Zardozi, Persian for “golden stitches”, was founded by the Danish NGO DACAAR. DACAAR started working with 3000 Afghan refugee families in Pakistan in 1984, so that refugee families could afford schooling and basic health care. It registered in Kabul as an independent Afghan NGO in 2005.

Zardozi works in both Afghanistan and Pakistan helping talented Afghan craftsmen and women to find markets for their products.

Zardozi connects highly skilled, rural Afghan women with markets, as women with income are effective agents of development. By the end of 2008, a majority of Zardozi’s embroiderers returned home to eastern Afghanistan. Zardozi has been helping them to bring their livelihoods home as well, by working in eastern Afghan villages and in camps for landless returnees.