Since I have started interning at Value for Women I have been working on a variety of tasks from facilitating weekly operations meetings, to translating an organizational CV from Spanish to English, to consolidating and summarizing notes from the ANDE metrics conference. The work I have done has been both fulfilling and interesting! Besides the weekly Skype meetings and responsibilities, one of my long-term projects has included writing a blog article on the new additions to the WEL methodology created by Value for Women.
Although it is not yet complete, I have been writing a blog article for the NextBillion website (http://www.nextbillion.net/) that describes the additions to the Women’s Economic Leadership (WEL) methodology. Women’s Economic Leadership is defined as the process of identifying commercially viable market opportunities that benefit women and increase women’s power in market systems. The WEL methodology was created by Value for Women and Oxfam as a seven-step method to supporting women entrepreneurs within a specific community. Steps include everything from assessing the optimal market strategies, to making a business plan, to supporting change at the household level. The methodology was created several years ago and has been piloted in several countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. I am specifically blogging about the new additions to the methodology, which include a definition of key terms, such as Women’s Economic Leadership, interculturality, and reproductive work, as well as a section on preventing violence against women. Case studies and pilots have demonstrated that often when women become entrepreneurs power dynamics and traditional roles shift in ways that leave women more vulnerable physical, verbal, and psychological abuse. The Violence Against Women section of the WEL methodology includes an intervention checklist and prevention tools that can be used to decrease the risk of and keep track of instances of abuse against women. In order to inform the public about the uniqueness and effectiveness of the additions to the methodology, my job is to not only conduct research, but also interview several Value for Women team members on their experiences with the methodology. However, one challenge I have faced with working virtually for an international organization has been successful communication. Between international travel and an incredible amount of work, team members have busy schedules that make it hard to contact them and find time to talk. Although last week I finally set up two interviews, in the end they both had to be cancelled. In one case, my interviewee got a stomach bug on his trip to Guatemala and in the other the time zone complications of scheduling between the United States and the United Kingdom forced us to reschedule twice and finally cancel. Despite the challenges I have faced in writing the blog article and communicating internationally, the information I have learned from my research has been extremely interesting. The methodology is thorough and can be used to train a diverse team of economists, gender experts, and entrepreneurs on how to overcome the barriers preventing women entrepreneurs in a particular region. As a result women can grow their businesses, earn money for their families, employ more workers, and improve the overall economy of the community.
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Annabelle RobertsThis summer Annabelle is interning at Value For Women with support from both BUILD and Empower. Annabelle is based in Boston for the summer and can be reached at [email protected] ArchivesCategories |