Building Better Futures International works by empowering communities to help themselves. Central to this is the creation and facilitation of self-help groups among village women and graduates from our programmes.
Self-help groups enable women better to support each other. There are many benefits to this, foremost of which is building economic security.
Our programme graduates have previously been in precarious, exploitative employment or insecure and dangerous subsistence work. Being able to work together builds women’s local economic knowledge and power, enabling them to set prices for piece-work outsourced from factories or operate as co-operatives.
The new Training and Education Centre (a current fundraising drive) will act as a permanent, safe space for women to meet, build confidence, exchange skills and information, and address problems collectively. Subject to significant inequalities, this mutual action is an essential foundation if women and families are to sustain better futures.
While we build trust between women, we also benefit from their insights, enabling us to understand their emerging needs and concerns so together we can devise projects to continue supporting their development long into the future.
