The group of entrepreneurial women from Kastamonu, a Turkish province on the shore of the Black Sea, will introduce the cultural handicrafts, food and culture of the region to Portugal and Poland with the project they launched.
The "Women's Cooperative Handles Art and Local Flavors" cooperative established by women from Kastamonu four years ago contributes to the income of women and brings to light the forgotten traditions and handicrafts of the region.
The women, who used to promote and sell geographically marked lithography products, have packaged Kastamonu's local flavor "sour rice" and delivered it abroad.
Likewise, the "EU Digital Artistic Women" project of the mentioned cooperative was accepted by the National Agency of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was entitled to receive a grant of 30,000 euros (around $32,440). Within the framework of the project, local women will introduce Kastamonu's handicrafts, local dishes and culture to Portugal and Poland.
Providing information about the project, Kastamonu Art Women's Cooperative President Serpil Durgut stated that they had organized several previous endeavors, adding: "We were officially established in 2019. We have been continuing our activities in a large house in Kastamonu for four years and we continued on our way with the projects of our own association. One of these projects was to support disadvantaged women. We achieved it first in Kastamonu, and we received a grant of TL 89,000 ($4,735) for this project.''
Durgut also noted that they are very proud of their cooperative. As the project is related to traditional handicrafts, she said that their aim is to ''pass on our forgotten handicrafts from generation to generation, as well as promote them nationally and internationally.''
''In this process, Portugal and Poland are our partners. Here, we are trying to create employment for local women by providing training and promoting our handicrafts. We are proud of our team and ourselves for achieving such successful work in a period of four years," she concluded.
