July – December 2014 - The Womanity Foundation

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1. WHAT IS “WOMENCHANGEMAKERS”?
WomenChangeMakers (WCM) is a Fellowship program set up in 2010 and launched in 2011 by the
Womanity Foundation for leading social entrepreneurs addressing women’s role in society. The
WCM model was inspired by Ashoka’s worldwide experience in driving progress through social
entrepreneurs. Its uniqueness resides in its focus on social entrepreneurs who work for women’s
empowerment and are ready to go to scale after having successfully tested their model, as well as
in its capacity to mobilize professional support for its Fellows, largely from the corporate sector.
WCM awards its Fellows three years of active support towards organizational capacity-building, as well as
lifetime access to the WCM network as Alumni. The Fellowship provides access to professional support in
identified key areas of collaboration to help its Fellows’ organizations successfully scale up and/or replicate
their venture, the ultimate goal being to increase their contribution towards lasting social progress.
Additionally, WCM’s staff also assists the Fellows in identifying partnerships and funding opportunities.
The program is currently in its fourth year of implementation. The first Fellows were selected in
Brazil in August 2011 and in India in April 2012, while the second generation of Fellows was
selected in Brazil in December 2013 and India in August 2013. The program continues to provide
support for the first- and second-generation Fellows, taking into account their specific features,
stages of development and contexts. In 2015, the first-generation Fellows will complete the program
and graduate to become WCM Alumni, while another round of the selection process has been
slated to choose the third-generation Fellows, both in India and Brazil.
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1.1 WCM SUPPORT
Support in the form of consultancies, training and other professional expert services is delivered by
WCM’s professional partners to each of WCM’s Fellows, in areas such as the following:
Business management ― Development and support for the implementation of strategies
and action plans for growth; development of funding models, etc.
Information and communication technologies ― Data, information and knowledge
management; improvement of operational processes with IT solutions.
Human resources ― Team building; management skills; capacity building; leadership training;
succession planning; improved HR practices.
Communication and PR ― Public relations; marketing; internal and external communication
strategies.
Legal support ― Legal audits; review of procedures; legal structure; ad-hoc legal assistance;
advice on compliance; support for better adherence to policies and regulations. per law, etc.
Monitoring, evaluation and reporting ― Targeted at qualitative impact; yardsticks of
success; addressing challenges for improving future processes; support in M&E activities.
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2. WHO ARE THE FELLOWS, WHAT ARE THEIR SOCIAL MISSIONS,
AND HOW ARE THEY ESCALATING THEIR IMPACT?
So far, WCM has worked with two generations of Fellows. The first-generation Fellows are Alice
Freitas, from Rede Asta (Brazil), and Safeena Husain, from Educate Girls (India). The second
generation includes Maria Beatriz “Bia” Kern, from Mulher em Construção; Panmela Castro, from
Rede Nami (Brazil); Chandra Shekhar Gosh, from Bandhan Konnagar (India); and Neelam Chhiber,
from Industree Foundation (India). This section describes in detail their projects and actions, and
the activities carried out under WCM’s Fellowship.
2.1 FIRST-GENERATION FELLOWS
Rede Asta
Alice Freitas, the Founder and Executive Director of Rede
Asta in Brazil, was selected as a WCM Fellow in Brazil in
August 2011. The Asta Institute was founded in 2005 with the
mission to contribute to the reduction of social inequality in
Brazil. Rede Asta is a social business that helps strengthen
production companies led by women artisans from the base of
the pyramid and provides them with access to market,
knowledge and networking. It builds bridges between microcompanies and the market by stimulating the productive chain;
raises consumer awareness about inclusive production; and
spreads the concepts of fair trade and a solidarity-based
economy with the vision of making the consumer a tool for
social and economic inclusion.
 HOW IS REDE ASTA ESCALATING ITS IMPACT?
