Engage Newsletter March 2023

ENGAGE! Women's Empowerment & Active Citizenship

In this Issue:

September 2022 Learning Forum in Ethiopia

ENGAGE partners gather at SEWA in India to celebrate 50 years of organizing and working with women in India.

Meeting Women Social Entrepreneurs in Haiti

Celebrating 25 Years of WISE

The ENGAGE project is a partnership between Coady and five organizations in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India and Tanzania.

Together, we are using and exploring asset-based, community-led development approaches in their organizations and communities. Taking a feminist lens, the project is working to strengthen women’s leadership, economic development, and active citizenship.

The March 2023 newsletter provides an update on collaborative activities and celebrates the success of our partners.

Feminist Advocacy for Gender Justice Course in Tanzania

In October 2022, ENGAGE had its first all partner international course on Feminist Advocacy for Gender Justice. The course, facilitated by Julien Landry and Sarika Sinha (Coady Institute) and Jacqueline Mgumia Tanzania Gender Networking Programme (TGNP) was held to strengthen women’s organizations and advocates in the theoretical and practical foundations of feminist advocacy and gender justice work.

Using a decolonization lens, the program enhanced knowledge and skills through the active sharing of experiences and ideas and explored opportunities for ongoing learning and collective action around issues of common concern. The workshop built on experiences and literature in the areas of advocacy, feminist theory, communication, human rights, popular education, and social change. Participants worked in teams with their colleagues to apply a strategic advocacy planning framework – through a feminist lens – to their own work.

Based on the course, each team prepared advocacy plans with stakeholder analysis, strategies, advocacy tactics, implementation plans, and monitoring and evaluation ideas to understand the impact of their advocacy. During the weeklong discussions, participants discussed shared challenges such as child marriage, unequal farm and household burdens on women, domestic violence, and unequal pay. They also raised solutions based in feminist and assetbased approaches that can address these challenges.

A special thanks to Rose Ngunangwa, a journalist and an Executive Director for TAMCODE, who joined the workshop and helped document and share it with the Tanzanian media. She also wrote an news article for the Daily News available here: https://dailynews.co.tz/of-gender-justice-training-and-delegates-falling-in-love-with/

Congratulations to our 21 graduates from Care Zimbabwe, CCDB (Bangladesh), CLE (Haiti), WISE (Ethiopia), Participatory Ecological Land Use Management (Kenya), Institute for Sustainable Development (Ethiopia), Binti Makini Foundation (Tanzania), The Glaring Future Foundation (Tanzania), Seed Savers Network (Kenya), TGNP (Tanzania), and Women Empowerment Action (Ethiopia).

India Exchange and Dialogue Program

In January 2023, the ENGAGE partners gathered at Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) in India to celebrate their 50 years of organizing and working with informal sector women in India. Now with over 2.5 million members, SEWA is deeply rooted in Ghandhian principles of organizing to ensure full employment and self-reliance of women workers. As part of the program, the ENGAGE team visited the social enterprises and cooperatives that SEWA members have organized. We were able to learn about and from their operations, history, and future directions.

The Exchange and Dialogue Program with SEWA included deep conversations with members and visits to the SEWA Bank, weaving cooperatives, child care centres, SEWA Management School, and Salt Pan workers. The rich dialogue left participants inspired and with plans for how to integrate what they learned into their own work, organizations, and communities.

One of the most interesting sessions was on how SEWA has fully embraced the future of work and information and communication technology. Their members and village savings and loans groups are now onboarded onto digital apps that allow them to track and renew members, monitor and maintain records of savings and loans, and to place and send product orders. Their latest app is the SEWA App, which will integrate online training, current apps, a member directory, surveys, an internal marketplace, and help members track their own progress.

SEWA shared that the successful uptake of their apps, especially when working with informal women who are not familiar with technology, is because of a careful design process with feedback and user design with members themselves. For example, the apps are always in their own language, have easy colour codification, many pictures, reduce or eliminate manual entry, and allow for voice input. The members themselves are onboarded and trained by their peers so the learning process is comfortable and they can build trust with their SEWA sisters.

