Give and Take: Empowering Women in Developing Countries


The Give and Take organization will allow women in developing countries to create new opportunities by teaching them skills that give them the potential to improve their situations. With these skills, they would have the ability to create businesses and provide necessities for their families that may not have been feasible before.


Throughout The Blue Sweater Novogratz criticizes the effectiveness of traditional charity. Novogratz in many of her stories explains how grants are not the most effective at combating poverty due to its lack of lasting impact. She says this kind of charity many times defeats the purpose of trying to help those in developing countries by failing to use the money to create a lasting change that can actually address poverty in these areas. In response to this Novogratz uses microloans in attempt to show the women Duterimbere loaned to that they were capable of doing it themselves. My idea for The Give and Take organization takes on a similar philosophy. The organization will become self-sufficient and will also the women to become self-sufficient by teaching them new skills and allowing them to generate new sources of income.
This organization will be unique because after the initial investment needed to start the programs the centers will no longer need any kind of funding. The centers would be places where people, primarily women would be educated on important and relevant skills. Classes would include basic financial literacy, sewing, and better agricultural practices. After the centers are set and the first round of teachers teach the women new skills there will be two paths. They can either become a teacher teaching new students skills and receive a small salary. Or the women can take the new skills they learned and attempt to start businesses or more efficiently run their current businesses or more efficiently farm their land if they already grow crops generating new or increased income. For the center to keep running without additional investments the products the women would make in their sewing classes, for example, could be sold for revenue and the women would receive additional business experience by learning how to sell these products. These centers would contribute to the local economy and create more skilled workers.
AMDP should support this organization because it is interested in social enterprises and supporting organization that will make lasting impacts. By investing an initial sum of money to build the building and hire the first round of teacher there will be direct changes in the community where the centers are built. Women who are the primary caretakers of their families will be able to gain new skills that will allow them to create additional income for their families this will allow their children to gain more traditional schooling and better health care they need allowing the women and their families to succeed. These changes will be able to be tracked directly and while ADMP will not make money off of this investment they will be able to fulfill their CSR and will be repaid by seeing the direct changes they would be making in a community.

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