In 2014, Rede Asta opened a new store in Ipanema (Rio de Janeiro), a prime commercial
location. This will help Asta build its brand and reputation in the city, and reach a wider
customer base. Also, Asta’s sales grew 9% in 2014, while the Brazilian economy grew only
0.6%; there was a 31% increase in the number of production groups; and the organization
generated BRL 512,000 in income for production groups against BRL 436,000 in 2013
(17%).
Over the past six months, Rede Asta has focused on increasing sales. The nearly 9% increase achieved in
sales by its production groups in 2014 was limited due to the country’s economic stagnation.
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As a way to spur the growth of its sales, Rede Asta launched a project with APEX Brazil (The Brazilian Trade
and Investment Promotion Agency) in 2014. APEX Brazil, which supports Brazilian brands to sell in the
international markets, is assisting Rede Asta in becoming an exporter. The first successful initiative consisted
in offering 2000 cushions made by Rede Asta to international buyers during the World Cup. Now, APEX
Brazil will contribute its strategy, knowledge and connections to get Rede Asta’s products export-ready, a
welcome input in the context of the deteriorating Brazilian economy.
Moreover, in the context of its collaboration with Coca Cola, Rede Asta’s designers created an exclusive
collection using recycled materials working with 12 production groups. These products were marketed
through wider sales channels, such as Rede Asta’s website and online catalogue.
The business “Asta for Companies” got two very important orders from L’Oréal and L’Occitane (10,000 bags
that were to be given to customers who bought products amounting to over BRL 250,000 in their stores in
Brazil). The bags were produced by more than one production group at once. These orders gave Rede Asta
the knowledge and experience to start the production network, i.e. the collaboration among several groups of
artisans on a single project.
 HOW DOES WCM DRIVE CHANGE THROUGH REDE ASTA?
Priority areas for technical assistance offered by WCM’s Program
Partners in support of Rede Asta’s growth:
Business management - Marketing & Sales (Partner: Accenture)
Accenture supported Rede Asta based on the initial support strategy and
engagement plan. In 2014, ADP diagnosed the organization and its main technological
needs, and made recommendations regarding the best IT solutions for supporting data
management and boosting its operations.
Chanel Brazil, via Chanel Paris, is reviewing Rede Asta’s design, branding and
marketing, providing expert advice in this field.
Communication and PR (Partner: Francesca Versace)
Francesca Versace designed an exclusive line of new products made by Rede Asta
artisans, which had great impact in terms of media coverage and brand value.
Human Resources (Partner: Egon Zehnder International)
WCM continues to work with Maitée Camargo at Egon Zehnder International (EZI) to
offer support in recruitment and management. Maitée Camargo has worked pro bono
with Rede Asta, delivering a Human Resources Report. Maitée Camargo has also held a
workshop to design with Rede Asta a model to monitor and evaluate the team, and to
develop profiles for job positions.
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Apart from the technical support received from Program Partners, WCM’s staff has
created networking, partnership and funding opportunities with allied organizations:

WCM has facilitated a conversation between Rede Asta and Roberto Patriarca, from the UBS Bank in
Brazil. Together, they will work on a volunteer program and have already organized a Christmas Bazar
that sold goods amounting to BRL 1,500 in one day, greatly boosting sales and brand knowledge.

Chanel Foundation has extended the grant over the next year to support Rede Asta’s growth.
Educate Girls
Safeena Husain is the first WCM Fellow from India, having
been selected in April 2012. She is the Founder and Executive
Director of Educate Girls. Founded in 2005, Educate Girls (EG)
has developed a comprehensive model for school reform that
leverages existing resources from the government, villages and
schools, creating community ownership for school reform and
girl child education. The program ensures that local
governments, teachers, parents, and girl students themselves
become active participants in the process, and operate
independently in school governance, even post EG’s program
exit. EG is actively building a cadre of village-based youth
leaders, who are called Team Ballika, to work as champions for girls' education and catalysts for school
reform. Team Ballika work within schools as well as in village communities, spreading awareness on girl
child education to boost enrolment, retention, and learning outcomes for all girls.
