Social enterprise empowers Tunisian carpet weavers

Like many Tunisian women, 52-year-old Najet has been weaving rugs all her life. But it's only recently that she has been able to make a living from it. In 2016, her nephew, Mehdi Baccouche, created Shanti - an association which buys carpets and takes charge of getting them to consumers. It also employs designers who work with artisans to improve their design skills and make their products more marketable. Baccouche said at first people teased him for getting involved in "an old ladies' craft". But the project fills a valuable niche in an area where women are disproportionately underemployed, and which has faced an ever-worsening economic crisis since before the revolt that sparked the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011.