Women's Economic Empowerment

STUDY ON PROMISING SECTORS AND VALUE CHAINS IN THE REGIONS OF GBEKE, PORO, TONKPI AND THE DISTRICT OF ABIDJAN

Crop production in Côte d'Ivoire is "mainly" provided by women and represents about 70% of agricultural value added. In business activity, women outnumber men. Despite all this, women derive lower resources from all their efforts than men do.

To reduce this vulnerability, CARE has initiated the "Women's Empowerment and Business Development" project.

The project intend to focus its efforts on a limited number of promising sectors to which it will provide more targeted and in-depth support to facilitate sustainable change among women and enable them to move from a development category to a higher level.

The study of sectors or activities is an exhaustive analysis of six (6) main agricultural and non-agricultural sectors in the project area. With the help of precise arguments and supported by an economic analysis, it is necessary to propose the list of promising sectors and relevant information likely to help the effective management of the project.

All eight (8) areas identified with CARE are in the administrative regions of Poro, Gbêkê, Tonkpi and Abidjan District and cover the commune or in some cases the sub-prefecture of Korhogo, Sinématiali, Bouaké, Brobo, Man, Sipilou, Abobo and Songon Read More...

CONTEXT AND POLICY ANALYSIS, ACTION & ADVOCACY STRATEGY FOR THE « WOMEN IN ENTERPRISE» PROGRAM

The present study is part of the development of an advocacy strategy that aims to conduct a comprehensive analysis of existing policies that may or may not be favorable to women entrepreneurs, the context and actors of their implementation in Côte d'Ivoire. To guide the design of a national advocacy strategy for the «Women in Enterprise» Program, with a focus on advocacy for the development of women entrepreneurs.

Data collection was carried out in Abidjan and in the regions of TONKPI and GBÊKÊ among actors involved in the issues of women's empowerment, financial inclusion and women's entrepreneurship.

Following data collection and data analysis, it appears that:
- Policy and institutional framework for women's empowerment, financial inclusion and entrepreneurship is provided.
- Government has made efforts to facilitate the creation of businesses through the Single Window CEPICI, but some conditions limit women in their process to start a business.
- Structures and programs have been created for entrepreneurship development and funds have been mobilized and made available to women, but access to these initiatives remains limited due to the conditions of grant and interest for some and lack of information for others.

At the end of the analyzes, barriers to the development of entrepreneurship were identified; these include low women education, limited access to credit, land and information related to entrepreneurial activities and lack of entrepreneurial culture.

Some recommendations for the development of women's entrepreneurship were formulated to the different institutional, technical and financial stakeholders and areas of cooperation for advocacy have been identified. Read More...

Women in Enterprise Phase II – Taking Enterprise Development for Women Empowerment to Scale – BASELINE STUDY REPORT

Care CIV through Care Nederland has received funding from the H & M Foundation to implement the Women in Enterprise project. This project has two phases, one of which is more focused on entrepreneurship training for women from VSLA groups and women's associations and awareness raising on women's entrepreneurship that has been implemented from June 2015 to March 2017.

In the second phase of the project, which began on April 1, 2017, credits will be granted to beneficiaries for the launch or development of their activities. However, before deploying the package of activities planned during this phase, a baseline study was conducted to get an idea of the situation or environment of the beneficiaries. The results of this study will serve as a basis for establishing the project's performance indicators and measuring the effects and impact of the project over time. Read More...

The end-line report of “Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) Study of Women’s and Men’s Different Roles for “WE SHARE THE LOAD” Project

CARE Egypt in partnership with Ariel has implemented a project called “We Share the Load” to address women‟s economic and social empowerment and provide them with an opportunity to improve their livelihoods. The objective of the project is to enable “Women in the targeted communities to be able to economically and socially participate in lifting their families out of poverty in a society that is built on gender justice.” The project targets 1000 women/female headed household and 200 men, in two main locations within Assuit governorate: Tatalia village and Arab Tatalia.

Evaluation shows that there are a number of females who works just and that the ratio of female to family members‟ labor force participation rate in the targeted communities reached 16.8%, which indicate that women in targeted communities are economically able to participate in lifting their families out of poverty. However, since the baseline study did not measure all the project‟s indicators, the evaluation team could not assess if the goal objective is achieved or not.

On the other hand, the study tried to identify respondents‟ satisfaction with their current financial situation as compared to the year before the project to define the project‟s role in improving their financial situation. Results indicate that only 30% of respondents are satisfied with their financial situation, and 68.3% stated some improvement in their financial situation compared to previous year. This is consistent with the results of the qualitative study where respondents stated that the increase in their incomes was less than rise in prices. Read More...

EVALUACIÓN DE RESULTADOS LISTA CARE Perú – Conéctate

CARE y Fundación Capital tienen una alianza estratégica en Perú con el fin de promover soluciones de inclusión financiera a través del desarrollo de iniciativas de fortalecimiento de capacidades financieras que incorporan elementos digitales. Por su parte, CARE ofrece una sólida presencia y capacidad operativa, construida a través del desarrollo de diferentes iniciativas enfocadas en promover el fortalecimiento económico y financiero entre población de bajos ingresos, principalmente mujeres emprendedores. Fundación Capital aporta su experiencia en el desarrollo de soluciones digitales diseñadas para cubrir las necesidades de la población de bajos ingresos en América Latina.
Dada la experiencia de LISTA y los buenos resultados obtenidos en países como Colombia, Honduras y México; CARE y Fundación Capital decidieron trabajar conjuntamente, usando LISTA como herramienta para la promoción de capacidades económicas y financieras en Perú, específicamente, en los departamentos de Piura y Junín.
Conéctate, es una iniciativa que busca llegar a 2,200 mujeres en el Perú través de la implementación de 3 componentes:
1. Asesoría móvil financiera, por medio de la cual se envían mensajes de texto o mensajes a través de grupos de WhatsApp, donde se refuerzan contenidos de educación financiera y se resuelven dudas o inquietudes a través de un modelo de asistente financiera.
2. LISTA Perú, una aplicación de educación financiera que funciona con tabletas digitales, las cuales son rotadas a través de las diferentes asociaciones de mujeres emprendedoras que participan en el proyecto.
3. Acercamiento a instituciones financieras, por medio del cual se busca acercar la oferta a la demanda de servicios financieros, a través de talleres presenciales donde algunas instituciones financieras presentes en la zona podrán promocionar los diferentes productos disponibles.
En el marco de esta experiencia se plantea la realización de una evaluación de resultados que tiene como fin analizar el desempeño de una muestra representativa de participantes en el proyecto. Con estos resultados, se busca recopilar evidencia empírica que sustente los resultados cualitativos y demuestre la efectividad del programa, así como sus diferentes mecanismos de transmisión entre las localidades, medidos en siete grupos de variables. Junto con la evaluación de procesos realizada en septiembre de 2019, este documento busca proveer insumos que permitan mejorar la implementación y realizar ajustes basados en evidencia para subsecuentes experiencias. Read More...

EVALUCION FINAL DE PROYECTO: “EDUCACIÓN PARA EL DESARROLLO E INCLUSIÓN FINANCIERA

El presente documento constituye el Informe Final del “Estudio de Línea de Base del Proyecto Educación para el Desarrollo e Inclusión Financiera EFI", desarrollado por el equipo consultor de Mi Chacra de acuerdo a los términos de referencia de CARE Perú. La consultoría tenía el objetivo de evaluar los resultados y el impacto del proyecto, considerando sólo uno de sus ejes fundamentales, el referido a familias emprendedoras. El proyecto se desarrolló en los departamentos de Lambayeque, La Libertad, Junín y Arequipa, con la finalidad de validar un modelo replicable que contribuya al desarrollo económico de las familias menos favorecidas dentro de un entorno en el que tengan las herramientas necesarias para el acceso al sector financiero formal como elemento para el crecimiento de mediano plazo.
Además de presentar los resultados globales del trabajo de campo, consideramos imprescindible hacer una división a nivel departamental debido tanto a las diferencias en los desarrollos relativos de cada uno de ellos que existían desde la línea de base, como en el propio desarrollo del proyecto. La principal conclusión al observar los principales indicadores de resultado es que el proyecto ha conseguido o superado los objetivos propuestos, lo que se destaca y analiza con detalle en el presente informe final de la consultoría. Read More...

