Mennonite Economic DevelopmentAssociates of Canada

Published purpose

The project contributes to poverty alleviation by promoting the empowerment of women and girls, including rural and Indigenous women, in social and economic matters. This is used as a strategy to enhance gender equality and address sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) targeted value chains. It aims to create greater awareness of gender issues and social well-being in Guatemala and Nicaragua. Another strategy used is to improve these women’s business performance, their access to gender-responsive financial services and their access to community services. The project creates alliances between private sector actors and women-led businesses to develop new opportunities for growth and employment in businesses and leverage private capital to address SGBV. Project activities include: (1) providing business development consulting services, technical aid, education and training to underserved and underprivileged women-led businesses; (2) providing technical aid and linkages for underserved and underprivileged women-led businesses to connect to local and global value chains; (3) supporting financial institutions to apply fair gender practices to improve the economic conditions of women-led businesses. This is done by holding gender-lens investing forums and learning exchanges to promote these approaches; (4) conducting trainings and providing education on gender and women’s rights. Special focus is placed on providing services and resources to underprivileged women, girls and their families; (5) establishing partnerships with local women’s rights organizations to consult and advocate for the prevention of SGBV; and (6) training and educating men on gender roles and norms, and providing training and resources to community members related to SGBV.