I completely agree with you Carol. In addition, I would add that the engagement needs to take place in a *language* and *context* that women and communities understand. In other words - pre-impact studies which are clearly communicated to all the affected stakeholders and then an inclusive strategy based on the potential outcomes.
What do you think about the apprenticeship model?
Asyia, there are some remarkable women led social enterprises started in South Africa that are now scaling there and about to spread cross the continent, Reel Gardening is a great example.
Claire Reid, CEO of Reel Gardening from South Africa, invented the solution to scaling vegetable gardens when she was 16. In September Reel Gardening was selected out of over 500 proposals as one of only two "Scale Awardees" by the Grand Challenge—Securing Water for Food. In the next 3 years Claire and her team will be expanding to over 2,000 schools through gardens grown by women with half the produce feeding poor children and half sold to invest in the next year's gardens—fully sustainable in one year—while saving 80% of the water compared to conventional gardens.
and empowering adolescent girls - should focus on both the girls and the boys. If we leave them out - girls keep on fighting endlessly for equal rights, equal access to schooling, assets etc etc
This! BFP has to be used as a vehicle for collaboration. Are we mapping projects, strategies, interventions across members and locating it in a single place. Powerful negotiating tool when engaging public sector cooperation.
Hi Nelleke, I wholeheartedly agree with this. Not based on fact but I suspect at least 98% of young women girls in developing countries do not want to be entrepreneurs running their own MSEs. They want a safe and reliable, decent job and a wage packet at the end of the week. These should be our priorities. and building the kind of inclusive business models that provide them.
Governments play an important role here as a convener and by encouraging incentivizing intra and cross sector approaches on specific issues.
The only way we defragment efforts is if we change incentives. This may well be controversial but there needs to be a consolidation of NGOs that work in the field that are doing the same thing so we can deploy capital more efficiently and achieve economies of scale. On the corporate side, companies need to see beyond their own branding. They can't "own" the adolescent girls space -- they need to see the bigger picture. Government need to take an honest look at their regulatory and legal systems and think about modernization and streamlining archaic policies.
And I think we need to think about the lifecycle of the girl/woman and almost "assign" entities to specialize in the different phases along the life cycle.
Thanks for sharing that link Marie.
Having clear research and impact data allows us break down a lot of the silos and make a strong strong business case for what is measurable and scalable. This includes measuring at the women's business and household level. DCED’s toolkit on Measuring Change in Women’s Economic Empowerment is a great start. Linked to the DCED’s guidance please find how this has been applied in Mercy Corps' programming in Georgia using a market-systems approach to engage and measure women-led businesses and their role in several value chains. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxEaJopJk5I and the ALCP program website http://www.alcp.ge/
Also USAID/IFPR Women’s empowerment in Agriculture Index is a great resource. http://feedthefuture.gov/lp/womens-empowerment-agriculture-index
Totally agree Payal - great post!
Thanks for sharing the Mastercard/Nigeria example Thea. There are some remarkable women led social enterprises started in South Africa that are now scaling there and about to spread cross the continent. For example, Louise van Rhyn of Symphonia received the Reconciliation Award from ArchBishop Tutu on Nov 11th. Their program Partners for possibility is turing around schools in South Africa in partnership with leading companies like Nedbank and Boeing.
Hear hear! Yes please BFP - that would be a great tool; to an earlier point we can influence decision makers most powerfully by acting together, sharing knowledge, and demonstrating impact. Would be great to have a database of interesting projects / approaches...
Agree Payal! NGOs or companies cannot 'own' the girls/women empowerment space - they can each bring their specific expertise to particular contexts.
If we view investing in and with women through a corporate value chain approach from farms to corporate boardrooms we could align seamless investment at each part of the chain... this could bring exponential returns for all women globally!
I loved the session at Sankalp Africa Summit in February this year (next one is in February again, in Nairobi) about corporates reverse pitching to entrepreneurs, hosted and moderated by the brilliant Amanda Feldman at Volans. Volans work on corporate venture capital in the social impact space is brilliant and they are also great connectors. I'd love to see a convening at Sankalp of any of us that are planning to be there.
On the question of overcoming silos and fragmentation of effort to achieve greater impact, it would be great to end this panel with a question for participants:
What are you going to do in 2015 that will help to build a better community of support for women and girl empowerment?
At WEConnect International we commit to doing more to connect our partners in the private sector, public sector, and civil society with each other and the women business owners we serve in over 80 countries, as a conscious strategy for inclusion and prosperity.
Although we should be careful of duplication with the Youth Employment Inventory http://www.youth-employment-inventory.org/ which already profiles a lot of projects, strategies, interventions and - critically - research - engaging and supporting girls.
Oh this sounds interesting. How can our NGO; LADIES HELPLINE INITIATIVE benefit from this partnerships and collaborations? Am expectant!
to overcome silos and fragmentation of efforts there is need to learn to understand different frames of reference, by business and NGOs. it may seem an open door by now, but there is still too much of one sidedness. Joint visits to a particular area and on the ground interaction can do miracles.