Economic Empowerment of Women: Keys to Successful Projects

During the workshops on women’s economic empowerment, International Forum actors discussed which approaches should be prioritized to give projects the best possible chance of succeeding. While presentations were given on the various capacity-building projects, they worked to identify conditions that would ensure a project’s success and sustainability.

In January 2010, Haiti was devastated by a powerful earthquake. Many women lost their micro-businesses to the quake or to pillaging, and along with them their only livelihood.  CECI, who has long worked with local Haitian organizations, decided to prioritize long-term actions in response to this emergency situation. It opted to focus on the most vulnerable women by going through local authorities and associations. The idea was to provide women with the capital to re-launch their business activities, enabling them to become self-sufficient and provide for their loved ones. More than 6,500 women will benefit from this program. “Six years later, these women are still in business," stated Marie-Ange Noël from the organization Fanm Deside, which identified and selected the assistance program beneficiaries and provided them with training in the process. “It’s a real success! With the money they earn, they have been paying back their loans, sending their children to school and saving money through the credit unions they set up themselves.” Odette McCarthy, Director of CECI’s Uniterra program, believes that “our local partners’ field knowledge and strong reputation in the community, as well as the support these women have received throughout the process, have all been key to the project’s success.” According to Ms. Noël, the women’s organizing (bi-monthly meetings, credit unions, etc.) also played a major role.

The Executive Director of Fanm Deside, which works to promote gender equality, credited the women’s economic empowerment as an important step in combatting violence – a daily reality for them. Developing their skills and self-confidence and giving them broader access to economic resources has secured their legitimacy and their place in society. Still, Ms. Noël laments that the atmosphere remains grossly unfavorable to women and that greater economic inclusion is not enough. Men must be involved, meaning that they must be sensitized and taught new behaviours and reflexes. The Haitian women of Fanm Deside began this fundamental work several years ago. “But changing mentalities in a patriarchal system takes time. You have to take it slowly," sighed Ms. Noël. “There is no reason to start confronting people, other than to create resistance,” said Professor Gilles Tremblay, head of the Masculinities and Society team for the Université Laval’s School of Social Services. “It is important to understand that men also have to deal with identity and stereotypes. We also have to look at the benefits for men when there is equality. When men become partners and share responsibilities, they find a part of themselves again, for example, by becoming fathers.”

In the meantime, there are non-confrontational solutions that exist. Take the example of the Indian women who were trained to become taxi drivers in New Delhi, a practice which has since spread to three other cities in the country. Created in 2008, the Women on Wheels program aims to economically empower women from the most marginalized segments of the population. It offers them eight to 10 months of various types of classes, including driving, English, self-defence and women’s rights, before they start working for a special taxi company created specifically for women. And there lies one of the keys to success – faced with general hostility from male chauffeurs and taxi drivers, the organization had to create a welcoming environment by starting its own taxi company, which was an immediate hit with local women and solo female travelers. “We must dare to invest in non-traditional spaces!” insisted researcher Bipasha Baruah, Professor at Western University in Ontario. While this was inspiring for some International Forum participants, they did admit that in order to “have the patience to build upon experiences such as these,” a major shift in mentality would be required within many NGOs.

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Text: Carole Duffréchou