Long-term sustainability is vital for creating meaningful change. At Women’s Worth, we’re creating sustainable programs by giving women the tools they need to drive change in their communities. Our community savings groups in Nicaragua, focus on building skills and developing leadership experience.
The group members learn how to run and manage their own savings group. However, we've also begun training some women to teach others how to set up community savings groups.
Teaching by doing can often be the best way of learning something. After some initial instruction, Martha Diaz, our Program Director, had each volunteer lead a workshop in their group. They got feedback and then had the opportunity to put that feedback into practice. The goal is for the participants to teach people in other communities how to create their own community savings groups.
This approach has many different advantages. First, the new trainers can guide prospective members who want to join their groups. This strategy has already allowed the savings groups to incorporate new people when we haven’t been available or couldn't travel to their community.
Second, offering training opportunities helps women to develop confidence and leadership skills. They can then put these skills into practice as community leaders, small business owners, and mothers.
Earlier this year, the new trainers helped Martha lead workshops in the nearby community of La Majadita. Not only did they do a fantastic job, but they were able to speak about their own experiences, setbacks, and accomplishments. It was truly inspiring!
To date, we’ve taught a total of 10 women the skills they need to train other groups, and we're very excited to continue this work.
The global pandemic, unfortunately, forced us to put a hold on plans for expanding this work. When it's safe again, we hope to help more women become trainers and set up exchange programs so that they can coach people in nearby communities. At the end of the day, it’s really about empowering women to drive the change in their communities.