Ghosoun came to Egypt from Syria in 2014. Looking for ways to integrate, build a social circle and generate income, the 43-year-old Syrian national started participating in the activities of the Safe Spaces a few years later.

Ghosoun was passionate about handicrafts and attended her first training in sewing and crochet in one of the UNFPA-operated Safe Spaces in Damietta in March 2019.

“The Safe Spaces project taught me how to make handicrafts, consequently, increasing my income,” Ghosoun says. She sells her handmade products online.

Ghosoun is also now a professional crochet trainer with the Safe Spaces project.

In the Safe Space, operated by UNFPA, in cooperation with the Ministry of Youth and Sports, women and girls come together, develop social networks and acquire important information and skills.

Two groups, consisting of 40 women and girls, attended the handicrafts training during the month of February 2021 at the New Damietta City, which included crochet and sewing. The training aims to teach women and girls a set of skills that help them create new opportunities and sources of income.

In 2020, faced with the COVID-19 outbreak, Ghosoun volunteered to make masks, which were included in the dignity kits distributed to refugee women to protect them during the pandemic.

UNFPA also operates 10 Safe Spaces for women and girls in seven different governorates, hosted with implementing partners such as CARE International and Etijah, within the youth centers of Ministry of Youth and Sports.

The Safe Spaces operate with the support of various donors, including the European Union, the Italian Agency for Cooperation and Development, the Canadian Embassy in Egypt and the Norwegian Embassy in Egypt.