BINDI PROJECT TOOLKIT
How to empower women through knowledge sharing, connecting, learning and community building? Our research on women safety and empowerment in low-income urban areas showed that: • Feeling safe is often connected to being informed and to be in one’s own community. • New comers (in particular migrants from rural areas) are often powerless and “at risk”. E.g they are easy target for sex trade or violence. • Providing jobs to women in low income urban areas is an important step in increasing safety and empowerment through independence. • Developing a sense of community, shared identity is a first step to empowerment and safety • Often women have a limited access to jobs due to the transportation issue. • Safety issues often arise during transportation Based on this research, we develop the idea of a new role: bindis. Bindis are a new role that provides a service to women in the community to help them access to knowledge, learn new skills and feel more empowered, while at the same time empowering the women volunteering as bindis. The creation of this new role tackles the problem of information sharing and community building. It addresses the problem by creating a new role, community concierge, to inform and connect women within the community and with other communities. This toolkit provides you with some guidelines on how to develop women in taking on a bindi role that will empower them as help develop their community. By bindi, we mean “community concierge” and “caretaker”. We chose to call the concierge a bindi as it is said to retain energy and strengthen concentration. It is also said to protect against demons or bad luck. (The bindi also represents the third eye). Yet, the term can be adapted to your local context. For example, Women for Human Rights (WHR) in Kathmandu, Nepal has chosen to use the term “sahayogi saathi” which means a “helpful friend’ in Nepali. This toolkit is based on our collaboration with WHR and proposes general guidelines in order to find potential bindis, train them and develop them in the community.
HOW DO I...
IDENTIFY POTENTIAL BINDIS?
GOAL Acknowledging the work done by the bindis in their community and making sure they will stay involved in the future, while iterating on the program to improve it. • When the tenure of the bindis is finished (6 months to 1 year), have another ceremony with the community and make them “senior” bindis, and announce that they will soon be replaced by another group of women. • Organize a meeting with the bindis to assess what they learnt and how they think we can improve the program. Ask them how much / in what capacity they want to be involved, e.g. volunteering a few hours a week, helping with some of the training, etc. Their willingness to be actively engaged is a measure of success. • Make sure to do informal interviews with members in the community to understand their perception of the bindis. • Make a call for future bindis to see if there is any interest. • Meet as a team (without the bindis, maybe with other stakeholders) to reflect on the learnings and brainstorm to define iterations for the next phase.
Tips: • Peer training is key in empowering women. Yet, it requires bindis (in particular the first group) to see it as part of their role and understand that they will also learn by doing so. • Creating a senior bindi role where senior bindis are recognized for their expertise and their involvement in the community and inviting them to be part of a senior bindi committee is a great way to keep them involved. It will provide also a useful governance structure. • Peer training and involving senior bindis in the organization of the program is key for empowerment and for the sustainability of the program. • NGO and key stakeholders never phase out completely but their role becomes more a mentoring and facilitating role.
HOW DO I... RECRUIT BINDIS?
GOAL To define the women who will be part of the program and make sure that they are willing to commit to the community (beyond just getting training and access to information). • Invite potential bindis to a meeting to discuss their interest in being part of the program and understanding their motivations and needs. • Explain the bindi concept and how it would work, in particular the “giving back to the community” component. • Ask them how much time they want / can commit to their bindi role. • You might also want to have one-on-one interview to really understand the motivation, needs and constraints of each women. • Identify a space in the community where they can meet (work in some cases) and where other women can find them and meet with them.
Tips: • You might need a couple of meetings rather than one. • Make the event informal and friendly (e.g. provide lunch) so that women feel comfortable. • They should talk amongst themselves and allow open discussion, they should lead the discussion. The assumption behind the bindi program is that it is co-created with the women. Remember you are working with them. • These meetings are great sources of information when it comes to designing the training modules.
HOW DO I...
IDENTIFY THE NEEDS AND DESIGN THE TRAINING PROGRAM?
GOAL Goal: define the specific needs of the bindis and customize a specific training program
• Organize meetings to discuss with the women their needs and what they think the community needs are in order to establish what might be the most needed courses for them. • We recommend as a core training module, a module on leadership and communication, with a focus on empathy, to help women feel more comfortable expressing themselves and working with others. • It is important to determine if the women need training in: - health and sanitation - home economy skills (e.g. how to start a bank account, how to get a phone, what are your property rights?) - “technical” skills (e.g. finance, craft making, etc.) in order to support them in developing their business, starting one or getting a job • At this stage, it is also crucial to determine if the women will use the skills learning during the program to develop a business as a group, or small groups (following a “collective” model).
Tips: • After the first iteration of the program, some bindis might be involved in these discussions and may be provide inputs to you in terms of what they found useful (or less useful) during their training. • Invite different stakeholders (other NGOs, microloans organization, health organization, governmental agencies, etc.) to the meetings so that they understand the specific needs of the community, develop specific information resources or suggest some training, and develop relationships with the bindis. It is also important for the bindis to be comfortable interacting with different stakeholders. • Pre-offer a structure of possible courses to determine the needed training. You will probably not define with them the training program but the inputs collected during this phase would be invaluable for you to organize this.