 HOW IS EG ESCALATING ITS IMPACT?
Currently, EG has programmatic presence (focusing on enrolment, girl retention and
children’s learning outcomes) in six critical gender-gap districts in Rajasthan, i.e. Pali, Jalore,
Sirohi, Ajmer, Bundi and Rajsamand. EG is well on its way to achieving its target of
expanding into 15 gender gap districts by 2018, thereby impacting 4 million children. During
2014, EG's expansion into three new districts added another half million children to the
program, raising its cumulative beneficiary base to 1.1 million.
In 2014, EG incorporated mobile tracking as part of its impact assessment. Consequently, all villages and
schools included in its program intervention have been geo-tagged, helping EG with improved data
collection and analysis, and, consequently, better monitoring and evaluation.
Also during 2014, EG incorporated Creative Learning & Teaching (CLT), an activity-based pedagogy
deployed in schools as part of its endeavor to improve learning outcomes in children, for over 12 weeks in
classrooms. EG has decided to extend CLT deployment to 24 weeks as from 2015.
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Finally, during 2014, Safeena and EG have received the USAID Millennium Alliance Award (USD 170,000),
the Stars Impact Award (USD 120,000), and the WISE Award (USD 20,000).
 HOW DOES WCM DRIVE CHANGE THROUGH EG?
Through WCM, certain areas have been prioritized to support the
growth of Educate Girls:
Here is an overview of WCM India’s professional partners’ engagement with EG from
July to December 2014, which allows the organization to consolidate its main activities,
scale the intervention model and organize internal processes:
Business management, communication & outreach (Partner: APCO Worldwide)
Educate Girls - APCO Worldwide (a communication resource agency)’s engagement
to produce a study on government partnership opportunities for EG continues to
help EG strategize an approach for viable partnerships, both for program expansion
and for alliances in current program areas. Additionally, APCO has helped EG develop
its staff capacity towards government-based research, identifying through secondary
research key programs within the Indian government, which the organization could seek
to partner with, as well as ways to approach these.
Human resources (Partner: Mercuri Urval)
Mercuri Urval continues its engagement with EG to develop the organization’s human
resources (HR) capacities and processes. Mercuri Urval has agreed to consolidate
an HR management manual for EG describing in detail team management, core values
and guiding principles for employees. Also, Mercuri Urval has helped EG update its
organizational structure with clarification on team members’ roles, responsibilities and
span of control.
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2.2 SECOND-GENERATION FELLOWS
2.2.1 BRAZIL
Mulher em Construção
Maria Beatriz (Bia) Kern, Founder and Director of Mulher em
Construção (Woman in Construction, MEC), in Canoas, Rio
Grande do Sul, was selected as a WCM Fellow in December 2013
for her innovative work in empowering women, and for helping
them improve their status within their community. MEC has trained
over 5,000 low-income and disadvantaged women in Southern
Brazil, in construction skills ― masonry, tile-laying, painting,
electrical installations, plumbing, etc. ― and in home repairs, thus
radically increasing their employability and revenues.
 HOW IS MEC ESCALATING ITS IMPACT?
MEC has enrolled 400 women in last semester’s courses. Bia Kern estimates that 4,000 people
have directly benefited from MEC’s work since 2013. The organization seeks to serve at least
2,000 women per year through its courses. Today, MEC has presence in all of the Metropolitan
Area and the coast. Within the next three years, the organization intends to train 2,000 women
per year in several Brazilian states, and help at least 40% of their trained graduates find stable
employment in the construction sector, and 28% pursue entrepreneurial initiatives.
 HOW DOES WCM DRIVE CHANGE THROUGH MULHER EM CONTRUCÃO?
Priority areas for technical assistance offered by WCM’s Program
Partners in order to support MEC’s growth:
Business management - Marketing & Sales (Partner: Independent Consultants:
Daniela Plesnik and Reza Shahcheraghi)
Daniela Plesnik, a collaborator of Deloitte, has been mentoring and assisting Bia Kern.
