Faced with a situation marked by a persistent rise in unemployment, exacerbated by a multi-faceted crisis, Anastasia El Rouss founded the Warch(ée) association with a clear ambition: to enable Lebanese women to acquire carpentry skills. This initiative aims to emancipate these women by opening the doors to professions traditionally reserved for men, in a context where access to technical training is often limited.
Since its creation in 2017, Warch(ée) has offered paid training specifically aimed at women in precarious situations, thus offering them an opportunity for social and professional integration in a sector where their presence is uncommon.
The association's objectives are multiple and ambitious. They include facilitating the social and professional integration of women in precarious situations, promoting gender equality in the field of construction in Lebanon, supporting local crafts by limiting dependence on imports thanks to the creation of modular furniture kits. In addition, the association aims to encourage social inclusion between women with plural identities, whether they are Lebanese from various regions or other nationalities. Finally, one objective is to establish a female artisanal network between Beirut, Tripoli and Marseille.
In an approach that is both inclusive and sustainable, the workshop uses recycled materials, such as wood found in Lebanese streets, and adopts a policy of managing surplus without waste.
Thanks to the Beirut Awiyée project, financed by the Fondation de France, the AFD and in partnership with La Guilde between 2020 and 2022, 70 women were trained at the Warch(ée) workshop in Beirut. Some of these women now work for the association, thus contributing to the creation of a collection of modular wooden items, available for sale on an online store.
Since August 2023, La Guilde has actively supported Warch(ée) in its expansion, aiming on the one hand to increase the number of women trained, establish a new production workshop in Tripoli to better serve certain apprentices but also to consolidate its operation via a partnership with the French network of Chambers of Trades and Crafts.
