Dear friends,

As announced earlier, over the next few months in the lead up to the
Asia-Pacific Regional Microcredit Summit (APRMS), we want to have a
debate and collate further resources on gender and empowerment
mainstreaming in microfinance. We also want the submissions to be
searchable on the web, so please follow the labelling conventions
indicated below - also to help structure the discussion.

APRIL focus is on EMPOWERMENT AND SOCIAL PERFORMANCE

We would like to know from practitioners and researchers:

1) What gender and empowerment frameworks have you used? What
indicators, formats, questionnaires, focus group formats etc have you
used? Please discuss and/or upload these as files in the respective
folders. Ticking the notify other members box.
Discussion should have the title: Gender and empowerment frameworks +
any subtitle

2)Which of you have social performance management systems? How have
you/could you integrate gender into this? Please discuss and/or
upload these as files in the respective folders. Ticking the notify
other members box.
Discussion should have the title: Gender and social performance + any
subtitle

3) What impact studies are out there eg Masters' and PhD theses and
other research? What do these indicate about differences between
contexts, women from different backgrounds and different types of
organisation/service delivery?
Discussion should have the title: Gender impact + any subtitle

Please do help us to build up these resources - files, links,
experience, ideas. There is I know a lot of information out there.
Over the summer we can then use this to improve the website as a
lobbying and advocacy tool, as well as an information resource.

Please also invite your colleagues to join and contribute.

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Linda and the WEMAN team.


> April: focus on gender/empowerment concepts, indicators and how
> these can be integrated into social ratings and social performance
> management. Related to this we would want to collate as many impact
> studies, and also quantitative, qualitative and participatory
> research formats as possible.

--- In genfinance@yahoogroups.com, "Linda Mayoux" <l.mayoux@...>
wrote:
>
> Dear friends,
>
> The dates and venue of the Asia-Pacific MicroCredit Summit have now
> been confirmed. And we anticipate that the gender component will be
> much as earlier planned. For details and programme see
> http://www.microcreditsummit.org
>
> STARTING 7th April in preparation for this - and also as a gender
> mainstreaming process in itself, and in preparation for the other
> Summits and fora - we are planning a focused discussion over the
next
> few months to take the various pending debates further.
>
> Exact content of the debate is still to be finalised, and we would
> very much welcome your input and suggestions. But we are currently
> thinking something like the following:
>
> April: focus on gender/empowerment concepts, indicators and how
> these can be integrated into social ratings and social performance
> management. Related to this we would want to collate as many impact
> studies, and also quantitative, qualitative and participatory
> research formats as possible.
>
> May: Products and market research: which particular products have
> been successful in promoting access and empowerment, in which
> contexts. How can these be identified. How do we get gender into
> market research to design not just products which women can be
> persuaded to buy, but ones which really benefit and empower them.
>
> June: Empowerment strategies - group and mobilisation strategies,
> capacity-building, financial literacy. What has been your
experience?
> What innovations are out there? Do they work?
>
> July: Regulatory issues - implications of regulatory changes for
> empowerment models. Integrating gender in Consumer protection and
> Corporate Social Responsibility debates, and promoting this in the
MF
> and banking sector. Evidence of negative/positive impacts of bank
> expansion and commercialisation.
>
> August then there will be a recap from the APR Summit, and we see
> where to go from there.
>
> PLEASE CAN YOU LET US KNOW whether there are any other burning
> issues you think we should address.
>
> PLEASE INVITE MORE FRIENDS if you know people who could really
help
> us take these debates forward please invite them to join.
>
> PLEASE put up files and new folders for resources you think would
be
> useful.
>
> A number of regional consultants funded by Oxfam Novib will be
> assisting in facilitating this process, currently
>
> Namrata Sharma from Nepal
> Sara Pait from Peru
> Malena de Montis from Nicaragua.
>
> We anticipate African consultants will also be appointed shortly.
>
> But we are hoping this will be a fully participatory and member-
owned
> discussion. So everyone should feel free to contribute, put up
files
> and information. After APRMS these resources will then be filtered
> and put on an updated genfinance website to feed into the next
> process. Selected resources would also be put on CD for circulation
> at APRMS.
>
> Looking forward to hearing from you,
>
> Linda
>