WOMEN POWERING WORK

Innovations for Economic Equality in the MENA Region

DISCOVERY FRAMEWORK
SUMMER 2013

Discovery Framework | Women Powering Work

CONTENTS
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Introduction to the Discovery framework Introduction to the challenge Framing innovation 3 5 5 Barriers 6 Design Principles Discovery Framework Grid Appendix: The Innovators 8 10 11

Discovery Framework | Women Powering Work

INTRODUCTION TO THE DISCOVERY FRAMEWORK

The case for hope

As a network of the worlds leading social entrepreneurs, Ashoka has intimately explored how an entrepreneurial mindset can unlock solutions to the worlds most pressing problems. Social entrepreneurs are undaunted by how complex or unsolvable a problem may appear to be, and instead find ways to turn challenges into opportunities, and create sustainable solutions for the communities they are rooted within.Their solutions are often already reaching or poised to reach scale across a country or region, and replicate even wider. Ashokas Discovery Framework is a tool for uncovering the entrepreneurs lense on a field that requires social change. It considers how entrepreneurs have broken down the components of a complex problem - which we call barriers -, and the insights they offer on the most effective strategies for creating change based upon their decades of iteration on the ground - which we call design principles. Its credibility comes from the proven successes of the solutions included in the analysis, rather than

Our process: Building the Framework

Discovery Frameworks are built on an analysis of thousands of social solutions created by Ashoka Fellows, experts, and thought-leaders to distill design principles for change. The framework allows us to uncover patterns of what works in the field and what solutions are missing. These patterns illuminate how change is happening. For any framework, we begin by determining a question. The question that underlies each framework both describes the shift we hope to see around a given issue in the future, as well as the goal of the organizations and entrepreneurs whose work we include in the grid. Next, we sift through Ashokas Fellow database of more than 3,000 solutions from social entrepreneurs to select those most applicable to the field. These innovators go through a rigorous approval process before their election to the fellowship, which includes a thorough vetting of their ideas and performance. To that select group, we add solutions recognized in the field as effective, whether they are created by individuals, companies, institutions or government agencies. Then, we pair down the set of solutions to those that are the most relevant and innovative. Finally, we cluster them and look for patterns in how the innovators both define the problem they face, and what they do to solve it. These patterns can point to powerful ways to reframe a problem, as well as new ways of addressing it. Ultimately, this analysis reveals the a-ha moment of recognition, in which an entrepreneur accurately pairs a powerful idea with a compelling need. Once the analysis is displayed in a grid the distribution of the solutions becomes apparent. The framework shows what proportion of existing solutions address each specific component of a problem, thereby revealing which aspects are receiving less attention, and potentially short shift.

Ashoka has intimately explored how an entrepreneurial mindset can unlock solutions to the worlds most pressing problems
from statistical certainty or organizational metrics. It offers an integrative approach and offers an inductive understanding of how the solutions work together in context in order to effect change. Thus, the Discovery Framework, is a different way of thinking about systems changeone that values practice over theory and on-the-ground invention over deductive academic analysis. The lessons of the solutions profiled in the report point to a future that can get better. Ultimately, the discovery framework presented here should be seen as an invitation: to re-envision what is possible, through the eyes of entrepreneurs.

Discovery Framework | Women Powering Work

The discovery framework should be seen as an invitation: to re-envision what is possible, through the eyes of entrepreneurs.

The Discovery Framework can show which strategies are most commonly (and most powerfully) used. Additionally, it can point to holes or areas where there can be unmet potential for a solution to be invented at the nexus of need and idea

?
Frame the question

ASHOKA DATABASE

Research solutions

Cull the solutions

Pattern recognition

Build the framework

The Strengths of the Discovery Framework

It creates an entrepreneurs view of the world. Entrepreneursof necessitydesign solutions that  address the thorniest aspect of effecting change: the human interactions in a system. Recommendations based on entrepreneurial solutions can predict and show ways to circumvent behavioral barriers to change that are often not addressed in strategies crafted from a more idealized viewpoint.  t allows successful solutions to be examined in context with one another. The framework shows I how ideas relate to one another, as well as to the core elements of the problem. The result is the emergence of clear patterns: Which aspects of a problem are going unaddressed? Are some strategies underutilized? Over utilized? Is there an aspect of a problem that has yet to be named? Are there holes in the system that await the design of a new solution?  t provides the map for deriving a theory of change at a systems level. The patterns and insights I revealed by the framework allow a funder to develop a coherent strategy around what mix of solutions could lead to an overall increase in heat applied to the problem. While any theory of change is subjective, this contextual mapping allows for a holistic approach that merely quantifying the success of individual projects may not provide.  t creates clear criteria for predicting success. The design principles and barriers provide a road map I for evaluating new projects and for guiding the invention of new ideas.

