IVLP Impact Awards Alumni Discussion Series: Women’s Empowerment

WATCH THE RECORDING HERE

Through the IVLP Impact Awards Initiative, recent alumni of the International Visitor Leadership Program administer community impact projects that bring the experiences of their exchange program home to their communities and promote innovative solutions to shared global challenges. 

On Wednesday December 6, 2023, Meridian International Center hosted a virtual panel of IVLP Impact Awardees with projects that are training women in their communities to achieve political, social and economic inclusion. The panel was moderated by Facia Boyenoh Harris (Liberia) and featured panelists Haroun Yasser Sangaré (Burkina Faso), Calos Pástor (Ecuador) and Damayanthi Ramalingam (Sri Lanka). The Awardees discussed their IVLP Impact Awards projects, how their IVLP exchange program experience influenced their ideas and work, and the ways they are engaging and empowering women in their communities. 

Some of the highlights included:

1. Women's empowerment leads to community empowerment

Each panelist spoke about their own local context, and the needs of the local women that their projects are responding to and what empowerment means to each of them. Facia Boyenoh Harris explained her project as “We're focusing on elections. And how do we highlight the issue of violence against women in elections from the point [of view] that it is not happening in isolation; it’s a systematic thing that is happening....So women’s empowerment in the context of the project that we're working on was to ensure that women have sufficient information that they could make informed choices on how to participate in the electoral processes, and how to be able to recognize violence that is perpetrated against them, and what actions that they'd be able to take. So, women’s empowerment, for me...is a holistic thing." Carlos Pástor also spoke about the issue of violence against women, through an interpreter, saying "this project, its aim was to break that vicious cycle of violence” which was addressed by equipping women with the technological and leadership skills to become independent.

Damayanthi Ramalingam, like Carlos, is focusing on providing women with the technological skills to succeed in the male-dominated cybersecurity field in Sri Lanka. “Technology...studies were considered as a taboo for a woman. So, I want to break that barrier,” she continued, saying, "when it comes to empowerment...if we can guide a person with proper tools and ways to access the knowledge, the proper education...One can kind of feel that [they’re] empowered." Haroun Yasser Sangaré shared a saying from Burkina Faso: 'When you save the women, you save the world' and talked about how this is the lens through which he conceptualized his project. His focus is on giving women the tools for financial independence through workshops on biofertilizer (to increase their agricultural earnings) as well as financial literacy. Haroun shared that "giving tools, giving knowledge and shifting the mindset of the women is one of the best things we can do, because they are the ones, in our context, who take care of the education of the future generation...So they have a very big role."

2. Cultivating ideas and innovations from IVLP

Damayanthi was a participant in the IVLP project Women and Entrepreneurship II, organized by the U.S. Department of State and IIE, and she reflected that “[IVLP] was a golden opportunity. I would say I was able to witness so many initiatives and empowerment programs... And I was really excited to see the opportunities available for women.” Facia and Haroun both had projects organized by Meridian, Facia was a recipient of the International Women of Courage Award, and Haroun was a participant in Youth and Civic Engagement: Promoting Civil Society and Respect for the Rule of Law. Carlos' IVLP project, Higher Education in the United States: Innovation and Opportunities for Partnership, was organized by World Learning. Damayanthi expressed appreciation for the learning opportunities provided by the IVLP, noting "I was very much impressed about the Center for Women['s] Entrepreneurship...[in] Texas." and added how this inspired her to share these newfound insights with her community back in Sri Lanka. 

3. Beyond the IVLP Impact Awards: inspiration for future work

The panelists each spoke about how implementing their IVLP Impact Awards project has inspired them to continue with similar projects in the future. Damayanthi talked about the mindset shift that will enable future growth for her participants, “Whenever I do this program for the woman…[I’m] creating this broad way of thinking…which will make them embrace lot[s] of changes in their future life.” Carlos also reflected that this project has opened his eyes to a collective of people with shared goals, noting, “We have seen that we’re not alone, we have seen that we have a network, that there are these partnerships, and we can get inspired by them.” Facia echoed this sentiment, and shared, “One of my greatest inspirations is how much knowledge we have out there in the communities. People have solutions. It’s just about coming together and putting all of the different thoughts and ideas together…and [ask] how [we will] advocate for…a change that we want.” Facia continued, saying, “I’m more inspired because I’ve learned so much that it makes me want to do more.”

4. Involving men in the mission to empower women

As is evident by the two men on the panel, women's empowerment is a collective project requiring the efforts of all people, not just women, in order to succeed. Damayanthi spoke about the ways she included men in her project as well, noting the importance of raising this issue so that it becomes a priority for men as well, specifically young men. Facia agreed, explaining that, “We assume that men [are] mostly the perpetrator[s] of the violence against women and girls, so we bring them in the space to be able to talk about the issues together and find solutions together.” She summed up the sentiment well when she said, “We cannot solve the issue of women['s] empowerment [by] leaving men out [when they have] the understanding…to [empower] women.”

"[IVLP] was a golden opportunity. I would say I was able to witness so many initiatives and empowerment programs... And I was really excited to see the opportunities available for women." - Damayanthi Ramalingam

 

If you have any questions, please reach out to the IVLP Impact Awards Team at IVLPImpactAwards@meridian.org.

If interested in attending more IVLP Impact Award events click here.