Private Sector and Market Systems Engagement: Time to Move Beyond Corporate Social Responsibility

A summary of CARE Bangladesh's work on engaging the private sector to transform market systems to end poverty. Read More...

Taking Enterprise Development for Women Empowerment to Scale

To enhance the opportunity for engagement of women in the workforce, CARE Jordan, in collaboration with H&M and CARE Netherland, is implementing the program, Taking Enterprise Development for Women Empowerment to Scale. The project falls under the strategic Sustainable Development Program of CARE Jordan, which aims to provide support and address the needs of individuals and host communities in Jordan, focusing specifically on gender barriers, combatting gender-based violence, economic empowerment, and inclusive participation.
Phase I of the program (Khatwa Skills Project) set the foundation for the program by providing support for women by establishing more formal networks for them to be able to rely on their entrepreneurial journey, such as SLA groups (Savings and Loan Groups). Additionally, the Khatwa Skills Project also provided targeted vocational training to help facilitate business idea generation and central bazaars, where women could sell their goods.
This is Phase II of a 3 year (1 April 2017-31March2020) program that will follow up on the Khatwa Skills Project by providing additional vocational and financial training to women, supporting the existing SLA Groups so that women netrepreneurs have greater access to funding for their enterprises. Phase II will also provide support for women-led MSMEs and establish women’s economic group activities that will focus on developing the skills of women and female youth. Phase II of the program aims to directly target 380 vulnerable Jordanian women living in Jordan with the
primary objective being to seek to empower women and youth through the development of successful business models, including micro and small enterprises, recycling enterprises, and group businesses, often to be developed within the context of VSLAs. These models will be scaled up through targeted initiatives in awareness raising and further developing the involvement and initiatives of role models. Additionally, approximately 5,800 women, men, boys, and girls will be indirectly targeted through the program. Read More...

Personal Advancement and Career Enhancement in the Community

Overall, P.A.C.E project has empowered all participating female migrant in terms of agency and created solidarity and platforms for them to speak out about their interests.
Firstly, the project has enhanced 412 female urban migrants’ personal agency through 280 training sessions on life-skills with three previous core P.A.C.E. modules – 1) communication; 2) problem solving and decision making; and 3) time and stress management and one new module on financial literacy to support women to save and manage their finances. This module also supports the implementation of two village savings and loans (VSLAs) in the target locations.
Secondly, the project has successfully established two VSLA groups in 2 locations and improved female urban migrants’ financial inclusion by increasing their access to savings and loans. While it took time for the targeted groups to build their trust within the group and with the model, hence, the process of forming VSLA group only happened near the end of the project; they have all acknowledged that VSLA is an effective tool for financial management.
Thirdly, the project has created useful platform and increased opportunities for female urban migrants’ to come together to discuss issues that collectively affect them and raise their voice, not only through the training sessions but also with the VSLA meeting, which will continue to be held monthly. Many participants who were not used to speak up have shown remarkable changes with their newly equipped skills. They have successfully applied their new knowledge and skills in their daily life for better life, work and relationship management. Read More...

Conéctate: Evaluación de Procesos

Conéctate, es una iniciativa que busca llegar a 2,200 mujeres en el Perú través de la implementación de 3 componentes:

1. Asesoría móvil financiera, por medio de la cual se envían mensajes de texto o mensajes a través de grupos de WhatsApp, donde se refuerzan contenidos de educación financiera y se resuelven dudas o inquietudes a través de un modelo de asistente financiera.
2. LISTA Perú una aplicación de educación financiera que funciona con tabletas digitales, las cuales son rotadas a través de las diferentes asociaciones de mujeres emprendedoras que participan en el proyecto.
3. Acercamiento a instituciones financieras, por medio del cual se busca acercar la oferta a la demanda de servicios financieros, a través de talleres presenciales donde algunas instituciones financieras presentes en la zona podrán promocionar los diferentes productos disponibles.

En el marco de esta experiencia se plantea la realización de una evaluación de procesos que tiene como fin hacer un análisis sobre el proyecto (componentes 1 y 2)1 y recopilar evidencias sobre los cambios generados entre la población; esto con el fin de proveer insumos que permitan mejorar la implementación y realizar ajustes para subsecuentes experiencias. Read More...

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