Discovery Framework | Women Powering Work

INTRODUCTION TO THE CHALLENCE

2
Empowering women is not just a fundamental human right, it is, as countless studies have shown, also a path to improved levels of economic and physical well being for an entire society.

The MENAT region faces a number of ecosystem challenges that make it difficult for all parts of society not just women to have full economic participation. These include ongoing social and political instability, lack of access to adequate education, healthcare, housing, water and more. For example, according to a 2012 report by the IMF, the MENA region has a far greater unemployment rate of youth than any other region in the world (25% of youths age 15-24). Increasing access to education is not a guarantee towards employability, with unemployment in fact tending to increase as schooling increases. Social entrepreneurs fully understand and are deeply connected to the challenges faced by the MENAT region and are motivated to find opportunities to create change. They pursue the implementation of solutions tirelessly, often achieving transformative impact on nationwide or regional scales. Applying the Ashoka lens, we identify the patterns in approaches that social entrepreneurs choose, and use these patterns to determine new opportunities for innovation and impact. We developed the Women Powering Work Discovery Framework by drawing upon the insights of thought leaders, practitioners, social entrepreneurs, and institutions at the forefront of transforming womens economic participation.
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Discovery Framework | Women Powering Work

As a social entrepreneur, my aim is to turn every challenge into an opportunity. -Khalid AlKhudair, Founder,
Glowork

The scope of this document begins with an introduction to the framing question, which determines the focus of the analysis. We then describe the fundamental system barriers that exclude women from actively participating in economic opportunities, before we delineate principles that empower them for full participation, and finally map innovations to the Discovery Framework grid, followed by descriptions of the social innovations that have been studied.. This framework is intended to take a more specific focus on one (of many) elements that encompass the field of full economic participation for women in MENAT. It also provides a baseline knowledge that will continue to evolve and build on the innovations and initiatives that are submitted on changemakers.com that relate to this challenge.

FRAMING INNOVATION

The Discovery Framework is centered on identifying innovations that tackle the following challenge:

Framing Question:

How can women in MENA fully participate in and advance economic opportunities that help raise their standard of living, strengthen their families and communities, and contribute to global progress?
Discovery Framework | Women Powering Work

BARRIERS

Barriers are core components of a problem that, if altered, could allow for true systems change. Barriers are not underlying causes that merely describe a situation, such as something as broad as cultural attitudes.
Instead, they are moveable, actionable, and specific to the problem. This is because the discovery framework is designed to highlight the key issues social entrepreneurs have choosen to tackle with pragmatic solutions. The following is a synthesis of the key barriers to emerge from our survey of leading social entrepreneurs which will be shown within the Discovery Framework.

Recruiting Best-Practices are Exclusionary:

Employers traditional job outreach doesnt sufficiently reach women Women employees who are qualified and actively seeking for job opportunities often have a difficult time securing a job. This is because companies that are open to hiring women employees are likely to pursue recruiting methods that are standard practice across industries methods that do not reach most women. Traditional pathways to recruit new hires often consist of outreach to a companys existing network of employers and business contacts. For small businesses, this may include word of mouth or referrals from family and friends. Women who lack prior work experience or the social capital to have access to such networks are completely left out of the process. Alternatively, a company may promote the opportunity more widely by posting information through online channels. However, for women in developing nations (which are the majority in the MENAT region), there may not be well-known online job aggregators that they know of, or they may not have access to internet at all to search in the first place. If internet cafes are available, they may often be too male dominated to access comfortably. Attempts to visit companies and conduct searches in-person may be exacer-

bated by a lack of mobility caused by social pressures against women actively job searching or the inability to move about freely and safe from harassment. In all of these cases, the best-practices for recruitment arent sufficient to hire women who are seeking employment for the first time and lack existing connections.

Deficiency of Targeted Training:

Vocational skills are not delivered alongside compelling value proposition Even if women are able to find jobs that are available to them, women face the challenge of gaining the qualifications needed to be eligible for jobs from the start. Even those that have had the privilege to take full advantage of a formal education system still may be left unprepared for employment as a result of weaknesses in the education system, or they may not have gained the necessary apprenticeship opportunities that make it possible for them to get hired. For those left without pathways to gain qualifications, there is an inadequate amount of vocational training targeted towards women in order to close the representation gap across occupations. Of the trainings that are available to women, it is difficult to secure their participation unless it is customized via its marketing and

Discovery Framework | Women Powering Work

Traditional families often dont allow women to search for jobs in person, and Internet cafs are usually dominated by men, leaving female job-seekers with few resources for finding work and with a greater chance than men of remaining unemployed (and entering into unwanted early marriages) Lana Hijazi, Founder, Souktel

Limited Entrepreneurial Exposure:

Women are unaware of the entrepreneurial possibilities available to them One of the biggest obstacles women often face is ignorance of what opportunities exist for them to aspire towards in order to establish greater economic security. They may not have role models, self-confidence, or experiences needed to recognize entrepreneurial possibilities or feel confident in the role they can play in generating their own income. Even when encouragement is available to start businesses, they may be more likely to concentrate only in producing items like traditional handicrafts that dont have strong market demand. This problem of limited entrepreneurial exposure can be exacerbated by poverty - whether in rural settings or concentrated communities within cities which creates isolation from the type of role models, information, networks and institutions that allow women to seek out new economic opportunities.

delivery. Because women are not convinced that it is worth the significant sacrifice of their time, there must be additional outreach to address the time away from household responsibilities, the effort needed to convince family of its utility, the need to find childcare arrangements, and the challenges to mobility (such as safety concerns). Without a compelling value proposition, it is unlikely that women will regularly attend available trainings.

Restricted Access to Capital:

Capital providers dont customize offerings or inspire demand for them For many women, starting an income generating venture may be more feasible than pursuing employment given the lack of support structures to juggle household and family responsibilities while working. In these instances, a major challenge is being able to access financing that will enable them to start their own businesses, on their own schedules and within their own space. This may be due to a lack of access to banks that are willing to provide small loans to very low income borrowers, a lack of collateral to secure the loan, or a lack of knowledge on what services are available to them.

In traditional societies - in Turkey, and certainly in parts of the Middle East, and definitely in Pakistan - women do not have social contact [with each other]. And we all know that social contact [is] collateral. They are a ways and means to progress, and ways and means to get further opportunities. So women are just connected to their families, they are never connected to women outside their families.

Discovery Framework | Women Powering Work

DESIGN PRINCIPLES

Design principles are insights and strategies we distill from the work of leading social entrepreneurs. They do not encompass tools (like technology or education) nor do they name specific organization-level approaches. They are clarifying ideas and insights that identify levers of change.

1. Create hands-on, group learning

opportunities
Social innovators are creating groups run for and by women that are designed to achieve a particular goal together such as pooling savings and creating loans to spur income generation, providing critical resources such as daycare or starting a business cooperative. The collectives provide practice in a myriad of skills such as communications, teamwork, strategic planning, decision-making, and governance that carry over into life outside of the collective as well. The success seen by efforts such as these creates a shift away from deficit thinking where there is no sense of optimism that challenges can be overcome - to asset-based thinking seeing the rich wealth of resources available amongst her community as well, and the role she can play in making a difference for herself and her family.

and financial literacy to marketing and management, to organizing for broader change within home and civic life. They also provide access to essential resources such as daycare, counseling, and pro bono legal services.

3. Build business confidence with

unified branding & arts
Although brands have traditionally been associated with large corporations, social innovators are also building brands to create more stability for the hundreds of small women business owners they have trained and supported. As a part of managing their brand, innovators buildin processes for training and ensuring quality control. The unified brand allows the business owners to have their products widely marketed and reach a greater diversity than they could alone. Thus, the process of maintaining a brand creates confidence for the supplier, distributor, and consumer. Social innovators also utilized the performing arts and mass communications as a vehicle for creating confidence in the role that women can have in starting and running their own businesses and having greater economic participation. In particular, social innovators have created soap-operas for television, mainstream radio shows, and plays within school to build empathy and shift restrictive cultural attitudes towards women and their right to access economic opportunities.

2. Combine Practical Education &

Essential Resources
While collectives often start as a vehicle for engaging women in more independent economic activity, social innovators are convinced that the provision of services such as financing or entrepreneurial training would not succeed unless they are offered side-by-side with essential resources and practical skills education. The practical skills can range from family planning

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Discovery Framework | Women Powering Work

4. Partner with complementary

businesses in order to scale
Innovators have been particularly successful in helping to ensure a more sustainable economic future for women starting their own businesses, receiving vocational training, or applying for jobs by creating partnerships with the companies that will either hire them or buy their products. Partnerships might be on behalf of small women-owned businesses to have their products sold within small city shops or within large regional shopping malls. Services that help bridge women to vocational training (such as Punjab Skills & Development Fund) or job search tools (such as Glowork) partner with employers to ensure that the trainings and job search guidance is as relevant as possible to the companys needs.

5. Customize technology to enable

greater economic participation
Women in MENAT can face a number of constraints to their mobility, which can make economic participation even more difficult. While Saudi Arabia may have the most restrictive gender laws in terms of segregation, behavioral policing, and driving, women living in many other MENAT countries also face challenges to mobility due to poor public transportation, lack of safety, harassment in public spaces, or restrictive cultural norms. Innovators, however, are customizing technology in ways that make it easy for women to search for and participate in jobs without having to travel at all, creating new norms for economic participation that are likely to upend unfair restrictions in the long run. The customization may include the creation of user-friendly sites for job search and technology services to enable work from home, mobile solutions for job applications,or financial transactions.

