Enhancing Women’s Empowerment

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What’s the latest good practice on driving women’s empowerment?

Our community learning session explored thinking and practice at the forefront of women’s empowerment. This session provided a vibrant exchange of ideas, showcasing challenges, solutions, and firsthand accounts of impactful strategies.

Spotlight Speakers:

Akinyi Walender, Africa Director, Practical Action

Alexandra Salas, CEO, Business Council for Peace

Ayan Said, CEO, Voicing Voices

Jiselle Steele, Private Sector Gender Advisor, Oxfam Business Advisory Service

Laura Macias, Global lead, Women Advancement & Leadership, RISE

Liliana Camacho, Director, Operations & Knowledge Management, The Better Way Alliance

Rachael Vichei, Founder, Girls Empowered Kenya

Shelley Pigott, Director of Strategic Engagement, The Power of Nutrition

Soma Kumari Rana, Regional Gender Equity and Social Inclusion (GESI) Officer, Asia, iDE (International Development Enterprises)

Susan Achiech, Full-Stack Developer, Naamal Agency

Yaquta Fatehi, Program Manager, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Yasmina Zaidman, Chief Development and Partnerships Officer, Acumen

Written Contributors:

Peg Willingham, Senior Managing Director, Food & Agriculture, Save the Children

Rhiza Nery, Deputy Programme Coordinator, Connecting Business initiative (CBi)

Moderators:

Bill Omondi, CEO, The Debate Circle

Anna Olivia Spenner Hernandez, Community Learning Coordinator, Business Fights Poverty

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Live Tweets

Alexandra Salas, Business Council for Peace:

“Building trust is essential in any empowerment programme”

Akinyi Walender, Practical Action:

“Strengthening the visibility, collective voice, and representation of #women — platforms such as this that create spaces for women to come and deliberate on issues, share experiences, and educate ourselves are very important”

Jiselle Steele, Oxfam:

“We’re challenging companies to approach gender equality as a #humanright — not just because it’s a nice or good thing to do, but because it’s about promoting and respecting fundamental human rights”

Laura Macias, RISE:

“Women’s advancement is never about fixing women or advocating for them to follow a traditional career progression. It’s about transforming the system in order to create one that is adapted for women’s diverse aspirations and needs.”

Rachael Vichei, Girls Empowered Kenya:

“If you educate a girl or empower a woman, you empower the whole community. After women have been empowered with financial resources, they go back to their community and try to empower other women.”

Shelley Pigott, The Power of Nutrition:

“We all know that #poverty is sexist, but it’s particularly sexist when it comes to #nutrition… More than one billion women and girls suffer from malnutrition globally.”

Yaquta Fatehi, William Davidson Institute:

“Return on investment is a traditional financial metric that can instantaneously and easily communicate business benefits. But we need to ensure that we are calculating the true return on investment (of empowerment projects).”

Yasmina Zaidman, Acumen:

“We believe there is a strong ROI for investing in women and more inclusive businesses. That informs the way we invest. We think about #women not only as the customers or beneficiaries of the companies we invest in, but as founders, leaders, employers, investors — as so many of our investment team and the leaders of our organisation are women”

Susan Achiech, Naamal Agency:

“I was the only girl in a team. Despite being the only girl, I was given equal pay as my male colleagues, and work was distributed equally. I was not discriminated against. I was given equal things to my male colleagues.”

Liliana Camacho, Better Way Alliance:

“Because women carry the bulk of caregiving — whether it’s parents, friends, or relatives — reliable scheduling and paid sick days allow women to attend to their lives outside of the workplace.”

Soma Kumari Rana, iDE:

“Labour and financing are key barriers to gender equality, which must be addressed to ensure all women are fully able to participate in income generating activities.”