Meeting Women Social Entrepreneurs in

In July 2022, Veronica Torres (Coady) had the opportunity to meet with some of the women who participated in the Fanm Angaje program of the Haitian Centre for Leadership and Excellence. Women completed in person and virtual training amidst a challenging context in the country.

During the visit the team reflected on their program content and delivery approach. The topics related to women’s leadership, business development, and asset-based community development (ABCD) were delivered over three sets of five days each due to facilitators needing to travel to the site for training and to minimize travel expenses.

There is an opportunity to learn from the experience with the first cohort to inform the design of the program for the second cohort. With program staff we explored topics they recalled, challenges, and discussed key topics for further work on women’s leadership.

During the focus group session, undertaken with the group of participants, we learned that women appreciated the strength-based approach used and had identified resources within the group itself.

A message from ENGAGE to Haitian Partners

The ENGAGE partners want to recognize the Haitian Centre for Leadership and Excellence’s (CLE) dedication to supporting positive change in their country. The last several years have been challenging for Haitians due to a prolonged political crisis and CLE has risen to these challenges and successfully implemented the Famn Angaje Fellowship Program and many other successful events with local partners and women entrepreneurs.

in Haiti

First Cohort of the Fanm Angaje Fellowships Complete their Program

The first cohort of Famn Angaje Fellowships recently completed their program. These 25 young women social entrepreneurs are from the South and West Departments of Haiti who are working in inclusive economic development and social enterprise initiatives. Congratulations to these change makers!

As part of the fellowship program and the ENGAGE project, CLE celebrated with a Colloquium on Social Entrepreneurship in Haiti on January 25 to26. Over two days, $22,000 USD in seed funding were allocated to scale the social enterprises of the Fanm Angaje program participants. Impressive solutions to systemic issues in Haiti such as dentistry access, the recycling value-chain, vocational training opportunities, and agricultural production, were among the areas receiving funding. We congratulate these winners for their extraordinary vision and commitment and thank all participants who supported the Colloquium’s events.

A special thanks to Hope for Haiti, Global Affairs Canada, Dunn Family Charitable Foundation, and ProFin who supported the Colloquium.

WISE 25th Anniversary

Women in Self Employment (WISE) in Ethiopia celebrated their 25th Anniversary in September 2022. The celebration brought together many stakeholders from the civil society and government sectors, including the President of Ethiopia, H.E Sahlework Zewdie, the Minister of Women and Social Affairs, H.E Dr. Ergogie Tesfaye, and other dignitary guests.

Coady Institute and ENGAGE partner staff were on hand to congratulate WISE on their achievements and the success of thousands of WISE members who are contributing to community development and leadership.

Learning Forum -Ethiopia, September

As part of its learning forum, ENGAGE partners took part in panels, documentation, and meeting with WISE Savings and Credit Cooperative members.

At the Learning Forum, the partners piloted an interview tool that explore the women’s experiences with and understanding of feminism and equity, their perspectives on their rights, and their conceptions around leadership. Each ENGAGE partner had the opportunity to test the tool with WISE members, practice their interview skills, and learn about women’s leadership in Ethiopia.

Who Was There

Coming together from Canada, Haiti, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Bangladesh, we shared our plans, findings, and research questions with each other. Our partner from India, SEWA, joined us virtually to share findings from their research on enterprise adaptation during COVID.

Summary of Research Initiative and status

CLE - Haiti

CLE in Haiti has planned to write case studies of a group of 3-5 women in business. CLE staff along with women who are participating in the program have made the selection. Three of the case studies will also be captured via video so the narratives from women are shared through a range of media. The plan is to have these completed in early 2023 and disseminate via social media.

WISE - Ethiopia

This is an action research initiative with a focus on testing the Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) process in communities within Addis Abeba. The major question was: To what extent does ABCD help surface issues in the community and help in addressing these.

The community members were trained on ABCD and they together identified community issues to support including recreation space for the elderly and access to daycare.

The learning around the use of ABCD will be documented.

TGNP - Tanzania

The plan for TGNP during this learning forum was to capture learning and reflect upon its intensive movement building process. Coady staff are working with TGNP to define questions and approach for this research.