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DISCOVERY FRAMEWORK GRID

The following grid shows how existing solutions address specific components of a challenge within the field. It can show which strategies are most commonly (and most powerfully) used.
Additionally, it can point to holes or areas where there can be unmet potential for a solution to be invented at the nexus of need and idea. For the purposes of this framework, innovators have been categorized by the predominant design principle they are applying and the barrier they are focused on. By no means does this suggest that innovators are limited to those principles and barriers. Most apply several principles to address multiple barriers. Such approaches make their strategies more robust and comprehensive.

BARRIERS DESIGN PRINCIPLES

1. Limited Entrepreneurial Exposure: Women are unaware of the entrepreneurial possibilities available to them B-Fit Ka-mer Womens Rights Assoc. Water Lily Womens Cooperative Anjuman Behbood-eKhawateen First Step Womens Cooperative 2. Combine Practical Education & Essential Resources Water Lily Womens Cooperative* Palestinian Center for Development Studies Sakhrah Womens Society Ka-mer 3.Build business confidence with unified branding & arts 4.Partner with complementary businesses in order to scale 5.Customize technology to enable greater economic participation Palestinian Center for Development Studies* 96 Nisaa FM Kaarvan Crafts Field of Work Womens Rights Assoc.* Kashf Foundation GloWork Souktel Punjab Skills & Development Fund GloWork* Kashf Foundation El-Nafez GloWork Lyari Community Development Project (LCDP) Anjuman Behboode-Khawateen* Support for Womens Work 2. Restricted Access to Capital: Capital providers dont customize offerings or inspire demand for them 3. Deficiency of Targeted Training: Vocational skills are not delivered alongside compelling value proposition Support for Womens Work* 4. Recruiting Best-Practices are Exclusionary Employers traditional job outreach doesnt sufficiently reach women

1. Create hands-on, group learning opportunities

Kashf Foundation* Sakhrah Womens Society*

*listed more than once within the framework 12

Discovery Framework | Women Powering Work

QUESTION

FRAME

SOLUTIONS

RESEARCH

IDENTIFY PATTERNS IDENTIFY

BARRIERS

IDENTIFY

DESIGN PRINCIPLES

DISCOVERY FRAMEWORK

CREATE

OPPORTUNITIES

IDENTIFY

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DESIGN PRINCIPLE ONE

B-FIT
Turkey
Bedriye Hulya founded B-Fit as a gym and community center that is co-owned, franchised, managed and used by women. It aims to spread exercise as a human right instead of a luxury for the few that can afford other gyms in Turkey and creates alternative spaces for women of all ages and backgrounds to build confidence and develop a range of essential life skills. Participation in B-Fits programs and management enables women to enter work life, gain entrepreneurial experience, and shape attitudes towards womens capabilities as leaders and decision-makers, especially in the traditionally male-dominated fields of entrepreneurship and sports. As of 2012, B-Fit has impacted over 150,000 members with 250 entrepreneurs in 216 centers in Turkey, with one in Northern Cyprus and another in Germany, and has plans to expand to the Middle East. It will also add another opportunity for income generation by creating shops within the gym where women can advertise and sell their own handicrafts.

Create hands-on, group learning opportunities

Social innovators are creating groups run for and by women that are designed to achieve a particular goal together such as pooling savings and creating loans to spur income generation, providing critical resources such as daycare or starting a business cooperative. The collectives provide practice in myriad skills such as communications, teamwork, strategic planning, decision-making, and governance that carry over into life outside of the collective as well. The success seen by efforts such as these creates a shift away from deficit thinking where there is no sense of optimism that challenges can be overcome - to asset-based thinking seeing the rich wealth of resources available amongst her community as well, and the role she can play in making a difference for herself and her family.

Barrier:

Limited Entrepreneurial Exposure W  omens Rights Association Pakistan [ see profile on page 22 ] W  ater Lily Womens Cooperative Turkey [ see profile on page 17 ] A  njuman Behbood-e-Khawateen Pakistan [ see profile on page 18 ]

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Discovery Framework | Women Powering Work

DESIGN PRINCIPLE: ONE

KA-MER
Turkey
Nebahat Akkoc launched Ka-mer as a center that could respond to womens immediate and critical needs and increases awareness by women of their rights as citizens, wives, and mothers. The center is self-supported, financed by an on-site restaurant and daycare center. It provides a range of services, including legal and psychological counseling, human rights education, and child-care. Ka-mer facilitates professional development opportunities as well as group learning and consciousness-raising for women. These groups, consisting of fifteen women each, meet for ten weeks to discuss a range of topics tailored to womens needs and circumstances, including: human rights, democratic participation, leadership, education, and domestic violence prevention. While focusing on women, Nebahat also works with husbands and families to encourage broad acceptance of women as independent wage-earners and citizens capable of valuable contributions to society. Nebahats personal experiences serve as the foundation for work in Southeastern Anatolia. She lived through a fifteen-year war in which her husband was arrested and later killed. His mother, who spoke only Kurdish (forbidden in public spaces), was not allowed to speak with her imprisoned son before his death. Nebahat herself was imprisoned for a brief period and where she was tortured and sexually abused. These experiences have contributed to Nebahats relentless drive to effect change.