She has been coaching Bia Kern to gain a better understanding of the value of her
organization’s work, the importance to better structure the organization, and the ways to
take a more pro-active approach towards its core business. Moreover, WCM is hiring a
top business and strategic consultant, Reza Shahcheraghi (a former McKinsey
consultant) to develop a plan to expand and strengthen the organization.
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Legal support (Partner: Thomson Reuters Foundation’s legal partners in Brazil)
WCM has helped MEC submit a successful membership application to the Thomson
Reuters Foundation. The application approval means that MEC will receive support in
the form of free legal counseling during its whole expansion process and beyond.
Monitoring, evaluation and reporting (Partner: ZIGLA and St. Gallen University)
After supporting MEC to enhance its monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system, which has
helped the organization improve the tools designed to measure MEC’s impact, ZIGLA’s
team is installing technological solutions to track a set of M&E indicators with a
customers’ relationship system (CRM, Salesforce). This represents a huge stride for MEC
in terms of consolidating all of its impact data in a single place, which will soon enable the
organization to discuss its impact with accuracy.
In order to consolidate the M&E support area, WCM has facilitated a partnership with St.
Gallen University, under which a researcher has been working with MEC for two months
to analyze the socio-economic impact of MEC’s work. The collaboration will be
completed in May 2015. One of its aims is to show how gender diversity improves a
construction site, which will allow MEC to make a strong case for its program.
Apart from the technical support provided by Program Partners, WCM’s staff has
created networking, partnership and funding opportunities with allied organizations
for MEC:

Through a WCM-facilitated connection, MEC had a USD 10,000 project approved by the Brazil
Foundation (December 2014) to train 100 women in construction work in Rio Grande do Sul.
Rede Nami
Panmela Castro is the Founder and President of Nami
Rede Feminista de Arte Urbana in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil and became a WCM Fellow in December 2013.
Panmela’s organization, Rede Nami, is a network of
urban female artists based in Rio de Janeiro that
addresses gender inequality through public art, graffiti
campaigns and workshops. Rede Nami organizes
workshops throughout Brazil, teaching about violence
against women and girls, and instructing participants in
the art of graffiti as a tool for advocacy. Rede Nami also
teaches graffiti to talented young women, offering them
professional opportunities in this area, which used to be
dominated by men. Rede Nami organizes its activities
into an urban arts study group with 180 members, focused on urban arts and intellectual experience
sharing.
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 HOW IS REDE NAMI ESCALATING ITS IMPACT?
Through its workshops, Rede Nami trained 1,000 teenagers between 14 and 19 years old
in 2014 to take action and express their opinions as regards gender issues. Furthermore,
during the second semester, Rede Nami exhibited the art works created during the training,
and reached 50 women with a graffiti workshop in the context of the Pequim+20 initiative.
 HOW DOES WCM DRIVE CHANGE THROUGH REDE NAMI?
Priority support areas for technical assistance offered by WCM’s
Program Partners in order to support REDE NAMI’s growth:
Business management - Marketing & Sales (Partner: Reza Shahcheraghi,
Independent Consultant)
Rede Nami is working with a former McKinsey consultant, Reza Shahcheraghi, to
develop its business model and strategy in order to consolidate the organization. The
objective of this intensive consultancy is to design a long-term strategy to make Rede
Nami sustainable over time, strengthening Rede Nami’s purpose and impact.
Apart from the technical support provided by Program Partners, WCM’s staff has
created networking, partnership and funding opportunities with allied organizations
for Rede Nami:

As a result of the WCM Partners’ meeting (celebrated in São Paulo in September 2014), the Ford
Foundation has cleared USD 100,000 for a project called “Afrografiteiras”, whereby Rede Nami will
train and support 30 young black women to express and promote women’s empowerment.

