WAGE's Strategic Initiatives
THE REDUCING BARRIERS TO WOMEN’S ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT IN EL SALVADOR AND HONDURAS INITIATIVE (RBI)
INTEGRATING THE RESPONSE TO GBV, HIV, AND ECONOMIC MARGINALIZATION OF SWATI WOMEN INITIATIVE
THE BUSINESS AND SOCIAL SUPPORT FOR FEMALE ENTREPRENEURS IN TIMOR-LESTE (BEST) INITIATIVE
- The Reducing Barriers to Women’s Economic Empowerment in El Salvador and Honduras Initiative (RBI), led by Grameen Foundation in partnership with all core consortium partners, takes a holistic view of the challenges that female entrepreneurs face in starting and growing sustainable businesses, including linkages between financial inclusion, GBV, and conflict. Together with Kiva—an online loan platform that connects lenders to indigent entrepreneurs across the globe to alleviate poverty—WAGE provides financial support to women microentrepreneurs and works with local microfinance institutions (MFIs) and CSOs to reduce legal and practical barriers that women face in the world of business. Under this initiative, a loan matching fund is set to revolve over the course of three years to match loans posted on Kiva’s platform and financed by individual lenders.
Recognizing that microcredit alone is not sufficient to meet the multifaceted needs of women entrepreneurs, WAGE has designed a series of technical assistance interventions to improve women’s financial inclusion and economic participation in El Salvador and Honduras. These interventions are informed by in-country assessments implemented on the basis of WAGE’s “Women’s Economic Empowerment Assessment Tool.” In October 2019, WAGE released the key findings and recommendations from the two reports at the public event “Promoting Women’s Economic Empowerment in Central America and Beyond: Barriers, Opportunities, and a Path Forward.”
INTEGRATING THE RESPONSE TO GBV, HIV, AND ECONOMIC MARGINALIZATION OF SWATI WOMEN INITIATIVE
- The Integrating the Response to GBV, HIV, and Economic Marginalization of Swati Women Initiative, launched in December 2019 and led by ABA ROLI in partnership with Grameen Foundation, aims to improve legal protections, access to justice, and holistic services for women affected by or at risk of GBV and HIV in Eswatini. WAGE works with local partners to advocate for better laws protecting women; to prevent GBV through civic education and awareness raising campaigns implemented by local paralegals, as well as through Girls Clubs and Boys Clubs in Swati schools; and to reduce discriminatory beliefs that young men and boys hold toward women and girls and their role in society. WAGE also seeks to mitigate GBV risks associated with women’s engagement in economic activities by facilitating linkages between GBV-focused CSOs and CSOs focused on economic strengthening and training them on gender and power dynamics. WAGE is supporting the establishment of one-stop-shop support centers for GBV survivors, and the creation of a directory of CSOs offering legal, medical, psychosocial, and livelihood support to victims.
THE BUSINESS AND SOCIAL SUPPORT FOR FEMALE ENTREPRENEURS IN TIMOR-LESTE (BEST) INITIATIVE
- The Business and Social Support for Female Entrepreneurs in Timor-Leste (BEST) Initiative, led by Grameen Foundation in partnership with ABA ROLI, was designed to increase female entrepreneurs’ access to microfinance, business education, and GBV support services and to promote the growth and resilience of their enterprises. WAGE is building the technical capacity of, and creating formal linkages among, local MFIs and CSOs implementing women’s empowerment initiatives. The program focuses on poor, rural women and commenced in early 2020.