KASHF FOUNDATION
Pakistan
By connecting women to one another and to education opportunities, Roshaneh Zafar is spurring entrepreneurship among women in Pakistan. Roshaneh founded Kashf foundation in 1995 to spearhead the development of a new model for a full-service organization, managed by and for women. The model combines in-house, micro-scale banking and lending operations with closely integrated training and support services. In a six-month period, Roshaneh and her colleagues have helped village women organize, taken them through basic business training, and coached them in basic literacy. As of 2007, over 157 branches distributed over 280,000 loans totaling over $265 million and supporting over 500,000 families. The Kashf Foundation is also actively involved in advocacy efforts, such as sponsoring a ground breaking soap opera by leading writers and actors that is intended to break restrictive cultural attitudes and better create an enabling environment for womens entrepreneurship.

Barrier:

Restricted Access to Capital

Barrier:

Limited Entrepreneurial Exposure

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DESIGN PRINCIPLE ONE

SAKHRAH WOMENS SOCIETY
Jordan
Sakhrah Womens Society, the Arab regions first farmers union for poor marginalized women, was founded by Zeinab Al-Momani and started out by organizing small agricultural projects. The cooperative then started offering revolving loans to members so they could start their own income generating projects. As of 2009, seven cooperatives have been established, with over 721 members and over 800 revolving loans. The cooperatives are involved in the cultivation and packaging of cereals, the manufacture of dairy products, textiles and crafts. The union has helped many women deal with legal constraints and assisted them in reclaiming and rehabilitating agricultural land. Zeinab has also worked on easing womens access to capital and land by advocating for the amendment of the law for the Jordanian Farmers Union that requires land ownership as a condition for joining the union. Thanks to her efforts, the law now accepts land rental as a sufficient condition for joining unions.

Create hands-on, group learning opportunities

Social innovators are creating groups run for and by women that are designed to achieve a particular goal together such as pooling savings and creating loans to spur income generation, providing critical resources such as daycare or starting a business cooperative. The collectives provide practice in myriad skills such as communications, teamwork, strategic planning, decision-making, and governance that carry over into life outside of the collective as well. The success seen by efforts such as these creates a shift away from deficit thinking where there is no sense of optimism that challenges can be overcome - to asset-based thinking seeing the rich wealth of resources available amongst her community as well, and the role she can play in making a difference for herself and her family.

Barrier:

Restricted Access to Capital

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Discovery Framework | Women Powering Work

DESIGN PRINCIPLE: ONE

SUPPORT FOR WOMENS WORK

Turkey
Sengl Akcar has designed a community-based foundation, Support for Womens Work, which educates and empowers poor women and families. Sengl is increasing womens professional and personal opportunities and broadening the perception of womens role in Turkish society. She does this by enabling women to break from their traditional, limiting roles and to gain financial independence and self-respect by learning nontraditional skills, such as carpentry. Each provides a physical space where women can convene to identify and discuss problems and challenges, design solutions, and learn from each other. The centers provide quality daycare and a micro-credit program, unique to Turkey, where women are taught financial management skills traditionally reserved for men. As of 2000, Sengl has launched five Womens and Childrens Centers in impoverished neighborhoods in and around Istanbul.

FIRST STE WOMENS COOPERATIVE

Turkey
While living in a disadvantaged and violence-ridden district of Istanbul, Senum Gul was inspired by the work of another female social entrepreneur, Sengul Akcar, to go door-to-door to invite women for a communal meeting to address the problems they face. The communal meetings grew into the First Steps Women Cooperative, which initially attracts participants by advertising childhood development and learning services along with a menu of other activities and seminars. As women get more deeply involved, they attend more formal training sessions and choose a task force to begin working on a particular issue they care about deeply. Through the trainings, women work especially hard on negotiation and communication, which has already resulted in marked improvements in the community and reduction of violence. They also learn about finance and governance in 10-member democratic savings groups. From an initial group of 19, as of 2007 more than 800 women are involved in two centers. After only three years, the success of her cooperative has already inspired replicas in other parts of the city and the country. Her idea has been widely publicized and generated interest from womens groups in 16 different cities in Turkey.

