Regional Economic Empowerment of Women Project

Results achieved as of the end of the project (December 2013) include: (1) women acquired new knowledge and skills (management marketing and technical) that helped them to take advantage of economic opportunities and increase their productivity and revenue-generating potential; (2) 509 new women-owned businesses were established in 2012-2013 bringing the total of new women-owned businesses to 3 029; (3) awareness of issues relating to women’s empowerment were increased by producing 17 research papers and distributing three papers; (4) the networking capacity of key partners was increased through e-tools such as social media an online platform to exchange published and unpublished knowledge and the project website in addition to the distribution of a regional bi-annual newsletter to 5 000 stakeholders that contributed to the elaboration of all issues through articles and photos; (5) 2 575 women accessed financial services and 3 029 women accessed non-financial services such as training modules on household budget financial literacy business management vocational training customer service etc.; and (6) 161 women and 57 men report using the skills acquired through demand-driven training/coaching to expand and better manage their businesses. These contributed to improving the ability of women and men to better develop and manage their businesses.