Lorsque son mari est tombé malade, cette mère de famille a contracté un microcrédit et est devenue entrepreneuse en savon artisanal, employant dix personnes. Elle peut maintenant envoyer ses enfants à l'université. Elle fait partie d'un programme de développement économique local soutenu par DDC à Koutiala, au Mali. Dans cet épisode, vous entendrez Hamet Cissé, ancien Chargé de Programme Développement Rural et Point Focal Genre au Mali. Les principaux piliers du programme sont les produits de microfinance pour accroître l'inclusion financière des femmes et le soutien à la formalisation des entreprises dirigées par des femmes. De plus, dans le cadre de la stratégie de genre, des comités de pilotage au niveau communal comprenant les conseillers municipaux et conseillères municipales ainsi que les femmes, les jeunes et les personnes en situation de handicap sont créés afin d'intégrer leurs besoins dans la planification du développement.

*English translation* Connecting economic and political empowerment in Mali - The success story of a woman entrepreneur

When her husband fell ill, this mother took out a microcredit and became an artisanal soap entrepreneur with ten employees and can now send her children to university. She is part of a local economic development program supported by DDC in Koutiala, Mali. In this episode, you will hear from Hamet Cissé, who used to be a Rural Development Program Officer and Gender Focal Point in Mali. Important pillars of the program are microfinance products to increase women's financial inclusion and support for the formalization of women-led businesses. Moreover, as part of the gender strategy, steering committees at commune level that include municipal counselors as well as women, youth, and people with disabilities are created to ensure their needs are incorporated in development planning.

All episodes can be found on spotify and google podcast.

Happy Listening!

Brought to you by the Peace, Governance and Equality Section (PGE) & the Economy and Education Section (E+E)

The Summit organized by GenderSmart took place in October and provided a unique platform for development actors to come together with over 300 senior investment leaders, finance intermediaries and gender experts who want to advance gender equality through gender lens investing (GLI). The theme was ’Traction to Transformation’, seeking to explore ways how the growing GLI community can create a new era of sustainable, gender-smart growth.

Social protection plays a central role to Leave No One Behind (LNOB) and to reach the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda. 

Social protection is a set of public and private initiatives designed to provide protection for all against social and economic risks across the life-cycle and ensure sustainable livelihoods. Well-designed social protection systems ensure a minimum income and equitable access to essential services for the poor and vulnerable, enable people to cope with shocks and ensure dignity, social cohesion and reduce (gender) inequality.

A dedicated page of the network Poverty & Wellbeing provides an overview of SDC's learning and engagement in social protection and summarises the global debate and evidence in development as well as humanitarian contexts.  

For more information on LNOB and IED - go to page LNOB - Inclusion & Exclusion

Listen to the stories of our colleagues on how they advance Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) in their IED projects and programmes, in this ongoing podcast-series. 

Find the podcasts >> here

Ep. 5: Privilege & prjeudice: How to address them for a more just society and women entrepreneurship

Ep. 4: Impact, leadership and business support to women in Colombia

Ep. 3: Using ancestral and scientific knowledge to empower rural women in Peru for sustainable tourism.
Ep. 2: Better boxes for fruit vendors - a solution that is improving women economic empowerment!

Ep. 1: How to ensure gender equality in call for proposal formulation and selection

Listen to your colleagues’ stories on how they advance Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) in their IED projects and programmes, in this ongoing podcast-series. 

Find the podcasts >> here

Ep. 1: How to ensure gender equality in call for proposal formulation and selection

Ep. 2: Better boxes for fruit vendors - a solution that is improving women economic empowerment!

Ep. 3: Using ancestral and scientific knowledge to empower rural women in Peru for sustainable tourism.

Ep. 4: Impact, leadership and business support to women in Colombia

The SDC e+i and gender networks launch the learning journey “WEE Learn”. In the next few weeks we would like to deepen our exchanges on WEE. Please join us for the Webinar on the Business Case for WEE

Date: Thursday 12 December 2019 at 14:00-15:00 Swiss time (convert to your time zone).

To the SDC, Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) is beyond ticking of a box. Plenty of studies and annual financial reports of gender diverse companies give proof that it is also a business case. Women can be economically empowered as entrepreneurs, as clients, as managers and as employees. Would you like to better understand the business case for strengthening women as entrepreneurs or for improving their working conditions as employees?

Then please join us for this webinar to learn about SDC’s existing guidance on WEE and to hear about concrete experiences showcasing the business case for WEE in Guatemala and Uganda, both benefiting from support by SDC’s Social Entrepreneurship Programme:

Joseph Nkandu, Executive Director of the National Union of Coffee Agribusiness and Farm Enterprises (NUCAFE) in Uganda, will share how women’s empowerment alongside men’s has contributed to increase productivity and income in the Ugandan coffee sector as well as profitability of his company NUCAFE.

Rachel Murphy, Strategy and Innovation Coordinator at ALTERNA, a Social Entrepreneur Accelerator, will provide insight how a targeted programme helped female entrepreneurs in Guatemala overcoming biases when pitching their business idea and thereby ensuring more funding for their enterprises

Nathalie Wyser Vizcarra, Senior Policy Advisor Financial Inclusion at the SDC in Bern, Switzerland, will provide an input on SDC’s perspectives on the business case for WEE and its existing guidance on WEE. 

Selina Häny, Gender Equality Policy Advisor at SDC in Bern, Switzerland, will be the webinar host and facilitate the discussions.