Barrier:

Deficiency of Targeted Training

Barrier:

Limited Entrepreneurial Exposure

Discovery Framework | Women Powering Work

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DESIGN PRINCIPLE TWO

WATER LILY WOMENS COOPERATIVE
Turkey
Selma Demirelli has founded Water Lily Womens Cooperative, Turkeys first womens housing cooperative, to empower women as property owners with full citizenship and financial stability. Selma organized local women in a series of development, learning, and income-generation activities. The group searched for a place on state-owned land and persuaded the Ministry of Development and Housing to sell them the property with a low-interest long-term payment. Each woman took on a US$12,000 mortgage over time for the parcel and all are involved in the design, architecture, and urban planning of the development. As of 2007, the initial cooperative was able to secure housing for forty-eight families and a second cooperative has been founded nearby.

Combine Practical Education & Essential Resources

While collectives often start as a vehicle for engaging women in more independent economic activity, social innovators are convinced that the provision of services such as financing or entrepreneurial training would not succeed unless they are offered side-by-side with essential resources and practical skills education. The practical skills can range from family planning and financial literacy to marketing and management, to organizing for broader change within home and civic life. They also provide access to essential resources such as daycare, counseling, and pro bono legal services.

Barrier:
Limited Entrepreneurial Exposure P  alestinian Center for Development Studies
[ see profile on page 19 ]

Barrier: Limited Entrepreneurial Exposure S  akhrah Womens Society

[ see profile on page 15 ]

Barrier: Limited Entrepreneurial Exposure

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DESIGN PRINCIPLE: TWO

LYARI COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROJECT (LCDP)

Pakistan
Sabiha Ghani runs the Lyari Community Development Project (LCDP), an entrepreneurship incubator, to provide poor women comprehensive systems of support for their business ventures with a package of services, including business training, marketing advice, and financing that helps them to take full advantage of opportunities for business development. She organizes neighborhood-level womens groups to help members support each other as workers and entrepreneurs, and she brings these groups into contact with a wide range of financial and social services. Through networking and continuous education, Sabiha helps women entrepreneurs grow their own businesses. As of 2005, this approach has helped over a thousand women in Lyari to set up businesses. Sabiha is now shifting her focus to assist women in the rural areas of Sindh province. Sabiha chooses roughly 35 business ventures to incubate each year, and this number is rapidly growing.

ANJUMAN BEHBOOD-EKHAWATEEN (ABKT)

Pakistan
Shad Begum works to improve the lives of women in communities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a conservative region in Northwest Pakistan. The Association for Behavior and Knowledge Transformation (ABKT), founded in 1994, provides opportunities for women to gather and work together in groups. The groups are introduced to the community in a way that is not seen as threatening to the local men, unlike the negative way outside interventions often are. ABKT has a program that provides these groups with non-formal basic education, health services, health education, and the microcredit and skills training needed to establish their own income generating. The group activities instill confidence, create trust, and provide a platform to voice needs and collaboratively devise solutions. They also serve as a basis for political education and organizing. Shad has been able to assist over a hundred women to become elected to local councils and is encouraging the spread of groups and formalized training through partnerships with a number of community organizations.

Barrier:
Restricted Access to Capital

Barrier:
Restricted Access to Capital

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DESIGN PRINCIPLE THREE

PALESTINIAN CENTER FOR COMMUNICATION & DEVELOPMENT STUDIES
Palestine

Leverage Savvy Communication Tools to Build Confidence

Although brands have traditionally been associated with large corporations, social innovators are also building brands to create more stability for the hundreds of small women business owners they have trained and supported. As a part of managing their brand, innovators buildin processes for training and ensuring quality control. The unified brand allows the business owners to have their products widely marketed and reach a greater diversity than they could alone. Thus, the process of maintaining a brand creates confidence for the supplier, distributor, and consumer. Social Innovators also utilized the performing arts and mass communications as a vehicle for creating confidence in the role that women can have in starting and running their own businesses. In particular, social innovators have created soap-operas for television and plays within school to build empathy and shift restrictive cultural attitudes towards women and their right to access economic opportunities.
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Discovery Framework | Women Powering Work

Fida Abu Turky founded The Palestinian Center for Communication & Development Strategies (PCCDS) to economically empower women in rural areas of the Levant by implementing a grassroots venture capitalist approach adapted for the cultural context. PCCDS provides grants to women living in rural communities adversely affected by the Separation Wall based on their needs and conducts regular follow-up and evaluation to ensure the project is running smoothly. To complement the grant, Fida also provides business support resources and services through a network of thirty-four rural organizations. She partners with a local marketing company, which markets and sells the projects products regionally and internationally. She creates partnerships with organizations to provide services and competitive marketing and offers a branded label under which the products that women entrepreneurs create can better sell. She is the first entrepreneur in the Arab World to adapt business incubation for the Levantine cultural context in order to create jobs for women, encourage women entrepreneurs, and diversify local community economies. As of 2011, PCCDS incubated over 1,200 projects and has managed US$2M in funding. The Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development has pledged an additional US$750,000 to support expansion.

