When Social and Economic Empowerment Meet Each Other
Oprah Winfrey is probably the most famous celebrity who is paving the way in emphasizing and raising awareness of the importance of women empowerment as a mean to end poverty. In one of her blog posts, written by authors of "Half The Sky" - Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn - it is argued that the key to economic progress in the world lies in unleashing women's potential; (1) making girls smarter (2) supporting a woman's business and (3) keeping a girl in school (WuDunn, 2009).
Sounds straight forward, yet 5 years later, most of the 600 million girls in the developing world still struggle with limited or no access to education, decent work opportunities, food, health services and unfortunately too many experience violence, forced marriages or have no decision making power in their lives (Girl Up).
In 2012, members of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the OECD provided USD 125.6 billion in net official development assistance (ODA) (OECD, 2013). Where this money really goes and how effective it actually is has been a constant debate among the United Nations members, Impact Investors, NGO's and the private sector. Charles Lwanga Ntale in a report for CNN argued; if we want to maximize the impact and reach of international aid, we need to ensure that every dollar is spent as efficiently as possible (Ntale, 2013).
"if we want to maximize the impact and reach of international aid, we need to ensure that every dollar is spent as efficiently as possible"
The word efficiency might seem a disturbing expression to some women's organizations, however, for others especially businesses such as Wal Mart with an annual turnover of $469m (note this is almost four times bigger than what is spent by all Rich Nations who agreed at the UN to 0.7% of GNP to Aid), it's their daily bread. While the corporate world despite its size and power is yet failing to assist organizations focusing on development work on a large and effective scale and often still exploits workers in sweatshops around the world, there are elements we can learn from them. Efficiency as an incentive to seek for excellence is helpful and if implemented in your companies’ leadership policies within healthy work environments, it is crucial and beneficial.
Now, we know that we need to empower women to end poverty, we also know that international aid NGO's are needed to assist in this process, we also know that efficiency is a crucial element in order to avoid spillage and yet, too little has been done in practical terms.
Let me introduce BACA Jewellery's new pilot programme in London, UK. Partnering up with Charity Elatt, we merge their expertise in social empowerment with BACA's expertise in economic empowerment. A business model aiming to support marginalized groups on their journey towards financial independence. An entrepreneurial workshop approach focusing on a holistic process, from personal support needs, on-the-job training to post course support through seed investments and mentoring. And yes, efficient production of consumer goods is part of this in order to finance operations and efforts. Follow us at @BACAJewellery or visit www.bacajewellery.com
Further reading on social and economic empowerment: http://www.gsdrc.org/go/topic-guides/empowerment-and-accountability/social-and-economic-empowerment
Girl Up. (n.d.). Girlup.org. Retrieved 01 15, 2014, from http://www.girlup.org/learn/the-worlds-adolescent-girls.html
Ntale, C. L. (2013, 10 03). CNN.com. Retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/09/opinion/where-does-aid-money-really-go/
OECD. (2013, 04 03). Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/dac/stats/aidtopoorcountriesslipsfurtherasgovernmentstightenbudgets.htm
WuDunn, N. K. (2009, 09). Oprah.com. Retrieved from http://www.oprah.com/money/3-Things-You-Can-Do-to-Empower-Women
