SEP Jordan
Organization Details
SEP Jordan is a Social Enterprise based in Jordan. Our mission is to bring thousands of refugees above the poverty line. SEP is known for its high quality hand-embroidered fashion and lifestyle accessories. We blend the best Middle Eastern techniques and skills with modern Italian style. We work with 400 artists, mostly Palestinian but also Syrian and Jordanian and our workshop is at the Jerash camp, in the north of Jordan. We sell at Harrods among others, we have a SEP own brand shop in Amman and one in Geneva and we have been noticed by high-end press such as Harpers'Bazaar, Vogue, ELLE, Conde Nast Traveller, L'Officiel etc.
Impact Story
We started operations in 2014 with 20 embroiderers in Jerash Camp. Today, we work with 400 artists and we have established an Academy at the camp. At the Academy, every year 80-100 new embroiderers graduate and become SEP Artists and we organise social impact activities, which last year were attended by 700 camp residents.
SEP Jordan pay a multiple of ILO minimum salary in Jordan to the full-time employees and a 50% premium to market prices to the artists for their embroidery work: our priority is to develop a strong sense of pride of belonging to the SEP Community.
SEP Artists have been paying off debt, fixing their shelters, paying medical bills and hiring after-school teachers for their children. More importantly perhaps, they tell us that most of their depression symptoms have improved or even disappeared since they started working with SEP. The SEP Artists are becoming changemakers as they gain not only a degree of economic independence, but mostly emotional independence.
