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The Answer May Lie in Indonesia   
Jan. 25, 2011 – This week in snowy Switzerland, thousands of government leaders, NGO professionals, entrepreneurs, academics and more, have gathered at the World Economic Forum. Amidst the snow and ski resorts, they will discuss best practices and steps moving forward on how to create new models to improve the current economic climate. While solutions to the world’s economic crisis are on everyone’s mind in Switzerland, on the other side of the world, in hot and balmy Indonesia, Maria (Mia) Un (pictured right), a CEDPA alumni from the Global Women in Management (GWIM) program is changing her local economy with the skills she learned in the workshop. Mia was used to being treated differently from others, and that gave her the determination to prove to everyone that she was not only capable of succeeding, but she could help others do it as well. She joined the Indonesian Association of Women with Disabilities (IAWD), and eventually became chairwoman. When she saw the opportunity for the GWIM workshop, she applied, hoping to get some tools out of the program. Much to her surprise, the program transformed her life. Mia had spent her life trying to change the way other people thought of her, but the workshop, for the first time in her life, made her change how she thought of herself. From the first day, she was accepted and respected as a leader, no different from any other participant in the room.
Used to being ostracized, the supportive workshop environment gave Mia the opportunity to reflect. She realized that she put limits on herself as a leader, and she was not the only one. Her fellow participants put limits on themselves, as well. From that point forward, Mia decided that she was not an outsider in the group, and she began to absorb all of the leadership and management tools and skills the workshop offered. After the month-long training, self-confident and enthusiastic, Mia returned to her organization and began putting her new skills and abilities into action. Her organization worked with women with disabilities to help build their economic capacity, so Mia began looking for potential resources. Mia saw an opportunity where others saw weeds. Her community was overrun by eceng gondok (water hyacinth), a plant whose only purpose seemed to be to block the water supply, causing flooding. With the fundraising skills she learned in the workshop, Mia applied for one of the small grants CEDPA offered to its alumni. Her project was one of the few awarded.
With the funds, Mia’s organization instituted a training program for association members to make marketable products out of the eceng gondok. Focusing on producing handicrafts such as wallets, shoes, slippers and purses, the trained members began marketing their products. Mia’s program exceeded all expectations. The group is now selling their slippers to international hotels, the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and souvenir shops in Makassar. A hotel in the Netherlands has already ordered 1,000 slippers to be sold next year. The project is now self-sustaining and continues to market their products to potential buyers. As the discussions at the World Economic Forum go on in Switzerland, participants must remember that women are economic powerhouses that are struggling to be part of the grid in most of the world. We hope that stories like Mia’s will help illustrate how empowering one woman can transform the economy of many. Read more about CEDPA’s training programs. The Global Women in Management Program is generously funded through ExxonMobil’s Women’s Economic Opportunity Initiative. |
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