Cambodia Young Women Empowerment Network (CYWEN)

CYWEN was formed in late 2010 and is lead by 30 Cambodian activists who believe in the power and potential in the Cambodian women. This women's rights organization is dedicated to strengthening the voice, visibility, and collective power of women in their country through leadership training and taking action. 

Their vision is to give women the resources they need full of self-confidence, ability, and value to participate in the decision making process for the country alongside men. 

Their goals are:

• To build up self confidence of young women by providing them with the opportunities and encouragement to learn for their own needs.
• To assist pushing young women to receive knowledge, skills, and experiences from their own society.
• To give opportunity to young women to show their abilities effectively alongside men in social and political decision making settings. 

One Day One Voice: 

End Violence Against Women Human Rights Defenders

November 2014

This most recent event took place at the Khmer Youth Association office in Phnom Penh. CYWEN invited activists to speak on the current issues Cambodian women face, including land rights, LGBT rights, domestic workers' rights, and garment workers' rights. A total of 145 men and women came together to learn, discuss, and reflect on issues in the provided safe space and together identified many roots and to issues and how to work towards improvement. Together, they developed a statement letter to be shared at the National Human Rights Day. 

"I am very satisfied to create this safe space for our young women to deeply learn and discuss these issues. We are calling for them to stop all forms of violence against women. We are women, we are strong, and can change this situation." 
                                                                        - Yit Sophorn, Chair Coordinator of CYWEN 

This was a progressive event for women raised on Khmer culture where the value is placed highly on men and not women. Although one of the poorest countries in the world currently, Cambodia, too, is going through changes to shy away from a patriarchal system and begin to create a culture based on equal opportunity and peace. 

Visit the official blog here.

Women's Empowerment Initiative - Sierra Leone

OneVillage Partners launched their new Women's Empowerment Initiative on July 30th, 2013. Over a three year period between 2013 - 2015, they will be dedicated to give women and girls a greater voice in six rural villages in Eastern Sierra Leone.

Initiative goals (taken from their website here):

• Empower women to identify opportunities for change
• Create a critical shift in community perception that empowers women to openly acknowledge the barriers they face
• Increase their confidence and skills to make those opportunities a reality

Four ways to help women and girls accomplish these goals: 

1. Women's Self Help Groups
Sponsor Reflect circles to encourage dialogue, critical thinking, self-analysis, and personal & group goal setting. Help women understand their situations and what they can do to develop or improve through visuals and diagrams, aside from dialogue.

2. Women's Business Development
In addition to OneVillage Partners' microloan program in Sierra Leone already in place, the new initiative will also incorporate basic training to women on how to run a business so they can be self-sufficient. This includes training in numeracy, basic budgeting, and small business planning, as well as aiding in identifying opportunities for market growth in order to maximize future financial benefits. It's crucial to teach these skills to these women, who rarely have elementary level education and no background knowledge of loans or investments.

3. Targeted Health Trainings
Provide education on family planning options, infant care, and maternal health to reduce the risk of childbirth deaths in mothers and infant/toddler fatalities. Training and education plans will be tailored to fit the specific needs and knowledge of the different villages.

4. Family Savings for Girls to Attend School
In partnership with Village Savings and Loans Associations, OneVillage Partners will aid in education and help around families saving money to have daughters attend school. This is crucial in raising coming generations of empower girls and young women, who will carry on the strengths of women in their regions in the future. Now is the time to invest in these girls' educations and give them the power and the voice to speak up and create change from within.