Founded in Istanbul in September 2002 as a non-governmental, non-profit organization, KAGIDER determined its vision as “creating a world in which women have an active role in all decision-making processes by producing and displaying their presence freely. Adopting the development of women’s entrepreneurship and reinforcement of their position in social life as its mission, KAGIDER has a board of directors composed of Turkey’s most successful 9 business women. The organization has 124 permanent members and 21 candidate members.

“A Bridge from Women to Women” project is one of the most important projects that the association, which pays great importance on “Entrepreneur Development Programs” among its major activities, has implemented under this roof.

This social responsibility project commenced under the coordination of KAGIDER has been awarded with a prize by being selected among the top 20 out of 724 projects in the “Creative Developmental Ideas” contest organized by the World Bank. In the first phase of the project designed to support reducing regional differences and raising the statutes of women in Mardin by contributing to their socio-economical developments, six successful Fashion and Textile Design students selected from Yeditepe University were put up as guests in Mardin.

These students examined the surrounding towns, villages, CATOM workshops and the houses in Mardin. They developed designs pertaining to producible products bearing Mardin’s characteristics which can be marketable to outside markets. Designs that came out as a result of such studies were evaluated by a jury on October 19, 2005 and 2 designs were awarded with prizes (“Bıttım Soap” and the “Table Cloth in Mardin’s Houses” are being produced by our enterprising women of Mardin today). As the project partners were determined and the business plans were put into practice, the CATOM women of Mardin started to produce and sell Bıttım Soap and the traditional patterned table cloth.

You may find further information about KAGIDER - which in addition to “Entrepreneur Development Programs” - tries to fulfill its mission in the best way through some other projects such as “Women’s Fund” and the “Women on the Way to the EU”, on www.kagider.org.