Barrier:
Limited Entrepreneurial Exposure

DESIGN PRINCIPLE: THREE

96 NISAA FM
Palestine
To achieve her goal of a Levant region that is proud and inclusive of women -giving them equal rights and opportunities to participate fully - Maysoun Odeh Gangat chose radio as her tool because of its accessibility to a large audience. Maysoun presents inspiring role models of women in the region from all sectors, both young and old, housewives, students, and working women. 96 Nisaa FM began in Ramallah, Palestine, and expanded to further locations, including the Northern territories, with many marginalized communities. Maysoun also plays an important role in responding to a real hunger for knowledge and the need of information that can truly help transform the lives of women by providing useful information to help them flourish rather than simply survive. Nisaa FM serves as a platform that connects listeners with community organizations that can support them in different areas of their lives, such as; counseling for domestic violence, how to file for welfare, educational opportunities and job training. While there are two other women radio stations in Egypt and Iraq, Maysouns station is the first and only station operating on a commercial model, airing both online and on air, while addressing womens issues from a non-traditional approach and incorporating men in the process of change. As of 2012, 96 NISAA FM was ranked as third of twenty stations across the Ramallah Governorate by the Ministry of Interior.

EL-NAFEZA
Egypt
Mohammed el Naga established the El Nafeza papermaking center to revive Egypts historic craft of papermaking by providing training in how to use a communitys agricultural waste to manufacture paper products with high artistic and commercial standards. He specifically looks for candidates to train among women and those with special needs and utilizes materials that would otherwise be burned and further exacerbate problems of pollution. Mohamed trains 10 to 15 trainers annually, who in turn, train at least ten others, particularly in poor, rural villages. Graduated trainees are equipped to establish their own papermaking centers in communities all over Egypt; creating job opportunities, and opening new markets. New centers started by El Nafeza and its community of trainers are given guidelines to help achieve maximum social impact, addressing issues such as employing a proportion of the unemployed, marginalized, and disabled in each community where they operate. By creating a unifying brand El-Nafez- el-Naga is also helping to connect these producers to global markets allowing for products such as greeting cards and attractive writing papers to be sold and marketed in well renowned, international stores.

Barrier:
Deficiency of Targeted Skills Training Kashf  Foundation [ see profile on page 19 ] Barrier: Restricted Access to Capital G  loWork [ see profile on page 15 ] Barrier: Recruiting Best-Practices are Exclusionary
Discovery Framework | Women Powering Work

Barrier:
Limited Entrepreneurial Exposure

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DESIGN PRINCIPLE FOUR

KAARVAN CRAFTS FIELD OF WORK
Pakistan
As microfinance has become more readily available, many women in rural and suburban areas of Pakistan have started to earn incomes, but social norms and taboos serve to restrict their access to markets. Kaarvan Crafts was formed as a spin off from the microfinance organization KASHF, because Aysha Saifuddin felt that organizing women and linking them with the mainstream market required an entity dedicated to that task alone. Kaarvan provides women with business and skill training, introduces systems for pricing and quality control, and conducts research to guide the creation of more marketable product designs, helping them become appealing subcontractors for international brands. It has set up a distribution network that includes four self-operated retail outlets in Karachi and Lahore as well as other large retailers like those operating in hotels, boutiques, and malls. Kaarvan is in the process of strengthening the recognition of its brand as a symbol of style and quality and partnering with one of the largest retail outlet malls in Pakistan to provide a steady market for the goods created through its network of women entrepreneurs. Additionally, Aysha is exploring training women to become sales agents of solar technology, an urgent need across the country given frequent electricity shortages. As of 2012, Kaarvan had built up the producer base of over 2,800 women entrepreneurs.

Partner with complementary businesses in order to scale

Innovators have been particularly successful in helping to ensure a more sustainable economic future for women starting their own businesses, receiving vocational training, or applying for jobs by creating partnerships with the companies that will either hire them or buy their products. Partnerships might be on behalf of small women-owned businesses to have their products sold within small city shops or within large regional shopping malls. Services that help bridge women to vocational training (such as Punjab Skills & Development Fund) or job search tools (such as Glowork) partner with employers to ensure that the trainings and job search guidance is as relevant as possible to the companys needs.

Barrier:
Limited Entrepreneurial Exposure

22

Discovery Framework | Women Powering Work

DESIGN PRINCIPLE: FOUR

WOMENS RIGHTS ASSOCIATION

Pakistan
Shaista Bukhari, recognized the lack of women entrepreneurship in her region of Pakistan was due to not only a lack of training, but also a lack of ideas for what businesses to start. She began the Women Rights Association, which works with women to identify opportunities, develop products, and create partnerships for the purchase of raw materials and distribution. In doing so, the WRA provides access to social capital, networking opportunities, business trainings, and other resources, while encouraging participants to come up with innovative ideas for new ventures. As a part of ensuring the sustainability of her trainees, she is builds partnerships with shops that will sell the womens products, and is in the process of securing larger retail partners. She also selects between 20 and 35 women each year from different local governing bodies throughout Pakistan and provides them with networking opportunities and the latest information regarding product marketing. As of 2008, she has developed an inclusive and supportive network to provide lasting support to over 325 graduates of her program. Additionally, she has trained over 200 community members who can train others in micro-business entrepreneurship.