As part of the WCM program, Womanity Foundation has funded a trip to Miami for Panmela Castro to
stay with Reza Shahcheraghi during Art Basel Miami, the prime Biennial contemporary art fair, for
Panmela to cultivate professional connections and for Reza to gain a better understanding of the art
market.
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2.2.2 INDIA
Bandhan Konnagar
Chandra Shekhar Ghosh is the Founder and Mentor of
Bandhan Konnagar, and became a WCM Fellow in 2013. CS
Ghosh founded Bandhan Konnagar in 2005, with the dual
objective of poverty alleviation and women’s empowerment.
Bandhan Konnagar, the non-profit arm of the country’s biggest
microfinance organization, Bandhan Financial Services Pvt. Ltd.,
aims at fostering deeper systemic development by focusing on
ultra-poor women (or the ‘hardcore poor’, such as destitute or
homeless women), who fall outside the lending net of most
microfinance institutions (MFIs). Through its ‘credit plus
approach’, it brings them on par with those to whom MFIs and
banks will give credit. Bandhan Konnagar lends muscle to women’s financial advancement through
community-based programs targeted at education, health, and livelihoods.
 HOW IS BANDHAN KONNAGAR ESCALATING ITS IMPACT?
Through the Targeting Hardcore Poor Program, Bandhan Konnagar has been serving 5,880
additional beneficiaries in the last six months, raising its cumulative beneficiary number to
25,547 poor and marginalized families as of December 2014. This program focuses
exclusively on destitute women, but the benefits are reaped by whole families, since the
program is related to livelihood. On the other hand, through its Market Linkage program
“Bandhan Creations”, Bandhan Konnagar has enabled 996 artisans―mostly women―to attain
a sustainable livelihood in five states. Additionally, Bandhan Konnagar has launched other
programs that target both women and their families (including boys and men), which has
enhanced Bandhan Konnagar’s cumulative reach and impact.
In the last six months, Bandhan Konnagar has started scaling up the program in other Indian states in
alliance with various implementing partners and with financial support from organizations such as USAID
and World Vision. Bandhan Konnagar is also exploring new partnership opportunities to scale up its
development interventions in livelihoods, education and health in new regions.
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 HOW DOES WCM DRIVE CHANGE THROUGH BANDHAN KONNAGAR?
Through WCM, certain areas have been prioritized to support Bandhan
Konnagar’s growth:
Information and communication technologies (Partner: Peocit Technologies)
Peocit Technologies’ engagement aims at improving organizational processes through
the use of technology. Peocit Technologies has conducted an Information Technology
(IT) needs assessment for Bandhan Konnagar to review its preparedness to roll out a
Management Information System and Financial Services Products (MIS/FIS)
Solution in order to improve its data management and monitoring and evaluation
processes for all of its programs. This engagement is being executed over two phases.
The first phase, now completed, focused on the needs assessment of data flow
management and reporting. The second stage, underway and to be completed by early
2015, includes building a customized MIS/FIS solution and implementing it at
headquarter level. The same process could thereafter be extended to regional and
branch offices, and eventually to the field staff.
Human Resources - Capacity Building (Partner: Oak Foundation)
One of the key WCM-supported interventions with Bandhan Konnagar has been to help it
improve the gender perspective within its programs in addition to its work regarding
women empowerment. As a first step, WCM is working with Bandhan Konnagar to
sensitize the organization’s workforce towards the importance of strengthening the
gender perspective of its development programs. To that end, WCM and the Oak
Foundation held a half-day workshop on gender perspective with Bandhan Konnagar’s
leadership team at its office in Kolkata, on July 18, 2014. Moving forward, WCM is
networking with other experts and organizations working on gender equality, so that more
such capacity building sessions may be planned with Bandhan’s team at large. Within the
next few months, several workshops and interactions are expected to be executed, that
will lead to the development of a sensitized taskforce within Bandhan Konnagar that can
improve its program design and monitoring processes.
