66°North X UN Women create jobs for refugee women

It was a real pleasure to see this partnership become a reality and it would not have been possible without support from the Sustainable Development Goals Partnership Fund. 66°North has always had equality and sustainability at the forefront, with the circular economy as a guiding principle for the business. Through this project we are supporting the empowerment of refugee women, while at the same time putting these principles into practice.”

Bjarney Harðardóttir

In 2022, 66°North and UN Women received grants from the Sustainable Development Goals Partnership Fund to cooperatively develop a job creation project for refugee women from developing countries in Turkey. Þórdís Kolbrún Reykfjörð Gylfadóttir, Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Development Cooperation, and Bjarney Harðardóttir from 66°North, signed an agreement for a grant of over £175,000 from the Ministry against an equivalent contribution from the company.

The project aimed to create jobs for women fleeing Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq. They received training in clothing manufacturing, with financial independence as a core principle. They learned to reuse materials and thereby strengthen the circular economy within the SADA center that houses them. This cooperation project is the first of its kind in Turkey, and UN Women in Iceland will be contributing to the project and monitoring it. Minister Þórdís Kolbrún stated that the contribution of 66°North and UN Women in Iceland illustrates what companies and civil society organisations in Iceland are capable of when it comes to development cooperation.

“Most of the refugee women have lost their spouses and are the breadwinners of their households. They are in distress and their rights are limited. This project generates revenue for the ongoing activities of the SADA Centre, which is their sole source of revenue, support network and shelter,” stated Þórdís Kolbrún at the signing of the agreement.