PUNJAB SKILLS & DEVELOPMENT FUND

Pakistan
The Punjab Skills & Development Fund (PSDF) Fund provides resources to help private sector enterprises and partnerships develop and offer vocational training courses. This partnership model ensures that prospective employees receive training that is as relevant as possible to their potential employers. It is deliberate in ensuring it opportunities are attended by the poor and vulnerable populations of the four poorest districts of Punjab, and that women are well represented as participants. Its trainings aim to improve participants ability to find work, progress in their current employment or develop their own enterprises. It also aims to up-skill those in lowskills-low-returns jobs and enhance their earning potential. PSDF is currently associated with 47 training service providers from all sectors engaging in different vocational trainings of its products Skills for Jobs (SFJ) and Skills for Market (SFM). PSDF has successfully trained over 26,000 (both men and women) deserving trainees from the targeted districts in more than 117 different trades.

Barrier:
Limited Entrepreneurial Exposure

Barrier:
Vocational skills are not delivered alongside compelling value proposition GloWork 
[ see profile on page 15 ]

Barrier: Recruiting Best-Practices are Exclusionary

Discovery Framework | Women Powering Work

23

DESIGN PRINCIPLE FIVE

GLOWORK
Saudi Arabia
Khalid Al-Khudair is working across four key areas to increase womens economic participation: First, he is customizing technology to overcome challenges to transportation and segregation laws that prevent companies from easily hiring women. He created a virtual office monitoring tool that allows companies to hire women to work from home; it has been recognized by the United Nations and World Bank for its role as an innovative solution for job creation. Second, he is working with the Saudi Ministry of Labor to change policies that make it difficult for companies to hire women, proposing and passing new laws mandating the hiring of women in several sectors including retail and manufacturing. Third, he is building a platform that fills the gap between job seeking women and companies that are ready to hire them. As of 2013, Khalids organization, Glowork, has worked with unemployment records to build a database of 1.2 million unemployed women. In his first year, he has created over 6,000 vacancies for women by establishing partnerships with both Saudi and international corporations. He is also convening the largest regional job fair for women that features prominent corporations. Fourth, he is launching a series of marketing campaigns that encourages Saudi society to think differently about the role of women in the workplace. As the first local job portal of its kind, Khalids initiative is paving the way for womens employment to vastly increase.

Customize technology to enable greater economic participation

Women in MENAT can face a number of constraints to their mobility, which can make economic participation even more difficult. While Saudi Arabia may have the most restrictive gender laws in terms of segregation, behavioral policing, and driving, women living in many other MENAT countries also face challenges to mobility due to poor public transportation, lack of safety, harassment in public spaces, or restrictive cultural norms. Innovators, however, are customizing technology in ways that make it easy for women to search for and participate in jobs without having to travel at all, creating new norms for economic participation that are likely to upend unfair restrictions in the long run. The customization may include the creation of user-friendly sites for job search and technology services to enable work from home (such as Glowork) or mobile solutions for job applying (such as with Souktel) or financial transactions (such as with Kashf Foundation).
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Discovery Framework | Women Powering Work

Barrier:
Recruiting Best-Practices are Exclusionary

DESIGN PRINCIPLE: FIVE

SOUKTEL
Egypt
Lana Hijazi & Mohammed Al Kilany established Souktel Inc., an organization whose core innovation helps job seekers (regardless of location, gender, or socio-economic background) and employers connect through simple text-messaging (SMS) processes. From any mobile phone, job seekers create SMS mini-CVs that include basic data on their skills and location. From the other side, employers create similar mini-job ads and post them to the same database, enabling job seekers to search these opportunities from their own phones. As of 2011, Souktel is changing Middle Eastern labor markets and economies from opaque systems that exclude most job seekers, to transparent systems that empower all, by using simple and accessible mobile technology. To date, 8,000+ job seekers and 200+ employers use Souktels JobMatch technology every day.

Barrier:
Recruiting Best-Practices are Exclusionary K  ashf Foundation
[ see profile on page 19 ]

Barrier: Restricted Access to Capital

Discovery Framework | Women Powering Work

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Authored by Reem Rahman with thanks to Ashoka colleagues Patrice Mobley, Chloe Feinberg, Chitra Krishnan; Ashoka Fellowship offices in the Arab World, Pakistan, and Turkey; and the generosity of the interviewees for their contributions to the thinking that produced this Discovery Framework. Ashoka Changemakers is grateful to General Electric for its support on the Women Powering Work global competition

www.changemakers.com

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