Industree Foundation
Neelam Chhiber is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of
Industree Foundation, based out of Bangalore, India. Neelam cofounded the for-profit Industree Crafts Private Limited (ICPL) in
1994, which was set up as a social business to improve market
access for the artisans, where the profits generated are ploughed
back into production and the skilling of artisans. The non-profit
arm, Industree Foundation, was established in August 2000 to
focus on the organization’s work with rural producers, in the area
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of capacity building, design interventions, as well as technical assistance in producer-based enterprise
development. Initially, the key focus was on the natural fiber sector; later, however, IF’s mandate broadened
to include other crafts as well. IF has also sought to build up the production base and enable artisans to
become owners of their enterprises.
 HOW IS INDUSTREE FOUNDATION ESCALATING ITS IMPACT?
IF’s main partner is the Office of the Development Commissioner - Handicrafts, through
which it has already mobilized 7,500 artisans in 10 states across India and is hoping to
reach 200,000 craftspeople within the next five years. Industree Crafts Private Limited
(ICPL)’s brand Mother Earth aims to open 20 more stores in the next three years and
reach yearly sales amounting to INR 100 crores. Industree/Mother Earth is an important
partner in Ikea's prestigious Next Generation project, whose aim is to bring impact
enterprises into its global value chain. Industree Foundation has aligned its mission to
support Mother Earth’s scaling plans and has incubated Industree Skill Transform Pvt Ltd,
with National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) partnership to align with Government
of India’s focus on skill development so that a wider base of potential producers may be
built. IF is also planning a multi-state expansion over the next 3-4 years to boost its
capacity-building mission.
During the second semester of 2014, Industree Foundation has grown its partnership with IKEA. The
visibility created as a result has increased export orders within the social business ICPL. Moreover, it has
increased acceptance of lean production and bottom-up management in both Ekta and Greenkraft, two
producer companies incubated by Industree Foundation. Both of these producer companies are now the
sister concerns of Industree Craft Private Ltd.
Another key advancement to be highlighted is that, during the last six months, Industree Foundation has
been working hard on its financial sustainability. Industree Foundation’s revenue model has been to
generate funds from consulting assignments. Now, however, the foundation is considering the possibility
to undertake funded projects related to livelihood to work with the artisan clusters. This approach
demands a strong funding strategy and pipeline, which the organization is currently developing. Industree
Foundation is now organizing its core activities under the key verticals of skill development, producerowned enterprise development, and incubation, as well as advocating for the artisan sector to gain
recognition as a creative manufacturing industry. In this process, Industree Foundation is building
networks, partnerships and a platform to create an enabling ecosystem (called Impact Edge) for the
artisan sector.
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 HOW DOES WCM DRIVE CHANGE THROUGH INDUSTREE FOUNDATION?
Through WCM, certain areas have been prioritized to support IF’s growth:
Funding model and strategy (Partner: Ernst & Young (E&Y))
E&Y’s engagement continues to provide support for IF in the development of a viable funding
model and strategy aimed at enhancing its sustainability. Over the last six months, WCM’s
Fellowship has supported IF and E&Y’s partnership to help achieve IF’s scaling goals of
skilling the artisans. E&Y’s partnership with IF has been planned to take place over three
phases. The first phase is aimed at conducting an operational analysis of IF, which will include
defining the current operating model, a gap analysis and a SWOT analysis (strengthsweaknesses-opportunities-threats). During the second and third phases of the engagement,
scheduled for 2015, E&Y will also elaborate guidelines for a funding strategy and help build a
strong funding pipeline.
Human resources (Partner: Mercuri Urval)
Mercuri Urval has helped IF with a visioning exercise to clarify IF’s vision, mission and
objectives. Furthermore, Mercuri Urval has also carried out a workshop with all of IF’s key
internal stakeholders to guide team members in their expected roles and responsibilities
so as to facilitate smooth co-working. Additionally, E&Y will be involving Mercuri Urval in
the process of developing a viable funding strategy, since HR is a key part of IF’s business
model.
