Since 2015, The Ivory Foundation has been supporting the Saint-Paul School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in Leribe, Lesotho. This partnership was initially built around the development of agricultural activities, offering young people concrete training and employment prospects.
Over the years, however, an imbalance emerged. In the local context, agriculture remains largely perceived as a male activity, leaving many young women behind — despite their desire to train. This reality was also reflected at the Levi’s Nek farm, where training programmes primarily benefited men, due to a lack of female applicants.
In response to this situation, The Ivory Foundation sought to rethink its approach in order to better support the inclusion of young women. Working closely with the school, a promising activity was identified — one suited to local realities and capable of opening new professional pathways: dressmaking.
In 2025, a sewing workshop was established at the Levi’s Nek farm. A dedicated chalet was built to house both professional and domestic sewing machines, providing a comprehensive and well-adapted learning environment.
To ensure the quality of the training, a regional collaboration was put in place. The head of the sewing workshop at the Jardin des Savoir-Faire in Eswatini travelled to the site for two months to train a local instructor. She also accompanied a first cohort of around ten young deaf and hard-of-hearing women, teaching them the essential foundations of the craft: making shirts, trousers and tunics, as well as the techniques required for quality production.
Beyond the technical skills, this project addresses a concrete economic need. In southern Africa, school uniforms are compulsory, representing a significant cost for families. Local uniform production therefore offers both an income opportunity for trained seamstresses and an accessible response to community needs.
Through this workshop, The Ivory Foundation continues its commitment to inclusive training — grounded in local realities and oriented towards the independence of young women. An initiative that helps rebalance opportunities and open new pathways for the future.