CCDB - Bangladesh

For this action research initiative, CCDB with a research partner will explore how women adapt to climate change in southern Bangladesh, an area affected by flooding and salinization.

The proposed research which will look at women’s coping abilities and vulnerabilities will have findings that will be used to influence policy dialogue in the country and more broadly.

Coady staff will travel to Bangladesh to work with CCDB to plan out the research.

SEWA - India

SEWA partnered with a research entity in the country to identify coping strategies of 4 women run enterprises during COVID. These enterprises faced economic slowdown but adapted with SEWA support. Women in these enterprises had to draw on household savings, faced an increase in care burden, and experienced gender based violence. A full report on the adaptability of the enterprises has been shared by AIDMI, SEWA’s research partner. A report on adaptability of individual women is forthcoming.

Learning Forum -Ethiopia, September 2022

Visual Summary of Discussions

All partners look forward to sharing outcomes of their research at the next learning forum taking place in Tanzania in September, 2023.

TGNP Zonal Gender Festival

In October 2022, TGNP held its Zonal Gender Festival in Northern Tanzania with the theme of “Economic Justice: Making Resources Work for Marginalized People for Sustainable Livelihood.” Over three days, more than 450 participants discussed current issues, opportunities, and challenges before moving into action planning for each district to develop key advocacy strategies and approaches. The festival was an open forum that brought together community groups, knowledge centres, national NGOs, government leaders, and development partners to discuss how to advance gender equality in Tanzania.

The festival aimed to celebrate success, discuss the best way to use existing and emerging economic opportunities to increase decent jobs, and bring sustainable life as well as provide an opportunity to reflect and evaluate existing challenges and how to set strategies to deal with those challenges.

Eric Smith, Project Manager had the chance to speak with knowledge centres in the ENGAGE project. They shared the importance of knowledge centres in building collective voice and action to advocate for gender equality and community development. They highlighted in the importance of assetbased community development (ABCD) in creating economic and leadership opportunities for women.

Alongside Coady, TGNP was joined by development partners including Crossroads International, Global Affairs Canada’s Women Voice and Leadership Program, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, and SeedChange.

Collective Research in Bangladesh

In early December 2022, the CCDB team and three Coady staff travelled to Patharghata in Southern Bangladesh to hear from members of the women’s groups supported by ENGAGE for the collective research and to conduct monitoring evaluation and learning (MEL) focus groups. The collective research seeks to explore the women’s experiences with and understanding of feminism and equity, their perspectives on their rights, and their conceptions around leadership.

But being semi-structured leaves room for flexibility, for the interviewer to dig deeper, to pivot, or to reframe questions based on the respondent’s answers.

Once in Patharghata, we set out to the first women’s group site and were greeted with excitement outside of the home of Rubia, one of the group members who would be interviewed for the collective research. Sitting in a circle, surrounded by vertical gardens boasting eggplants, peppers, and tomatoes, and with a lush canopy of banana and palm trees overhead, CCDB and Coady team members began our introductions and expressed gratitude for being welcomed into this space to hear these women’s stories. The team then moved into the house to interview Rubia, while outside, excited conversation began around changes that have been seen or experienced since the start of ENGAGE.

In preparation for the data collection, Coady and CCDB staff worked together to refine the interview tool, which had been developed with other ENGAGE partners while gathered in Ethiopia in September 2022. To build the CCDB team’s confidence in conducting semi-structured interviews, Coady staff explained that with this approach to collecting qualitative data, what we are looking for is stories. We use the interview tool to guide the conversation, preparing prompts to get at certain themes we are interested in learning about – in this case, feminism, equity, rights, and leadership.

While there were a few members who were especially vocal, all the women participated and built on each other’s responses. Inside the house, Imran and Martha learned how Rubia had participated in several training sessions around livestock, climate agriculture, advocacy and lobbying, and leadership. Not only has she implemented the knowledge she gained to support her children’s education and her family’s expenses, but she also shares her knowledge with other women and neighbors, many of whom have begun cultivating and using the climate adaptive technologies and techniques.