The following chart shows how WCM integrates first- and second-generation WCM Fellows’ Program
Partners’ support with the search for opportunities and networking in order for all Fellows to escalate their
growth in the mid and long term:
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Chart 1: WCM’s intervention with first- and second-generation Fellows – Actions from July and December 2014 and outcomes of their WCM fellowship
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3. WHAT IS WCM’S VALUE?
During the last six months, from July to December 2014, the program had consolidated a network of 14
active Program Partners to offer technical support for its six Fellows, and created networking and financing
opportunities through allied organizations. This model allows different Program Partners to channel their
social investments through the program in a strategic manner for the scaling-up of WCM Fellows’
organizations.
Between July and December 2014, and through its 14 Program Partners (12 organizations and 2
independent consultants), WCM has mobilized technical assistance amounting to over USD 329,000 (of
which USD 267,000 pro bono and USD 62,000 paid by WCM). At the same time, the program’s allied
organizations have contributed funding amounting to over USD 160,000. Overall, WCM’s staff has invested
over 855 direct work hours with Fellows, amounting to over USD 98,000 in value. Thus, for every USD 1
mobilized directly by WCM, Program Partners and other allied organizations have mobilized USD
2.7 towards the Fellows1.
Besides mobilizing funds at a global level, WCM strives to increase the program’s institutional capacity
through a wide array of actions, such as:
 Alliance with Folha de São Paulo & Schwab Foundation Award: WCM has partnered with the
Folha de São Paulo newspaper - Schwab Foundation Social and Environmental Entrepreneurship
Award, the most significant recognition of social and environmental entrepreneurship in Brazil. This
partnership is aimed at bringing a specific focus on women’s empowerment to the existing award. On
December 2014, WomenChangeMakers announced the inauguration of three previous Prêmio
Empreendedor Social awardees as WomenChangeMakers’ Honorary Fellows, who will have the
opportunity to travel to a learning event in the US and gain access to the WomenChangeMakers’
professional network of social entrepreneurs and corporate and consultant partners in 2015.
 Partners’ Meeting 2014 in Brazil (September): In September 2014, WCM held its first annual
partners’ meeting in São Paulo. The meeting took place in the form of an interactive working session,
which brought together a small (30 participants), cross-sector group of social entrepreneurs, partners
and network contacts who are committed to women's empowerment and social business in Brazil.
Overall, the successful event reflected WCM’s approach and core mission––to learn from each other,
understand local needs, share best practices, and mobilize global and regional partners for women's
empowerment via social entrepreneurs.
The following chart shows all of the organizations that participated in the WCM Partners’ Program, as well
as the funds mobilized and the first- and second-generation Fellows’ mid-term objectives:
1 This is an estimation of the amount of hours and money invested in support and networking, and might include payments made or to be
made in 2015.
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Chart 2: Value created by WCM between July and December in 2014
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4. HOW WILL THE PROGRAM CONTINUE TO DRIVE CHANGE FOR
NEW FELLOWS?
WCM is constantly learning and incorporating improvements to consolidate an intervention model that
allows it to drive change for its Fellows’ organizations. Here, we identify lessons learned, suggestions for
improvement and next steps with a view to integrating new Fellows.
4.1 LESSONS LEARNED AND IMPROVEMENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE PROGRAM
During WCM’s fourth year of implementation, in the support provided to the first-generation Fellows, and in
the new phases of support for the second-generation Fellows, a series of lessons learned were identified
over the different stages of work. The associated corrections and adjustments will be made in the next
implementation steps, both with the first- and second-generation Fellows, as well as for future generations.
01/
02/
03/
LESSONS LEARNED
WAY FORWARD
In order to compile all of the Fellows’ achievements and
progress, and carry out a more accurate follow-up of the
program partnerships, it is important to refine the reporting
system among program managers, Fellows and Partners.
