Newsletter
From Our Partners
Bi-Annual Learning Workshop Series: "Supporting financially sustainable & scalable women collective enterprises"
Date: 16-17 December
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and IMAGO Global Grassroots are hosting a webinar series on "Evaluating Women Collective Enterprises" and their potential to attain the dual objectives of economic sustainability and empowerment.
This two-day webinar is the first in a Learning Workshop Series, which will take place twice a year to discuss and accompany the Adaptive Evaluation for Project MOVE with SEWA’s Enterprises, which is being implemented over the next 4 years. Project MOVE is funded by a BMGF grant to strengthen and expand women’s mobilization and economic empowerment in SEWA. Each webinar will focus on a dedicated theme, involve multiple stakeholders, and will discuss global and national experiences and lessons for the evaluation. By synthesizing evidence and learnings from research, policy, and practice, these sessions will enrich our understanding and help disseminate results at the end of the project.
Bi-Annual Learning Workshop Series:
"Supporting financially sustainable & scalable women collective enterprises"
Webinar 1: What does it take to set-up viable
and sustainable collective enterprises?
Wednesday December 16, 2020
6:00 pm IST
Webinar 2: Evaluating what works and what doesn't
in Women's' Collective Enterprises
Thursday December 17, 2020
6:00 pm IST
Women for Women International Webinar: DRC Impact Evaluation Results and Next Steps
Women for Women International recently hosted a webinar on “Women for Women International’s Economic and Social Empowerment Program in the DRC: Impact Evaluation Results and Next Steps”.
Please find a recording of the webinar here. There are additional resources on the Women for Women International website, including a research brief, two-page summary, and presentation slides in French. Stay tuned for the paper featuring more detailed analysis, to be released next year.
©Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation/Prashant Panjiar
Recent research on women’s groups
Village savings and loans association participation and impact on off-farm income among rural women
This paper aims to examine the factors that influence rural women’s participation in Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLA) and the savings contribution in the Kassena-Nankana West District of Ghana. The study also analysed the impact of VSLA participation on off-farm income and on poverty.
Impact Of Village Savings And Loans Associations (Vslas) On Livelihood Of Women In Rural Communities: The Case Of Asikuma Odoben Brakwa District Of Ghana
The objective of this research was to assess the impact of Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLA) on the livelihood of women in rural communities within Asikuma Odoben Brakwa District.
Access to Finance, Empowerment and Women's Employment: Experimental Evidence from Rural Bihar
Federal and state governments in India have relied on women’s self-help groups (SHGs) to provide access to low-cost credit and savings with the dual intent of financial inclusion and women’s empowerment. This chapter focuses on one such SHG initiative in the state of Bihar, Jeevika, and exploits the randomized roll-out of the program to evaluate its impact on women’s labor supply.
Impact of Integrated Programmes for Households Consumption Expenditure: Empirical Evidence from Northern Ethiopia
This paper examines factors that drive households’ decision to participate in Village Saving and Loan Association (VSLA), and evaluates the impact of integrated programmes on households’ consumption expenditure.
Transformative Grassroots Leadership: Understanding the Role of Rojiroti’s Women Leaders in Supporting Social Change
This article explores women’s leadership as part of a grassroots microfinance organisation, Rojiroti. Through interviews and focus group discussions, it finds that Rojiroti’s women leaders were motivated to become leaders to create better opportunities for their families and communities, and that they lead in line with frameworks of transformative leadership by supporting relationship building, by facilitating and guiding knowledge transfer and by providing space for reflection and skills for action (Wakefield, 2017).
©Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation/Joan Sullivan
News and commentary on Women’s Groups in a time of global pandemic
During Pandemic, VSLAs Support Members Struggling with Barriers to Income, Education, Gender-based Violence, Lack of PPE
During a European Microfinance Week session on village savings and loan associations (VSLAs), speakers from several affiliates of Switzerland-based CARE International described their organizations’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. As the pandemic set in, they surveyed members of VSLAs, which commonly include 30 women, in various formats to learn how they were adjusting to the pandemic and what support they need.
Empowering farmers to improve their productivity the Solidaridad way
This article discusses Solidaridad's efforts to support farmers, through VSLAs, among others, as part of efforts to boost the production of oil palm in Ghana.
2020 SEEP Conference: What I learnt about digital Savings Groups
This article shares take-aways from sessions in the Savings Groups at the 'Frontlines of COVID-19' technical stream. The sessions in this track explored how best to support Savings Groups (SGs) and their members during this crisis, and how to effectively engage them in community-level response efforts.
Woman SHGs roped in for maintenance of community toilets
58,000 women self-help groups are being linked with employment as they will be entrusted with the management of community toilets being constructed in all gram panchayats in Uttar Pradesh.