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Gender and Social Capital
Saheli Women's Group
The Barrow Cadbury Trust has funded women’s organisations both internationally and in the UK. Our work spans lobby groups, national awareness programmes and grassroots organisations.
Our central aim is to build avenues of collaboration between external agencies (NGOs, governments or foundations) and local women’s organisations. Widespread recognition of the importance of women’s activities, networks and associations has not translated into practical support. Female networks tend to command fewer economic resources and rely on time and goodwill eked out of women’s busy lives, rather than on paid employees. Yet women still find themselves excluded from the kinds of networks that might bring them economic and political power. We are therefore committed to promoting approaches that help women become politically engaged.
In 2005, gender and social capital was the focus of our Global Exchange Forum. The conference brought together over 80 participants, including representatives from governments, civil society, the media, business and the academic world, across Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. The forum sought to advance understanding of how women’s social capital can reduce poverty, inequality and injustice, and how women can make an impact on political and policy processes.
Barrow Cadbury Trust have sought to build on the opportunities opened up through the Forum, by enabling groups to link up and share best practice. We have facilitated a partnership between a West Midlands based group, Women Acting in Today’s Society (WAITS) and CAMFED International (Campaign for Female Education) in Sub-Saharan Africa. WAITS is a charity which helps women establish community based groups and projects, through workshops delivered in local communities. CAMFED is an organisation working to promote girls’ education in the poorest rural areas of Sub- Saharan Africa, through international campaigning, advising international bodies and supporting a generation of young female activists and campaigners.
