Kongra Star Economy Committee in Hasakah started Demsal Cooperative promoting women’s economic empowerment for the socioeconomic development and building a free and democratic society.
Kongra Star Economy Committee [Aboriya Jin] develops projects to promote women’s economic empowerment. In 2018, the committee started a cooperative called “Demsal” in the city of Hasakah. Since then, the committee has developed and realized many projects to increase women’s labor force participation. Inanna Restaurant, one of these projects, offers large thin flatbread, seasonal food and products. The cooperative creates employment for 10 women.
Why Demsal?
We decided to name the cooperative “Demsal” because it means season in Kurdish, said Nisrîn Şêxo, one of the managers of the cooperative.
“Women play an important role in all facets of life, ensuring the reliable, equal and just development of the social economy,” she told NuJINHA. “We know that the cooperative system will be developed by women’s leadership. We named the cooperative ‘Demsal’ because we offer food and productions for four seasons. These days, women work to prepare canned food such as apples, zucchini, grapes, eggplant marmalades and jams and make cheese and tomato paste. Next month, we will make fruit paste and walnuts on a string dipped in starch grape molasses to be consumed by people celebrating the beginning of the year.
10 women work at restaurant
The cooperative creates employment for 10 women. “10 women work for the cooperative in solidarity with each other. The Demsal Cooperative has many projects and one of them is the Inanna Restaurant offering large thin flatbread, seasonal food and products. Since Hasakah suffers from water outages, the cooperative provides a space for people to wash their carpets.”
‘We want women to achieve their economic independence’
The Inanna Restaurant plays an important role in the development of the Demsal Cooperative, Nisrîn Şêxo emphasized. “Inanna is the ancient Mesopotamian goddess of love, war, and fertility. She controls both life and death. We named our restaurant as Inanna because all the local dishes offered by our restaurant are cooked and served by women. We want women to achieve their economic independence through cooperatives.”
‘Women’s solidarity leads the cooperative to success’
“Women’s solidarity leads the cooperative to success,” said Celîla Hisên, one of the founders of the cooperative. “I am one of the founders of the cooperative. 10 women work for the cooperative by supporting and being in solidarity with each other. Both Kurdish and Arab women work for the cooperative. The aim of the cooperative is to promote women’s economic empowerment.”
