CENTRAL PROGRAM GOALS
Strengthen the organizational and technical capacities of leading MFIs in Timor-Leste to provide gender-responsive services to female entrepreneurs;
About Women and Girls Empowered (WAGE)
OUR WORK IN TIMOR-LESTE
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Women and Girls Empowered (WAGE) is a global consortium to advance the status of women and girls, led by the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) in close partnership with the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), Grameen Foundation, and Search for Common Ground (Search). WAGE works to strengthen the capacity of civil society organizations, private sector organizations (PSOs) in target countries to improve the prevention of and response to gender-based violence; advance the women, peace and security agenda; and support women’s economic empowerment. In this context, WAGE provides direct assistance to women and girls, including information, resources, and services they need to succeed as active and equal participants in the global economy and public life. WAGE also engages in collaborative research and learning to build a body of evidence on relevant promising practices in these thematic areas. To account for the deeply interconnected nature of women’s and girls’ experiences, WAGE’s initiatives employ approaches that are highly collaborative, integrated, and inclusive. WAGE is funded by the U.S. Department of State Office of Global Women’s Issues.
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Formalize mutually beneficial linkages between MFIs and WE CSOs in Timor-Leste to expand women entrepreneurs’ access to financial, business, and GBV services.
WAGE’s third strategic initiative, Business and Social Support for Female Entrepreneurs in Timor-Leste (BEST), is a multi-disciplinary program aimed at addressing the intertwined social, economic, and regulatory challenges faced by women microentrepreneurs in starting, maintaining, and expanding businesses. Launched in 2020, this two-year program works to build the capacity of local microfinance institutions (MFIs) and women’s empowerment-focused civil society organizations (WE CSOs) through technical assistance and small grants to facilitate the development, piloting, and evaluation of formal linkages that ultimately enable vulnerable women to succeed as entrepreneurs as well as provide women entrepreneurs with increased access to financial, entrepreneurial, and social support.
Our vision is a world in which women and girls enjoy equality, freedom from violence and poverty, and meaningful inclusion in the processes that shape their communities, nations, and international affairs.
Strengthen the organizational and technical capacities of leading WE CSOs in Timor-Leste to provide quality business and livelihoods trainings, gender-based violence (GBV) services, and linkages to microfinance services to benefit vulnerable women entrepreneurs; and
PARTNERSHIPS
WAGE will conduct a linkages workshop, bringing together MFIs and WE CSOs to collaborate and commit to implementing linkages to improve women entrepreneurs’ access to services. Committed partners will receive subgrants to implement these linkages activities over a 12-month period, after which they will be evaluated.
Create linkages between MFIs and WE CSOs to expand access to services
WAGE seeks to establish meaningful partnerships with and among government, lawyers, CSOs, and the private sector to ensure a holistic approach to addressing the multifaceted problems facing women entrepreneurs in Timor-Leste. WAGE takes a locally relevant and sustainable approach to address key development challenges in Timor-Leste, by engaging established local entities that have impacted the local communities they work with through their activities. WAGE's partners in Timor-Leste include Alola Foundation, Associacão Empresarial Das Mulheres Timor Leste (AEMTL), Ba Futuru, and MFIs Kaebauk Investimentu no Finansas, S.A., and Moris Rasik Foundation.
WAGE will conduct a quality assessment of WE CSO services that may be targeted for linkages, and, upon determining opportunities for improvement, will provide technical assistance to each WE CSO. This assistance may include modifications for low-literacy, low-numeracy populations; deeper integration with financial inclusion topics; and other key service enhancements.
Strengthen the capacity of WE CSOs to provide quality services to benefit vulnerable female entrepreneurs
Business and Social support for Female Entrepreneurs in Timor-Leste (BEST)
Strengthen the capacity of MFIs to provide gender-responsive services
WAGE will conduct a landscape assessment to determine the barriers faced by women entrepreneurs and share this information with MFI partners to then identify and prioritize potential linkages, while also training the MFIs on Gender and Power Dynamics and on WAGE’s “Resilient Life, Resilient Business (RLRB)” curriculum.
WAGE believes that if the capacity of leading CSOs, specifically MFIs and WE CSOs, in Timor-Leste is improved to enable women clients’ access to not only microfinance, but also business training and GBV support services, then more vulnerable women will become successful entrepreneurs. The BEST initiative aims to provide women microentrepreneurs in Timor-Leste with access to a more holistic package of financial and social support, leading to enterprise growth and resilience.
OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES