Women and Girls First is devoted to increasing the value of women and girls by providing safe access to education. Our business model begins with this premise:
We feel that putting money directly into institutions and expecting it to ‘trickle down’ creates opportunities for waste and potential corruption. Our goal is to target ‘specific participants and specific needs’ (lack of childcare, elder
care, family economics, lack of transportation, sick family members, and supplies and tuition). It would work like this:
1) We carefully screen and select NGO's that directly help women.
2) we go there (or call/zoom) to identify need and ability of our organization to meet those needs.
3) we select participants by need and/or put out ‘calls for support’(aka donations). Money must be in the account before we select the participant. Go to website to become a sponsor.
4) participants are monitored monthly through a) their being able to attend school and b) their desire to continue in the program. Family challenges being addressed depending on the age of the participant.
5) in the beginning all participants will have a mentor who is fluent in their language within the organization who reports to the board (or is a member of it for the purposes of our pilot program). Eventually, we see those who participate as becoming mentors...sustaining the program in their region. This creates value by reducing waste - both money and time (we are keen on LEAN) AND by allowing donors to connect to a specific cause that they can measure the outcomes of (donors get monthly reports on their participant which enhances their chances of donating more to their participant and the organization). Participants (in the beginning at least) are:
* At least eligible for elementary school in their village
* Someone we have a fluent translator for
* Women in households seeking job training or technical skills
* Single mothers of any age
We understand that significant cultural barriers exist in most 3rd world countries (hey, they happen here too!), and that we MUST maintain sensitivity to the safety of our participants. Before we begin we hope to develop a plan for identifying and mediating risk to participants. The ‘Imagine Change’ Team
email: [email protected]
