Warchée is an organization that has the purpose of integrating women into the construction field. Born from the observation that in a rapidly urbanizing world, particularly in the Middle East, women are still excluded from certain professions, the NGO, founded by Anastasia Elrouss, aims to create an all-inclusive and evolving world.
In a lot of countries around the world, the construction, architecture, engineering, and urban planning sectors, are still reserved for men. From a very young age, children, based on their gender, are told which profession they may have access to, discouraging girls from even thinking about alternative careers. Aiming to have a presence in every country where women in the construction field are marginalized, Warchée, the first organization of its kind in the Middle, provides females with the right tools and skills to be able to find a job in this sector and have an impact on their city.
On the inception of her NGO, Anastasia Elrouss, founder of Warchée explains that “the Warchée project is the result of several encounters between women who were not destined to meet each other, except through their profession. The fact that women study architecture, engineering, urban planning but rarely they go to site constructions or be part of decision making in the planning of neighborhoods and cities is alarming. Women crafters &/or artisans in the construction field are infrequently present”.
Dividing the jobs in the Construction field into two categories, the NGO distinguishes Builders or Future Creators (Architects, Engineers, Landscapers, Urban planners, etc.), and Artisans or Dream Crafters (Painters, Blacksmith, Electricians, carpenters, plumbers, tile installers, etc.). In fact, Warchée also introduces the world of craftsmanship and construction to women of all ages, who do not have access to these skills because of income, social and culture perception, and location constraints. The organizations' goals are to create employment opportunities through:
- Support Women to pursue traditional jobs in the construction sector and give them the opportunity to develop and gain their financial independence and become self-confident.
- Establish partnerships and collaborations with construction companies in order to help them find and recruit qualified female candidates.
- Develop good (Do it yourself) DIY techniques in the construction field for private and public site implementations.
The time has come for women to impose and experiment, to push towards a new design framework. Architecture and construction allow us to give shape to our dreams and interpret them in reality. […] For me, if women's accomplishments remain just individual the change will not happen without a woman affirming her presence in her own way. My professional integration will not be done alone, it will be in exchange with others. -- Anastasia Elrouss, founder of Warchée.
Supported by the contribution of Women in the field, the Warchée initiative aims to create opportunities for women to be financially independent. They have recently produced a video of their growing worldwide network with 30 testimonials in 30 different cities from 30 different women in the construction sector.
