this project alone, these artisans sitting in refugee camps, supported by Artisan Links, were able to hand-embroider 11,822 pieces in three months while being trained, out of which (as per Common Objective’s report) 99.7% met Chloé’s standard, enabling them to earn $140,386. All the workers were female, with three children on average, with 20% of them single mothers and 24% are sole/primary income earners for their family.

“MADE51 connects organizations to local social enterprises like us. If we don’t have these connections, these artisans are on their own. What can they do from within their camps? When you connect them to businesses and their work is out there, that is how recognition comes,” said Afridi.

As regional politics between Pakistan and Afghanistan continues, leaving Afghan refugees unsure of what their future is, Artisan Links continues to sail ahead steadfastly. Just like the strands of thread that the artisans  weave to create beautiful embroidered patterns, Afridi and Artisan Links continue to weave heritage, craft, language and culture to create an ecosystem designed to strengthen one of the world’s most victimized communities to enable them to live with dignity and be recognized as artists.

“We work to create a safe environment to help them earn and that gives them a strong standing in front of their families, especially male members, and they start to have a say at home. I don’t want them to lose any of this,” said Afridi.