Women’s groups are on the increase. Day after day more are formed across the globe as women around the world have realized that they need to work together so as to improve their livelihoods. Contrary to what was there before, women have risen, formed groups and most of them have one common goal: to improve their standards of living.
This increase has attracted increasing numbers of NGOs dedicated to working with these women in a wide range of projects. Some NGOs prefer to work with women as they are often the most deprived people in society with often less rights and economic opportunities compared to men.
But the question remains, are these groups able to achieve their goals in the long run? Do they really have the capacity to work efficiently? Is there a way that the NGOs can strengthen the capacity of these groups? And if so how can the capacity be increased?
Here are FundsforNGOs top three ways that women’s groups can strengthen and increase their capacity:
- Training
Continuous training is one of the primary methods of building the capacity of women groups. Trainings could vary from one group to another depending on the groups’ preference and what the NGO finds of great interest to the group. They could include issues such as saving management skills, group dynamics, leadership skills, human rights, resource mobilization, income generation, modern ways of farming among others. Capacity building aims to strengthen parties’ ability to work together for their mutual benefit and so training would provide them with skills and tools they need to define problems and formulate the possible solutions. Training would also help women’s groups to learn how to organize themselves and work efficiently through the use of common resources.
- Exchange visits
NGOs can organize exchange visits for the women groups they work with. This works to identify a group that is performing well and encourage other groups to learn from it. Alternatively they could network with other NGOs to identity other groups elsewhere where their own can learn. Exchange learning among groups creates common understanding; strengthen relationships and networks and present learning experiences for the groups to share their skills and expertise. This strategy also enables groups to pay attention to topics of discussion, deeply learn and assess the relevance of new strategies.
- Forums
Many NGOs have found success by organizing open forums for all their women groups. Forums create a space where ideas are explored informally. By bringing the women groups together, experiences as well as challenges they have encountered in their group activities are shared. It is also in these forums that the organization can get views from the members of groups on how best it can come on board in assisting the groups realize their goals. Apart from the exchange of ideas, women also gain confidence and boost their self esteem when airing their views to a wider audience. They would therefore acquire the skill of public speaking from such gatherings.
Written by Rachel Kalondu and Edited by Robin Toal
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