Center for the Excellence of Women – CEM
Country: Brazil
Organization: Orsa Foundation
2) Sector of activity: Education
3) Description of your products or services: The Center for the Excellence of Women – CEM is a Project of the Orsa Foundation – Jarí Unit, focused on helping mothers in the Jarí Valley, acting as a social education project for human development and social organization of women, having as objective to provide social and economic conditions for improving the quality of life of children and adolescents in the Jarí Valley, through the creation of an environment of emancipation and development of competences, attitudes and abilities of the mothers in the region, regarding family, community, and entrepreneurship management.The Project develops initiatives for increasing sensitivity to self knowledge and self-esteem, counseling for facing violence, social and political development, digital inclusion, development of community leaderships and technological and managerial training for opening small businesses, besides fostering and following these businesses by means of the solidary popular credit developed by the project. As a protagonist of the socio- familial daily life in the region, the woman can be understood as a disseminating and consolidating agent of the rights and duties inherent to a democratic society, stemming from the development of her potentials, which even today are denied to her by the predominantly discriminatory culture of the feminine roles, at work, in the family, or in society.
4) Description of the operational model: CEM will be developed from three strategic axes of local development, integrated and articulated in a set of actions in the field of formation, production, and organization, as follows: 1- SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT: Focus on FORMATION, thru Learning Workshops,Management School,Digital Inclusion,Neighborhood Workshops,Study Orientation Workshops,Woman Talk (experience groups),Management and Technological Training,Fairs and Expositions,Leadership Groups;2- PRODUCTIVE DEVELOPMENT: Focus on PRODUCTION, thru Workshops for Technological Training,Workshops for Managerial Training;3- INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT: Focus on ORGANIZATION and MANAGEMENT, thru Design Workshops,Microcredit System / Popular Solidary Credit, Marketing System,Support and Monitoring.
5) Description of the financial model: The beneficiciaries don't pay for the services;the women that receive yhe solidary credit must pay the amount lended until the deadline (without interests, of course). The first group that received the credit payed before the deadline, as their businesses had already succeeded by then.This initiave is financially self-sustainable, for the women learn how to create and start a businesse, and are given only a first time finacial help. They continue on their own afterwards, in a profitable activity for themselves, building their economic independency and independent and mastering the knowledge they have acquired in the workshops. They are always able, though, to count on business and financial advisory, if needed, and free of charge.
Client fees represent this approximate percentage of operational budget: 0%
6) Key operational partnership: The partnerships are divided into three kinds: technical, financial and economic.So far, we have 4 partners that, in their majority, fall into the first category. They are: SEBRAE (Brazilian Support Service to the Micro Companies), Bank of Brazil, Sustainable and Local Development Secretary (SDLIS)and IBAMA (The Brazilian Insitute of Environment and Natural Resources). With the exception of Bank of Brazil, the other partners are all governamental.
7) Current outreach:
We are at the Scaling Up stage. We've had an experience with one group of women regarding the popular credit, which was extremely well-succeeded. Now, the second group of women has just received their credit, to start their roles of entreprenuers up.
How many clients have benefited from your product/service in total? Over the last year? Totally, 400 women will be benefited from the project, amongst all the workshops held.
What percentage of your clients is below the poverty line ($2 per day)? 0% We cannot establish this number for sure at this very
moment,as it is being calculated by our technical team in
the region. It is pertinent to say, though, that the Jari
Valley region, placed exactly on the board of Para and
Amapa States, in the region of the Amazon Forest, is a
very poor region, which lacks of decent housing, and
public healthcare to its population, as well as a very
weak educational offer.
What is the order of magnitude of the potential demand for your products or services? Which
other low-income groups, countries or regions could benefit from it? Try to quantify (number
of clients, market size in currency):
The products developed by the women in the project are basically craftwork on the natural resources of the region (the typical seed of Para nut, for example), which results in artistic jewellery.
8) Scale-up strategy:
How many low-income individuals do you plan to benefit in three years from now? How are you planning to scale up or replicate your solution? What are the major constraints to scale up?
We plan to benefit, directly, around 1200 women in the region (that includes three towns). The replication is always able to take place in similar regions, where the same characteristics are identified and therefore, recquire some kind of action in order to change the social misery scenery.
Which specific areas - and why - in your field would benefit most from investment by corporations, foundations, and other investors:
Any kind of financial institutions that could provide with the solidary credit would be contributing to acquire a social responsible role to itself. Also, organizations that have interest in this helping organize small groups of sustainable entreprenuers in poor communities.
9) The organization: How does the initiative fit with your overall organization's strategic goals and priorities? How did the initiative start?
As a protagonist of the socio-familial daily life in the region, the woman can be understood as a disseminating and consolidating agent of the rights and duties inherent to a democratic society, stemming from the development of her potentials, which even today are denied to her by the predominantly discriminatory culture of the feminine roles, at work, in the family, or in society. When one reflects on the quality of life of the families of the Jarí Valley, which is below minimal acceptable levels, one perceives the great need for strengthening the family foundations of the children and of the adolescents in the region, a work which consists of human and social development of the mother, who for the most part finds herself in a social vulnerability scenario characterized by low education levels, considerable domestic violence, child labor, high teen pregnancy levels among other factors
-
10) On the mosaic diagram, which of these factors is the primary focus of your work?
- Factor: Poor understanding of the human and social capitals of low income communities
- Principle: Leverage the power of communities as both consumers and producers
Contact Information:
Name: Patricia Casoy - International Relations
Organization: Orsa Foundation
Mailing address: Avenida Deputado Emilio Carlos, 821, Carapicuiba, 06310-160, São Paulo
Country: Brazil
Email: pcasoy@fundacaoorsa.org.br
Tel: 55-11-41828884
Fax: 55-11-41828870
Website: www.fundacaoorsa.org.br
Organization's legal status: Foundation
Number of Employees: 315
|
Return to Home Page