HOW DO I...
TRAIN THE BINDIS?
GOAL Goal: train the bindis so that they are ready to take on their role in the community. • Provide the training to the bindis. The format (2-3 days module over a couple of months, or 2 weeks upfront) would vary on their constraint. • At the end of the training, organize a ceremony with the whole community where the bindis received a certificate and / or a badge. This is an important status symbol for them and a great way to introduce them and their role to the community.
Tips: • Make sure that you do the training in the community to increase the involvement of women. • Try to make the training very interactive in order to make the women more confident. • When possible, try to create opportunities for the women (in pairs small groups) to share some of the skills they learnt with the rest of the community. It is a nice way for them to build confidence, to deepen their knowledge and it is a great way to make sure they are ready to take on their bindi role after the training. • Research shows that providing an artifact (e.g. a certificate, a badge, a uniform) is important to symbolize status. • Doing the certification ceremony in the space allocated to the bindis increases the chance for other women to know about the space and to feel comfortable going.
HOW DO I... SUPPORT BINDIS?
GOAL As the bindis take on their role in the community, it is important to maintain ongoing interactions and support them. • Bindis start taking on their role (i.e. being in the bindi space, providing information, doing small training session). • Encourage to meet weekly as a group to discuss their experience. • Organize monthly meetings (or more regularly if suits be) where the bindis talk with the NGO and possibly other stakeholders about their experience, the needs they are uncovering and information and resources they need to help other women. • Make sure that the bindis really support other women. Possibly go and talk informally with other women to gather information of the perception of the bindis by others. • Support the bindis who are starting a business in order to make it successful.
Tips: • Continuing follow-up is key. You might realize that bimonthly meetings are necessary. • It is important for the bindis to feel supported and to get some coaching on the issues they face. • Maintaining the involvement of various stakeholders and brining if others if needed is important • Make sure that women in the community feel comfortable approaching the bindis. If they don’t find out and address the issue.
HOW DO I...
DO BINDI GRADUATION AND ASSESS THE PROGRAM?
GOAL Acknowledging the work done by the bindis in their community and making sure they will stay involved in the future, while iterating on the program to improve it. • When the tenure of the bindis is finished (6 months to 1 year), have another ceremony with the community and make them “senior” bindis, and announce that they will soon be replaced by another group of women. • Organize a meeting with the bindis to assess what they learnt and how they think we can improve the program. Ask them how much / in what capacity they want to be involved, e.g. volunteering a few hours a week, helping with some of the training, etc. Their willingness to be actively engaged is a measure of success. • Make sure to do informal interviews with members in the community to understand their perception of the bindis • Make a call for future bindis to see if there is any interest. • Meet as a team (without the bindis, maybe with other stakeholders) to reflect on the learnings and brainstorm to define iterations for the next phase.
Tips: • Peer training is key in empowering women. Yet, it requires bindis (in particular the first group) to see it as part of their role and understand that they will also learn by doing so. • Creating a senior bindi role where senior bindis are recognized for their expertise and their involvement in the community and inviting them to be part of a senior bindi committee is a great way to keep them involved. It will provide also a useful governance structure. • Peer training and involving senior bindis in the organization of the program is key for empowerment and for the sustainability of the program. • NGO and key stakeholders never phase out completely but their role becomes more a mentoring and facilitating role.
HOW DO I...
FACILITATE WOMEN’S ENGAGEMENT?
GOAL To help you develop a trustful relationships with the participants of the community-centered program that will allow them to become active actors and partners in the program rather than seeing themselves as “customers” of a service you provide. • Define clearly (and often) the roles: you are facilitator of the process and will help implement the first phases, but this program is for the community members, and to be run by them. • Engage them right from the beginning: — In the design of the program if you are creating a new program — In the presentation of the program so that they understand the process; be open to feedback and ready to customize some modules if needed. — Involve women in the decision making process
• During meetings, provide women opportunities to take the lead in organizing the agenda and leading the discussion. This might take time but work towards this goal. — Avoid group think by not stating your position first. Try to avoid saying too much upfront to avoid them “agreeing” with you. —Ask for their opinion and listen —Ask questions rather than make suggestions. • Ask regularly for feedback while setting up expectations: feedback does not mean complain or requests; you will listen but you won’t be able to address all feedback —Be ready to hear negative feedback —Make sure to act upon some of the feedback to show that you listen and if you decide not to act, explain why. • Have a transparent and ongoing communication system —Figure out ways to make sure that you stay connected and that you are seen as responsive —Meet regularly —Explain decisions
Tips: • Organize interactive activities involving visuals: card sorting, experience journey, and games are great way to engage participants. • Start with ice-breakers in which you participate • Remember than for people to trust you, they need to feel reciprocity (i.e. if you ask for information, give some information back) • Make sure that if you already have made a decision, you tell the participants rather than asking them for their opinion and then announcing that something different is going to happen. • If they ask you a question, instead of replying first, ask them what they think.