Many of the morning group’s sentiments were echoed by a second group. There was consensus that the women’s confidence has grown considerably as a result of participation in the project. Several participants explained how they were shy and did not speak with many people before ENGAGE, even stating to Eric, “at this moment we dare to speak with you.”

weren’t aware of or didn’t know how to action them. As one woman from the collective research interview expressed, “I already had the inner talent, but Engage helped me figure out how to realize it!”

Prior to their involvement with ENGAGE, the women were mostly confined to the home, but now, they occupy and participate confidently in spaces where they would not have previously dared to venture, such as government offices and markets. Similarly, the collective research interviewee explained how she has entered spaces as the first female member: both in her temple committee and as one of three lead farmers –the only woman – in her union. She expressed how being able to use her talents to benefit her community makes her “feel so happy and glad. [Prior to ENGAGE,] I had the education, but I was not involved, I was not going out to the community on my own. But now I do so much in the community, I’m well known.”

The collective research process is ongoing across the ENGAGE partners, but early themes from these interviews point to the value of the capacity building and asset-based approach of the project. Importantly, several women acknowledged that they had these innate strengths and talents, but prior to ENGAGE, they

When it came to discussions of leadership, both the collective research interviews and the focus group respondents stressed that leaders don’t work alone – they work with and alongside others in their communities. They highlighted the power and strength in groups and in knowledge sharing, even beyond those involved with ENGAGE. As one respondent stated, “You cannot do everything all alone, so what I know, I have to share with others.”

“I already had the inner talent, but Engage helped me figure out how to realize it!”

Tips for conducting semi-structured interviews

• Semi-structured interviews are guided by pre-set questions, but you do not need to stick exactly to the questions, as long as the theme/purpose of each question is touched upon.

• This type of interview can flow more like a conversation, where the interviewer practices active listening to inform how to follow up on the respondent’s answers. For example, a respondent’s answer may lead you to ask sub-questions (prompts provided below the main questions in the interview tool, or your own follow-up questions) to learn more about something the respondent said.

• Keep in mind that the pre-set questions may shift slightly (or a lot!), depending on the responses to previous questions. For example, if someone talks about rights when you have asked about equality, you may not need to ask the full “rights” question, but you could shift or reword it slightly. You might say, “you’ve just explained what it looks like when your rights are respected. Could you explain more about … (fill in something they said).”

• Remember, you can always add further explanation or reword your questions if the respondent doesn’t understand or asks for clarification.

• Note: Recording the interview – with the participant’s consent – can be very helpful for your practice, as you can listen back to the recording and reflect on the way you conducted the interview. How do you feel it went? Did it go well or not (and in what ways)? Were there places where you could’ve asked a followup question? Did you interrupt the respondent’s answer? This type of reflective practice is helpful in growing your skills and confidence as an interviewer.

Upcoming Courses

Feminist Advocacy for Gender Justice Bangladesh

March 19 to 23, 2023

This program aims at strengthening the capacity of select Christian Commission for Development in Bangladesh (CCDB) staff to deepen their understanding of feminism(s) and address issues of power, gender, and intersecting inequalities to plan and implement effective advocacy initiatives that strengthen community agency, voice, and ultimately contribute to gender equality.

Women’s Economic Empowerment: A Livelihoods & Markets Approach Community Led Solutions for Climate Change Bangladesh

April 1 to 6, 2023

Understanding how markets work is essential for those who are engaged in women’s economic empowerment process. This course will explore approaches that involve understanding the complexity of people’s livelihoods and the ‘market systems’ as well as solutions ranging from creating a more conducive and enabling environment, to an emphasis on trade and market access, small and micro-enterprise development, and the application of various financial instruments.

October, 2023

Taking place at CCDB’s Climate Centre, this course begins with a basic understanding of the scientific grounding of climate change. The connection between climate change and development will be discussed by exploring how climate change has different impacts on communities around the world. Climate change adaptation and mitigation solutions and technologies will be demonstrated at CCDB’s 20 hectare Climate Centre.

Please note: these courses are by invitation only to ENGAGE organizations and national partner organizations.

* in partnership with TGNP