The follow-up process will be improved by means of a Salesforcebased technological tool, so as to make communication more
dynamic among the different program actors. This tool will also
enable the optimization of the data collection process for the inputs
generated by program managers, Partners and Fellows, with a
view to better program management and reporting tasks.
Year after year, WCM has the opportunity to hold multilateral
talks with Partners, Fellows, and strategic allies thanks to the
meetings and events conducted in the countries where the
program takes place. For this reason, WCM’s team has the
responsibility to lead and conduct these talks within the
entrepreneurship and gender ecosystem as a key player in the
field.
Opportunities will be identified among the events held in the
context of the program and those the organization takes part in, so
that it can position itself as a leader and benchmark within the
universe of social organizations devoted to strengthening women’s
empowerment by contributing relevant and cutting-edge content.
Second-generation Fellows, particularly in Brazil, are
undergoing a start-up stage. As a consequence, the Fellows in
charge of them face challenges when it comes to making time
and finding a work team to develop and plan for the
organization.
Therefore, it is necessary to allocate more resources to the
intensification of Fellows’ support and to offer assistance with all
tasks related to strategic planning and implementation, potentially
including providing ad hoc stipends for a limited time.
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4.2 NEXT STEPS FOR WCM
These are the main steps the program will take in the next few months:
 Upon completion of the three-year fellowships of the first-generation Fellows, the Alumni Program will
be launched for organizations that have completed WCM’s Fellowship Program. Alice Freitas (Rede
Asta)’s and Safeena Husain (Educate Girl)’s role will be adapted, ensuring that they work as integral
parts of the WCM Program, especially in areas such as the selection process and the mentoring of
new Fellows, and as program ambassadors. WCM Alumni benefits are currently in the process of
being designed, and will include invitations to all WCM events, connections with relevant partners in
the future, and ad hoc support for specific projects.
 In 2015, the third-generation Fellows will be selected in Brazil and India.
 New professional Program Partners will be brought on board to engage with Fellows as needed.
 The IT solution (Salesforce CRM) to measure and evaluate the impact of WCM’s support on the
Fellows in scaling their ventures will be implemented and tested.
 In order to complete our first three-year cycle, ZIGLA is carrying out a final evaluation of Rede Asta's
and Educate Girls' participation in the Program, which will measure WCM’s impact on both their
organizations.
 In 2015, WCM’s Partners’ Meet will be held once again in India and Brazil, in order to learn from past
collaborations and create scope for new synergies.
The Trafigura Foundation is supporting the Womanity Foundation’s WomenChangeMakers program in its pilot
phase from 2012 to 2015 with strategic advice and funding.
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5. WCM STAFF
A new WCM Country Representative has been recruited in Brazil: Tiana Vilar Lins, based in Bahia. Caitlin
Fisher remains on board as an advisor to the program in Brazil.
Yann Borgstedt, founder and chairman of the Womanity Foundation
Yann Borgstedt is a Swiss entrepreneur who manages a range of businesses in real
estate development, relocation, logistics and storage in Switzerland, England and
France. He graduated in 1993 with a degree in Finance from Babson College,
Massachusetts, US, and later joined a venture capital fund in London for six years. He is
a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO) in Geneva and London and is
involved in the YPO’s Economic Development Network and Disadvantaged Kids Network.
In 2005, he started the Womanity Foundation (at the time called Smiling Children
Foundation). Coming from a privileged environment and being aware of what is
happening around the globe, he felt the need and duty to do something to create a fairer
world. In a further evolution of his work in favor of women’s progress, the
WomenChangeMakers’ program was launched in 2009. The program was inspired by the
Ashoka model, which Yann Borgstedt became familiar with through his participation in the
Ashoka support network in Switzerland and France, where he mentors two Fellows.
Antonella Notari Vischer, Executive Director of the Womanity
Foundaiton
After working for over 18 years with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
as a field-based delegate and as the main spokesperson, Antonella entered the
microfinance sector as director of corporate communication at Blue Orchard in Geneva
from early 2008 until November 2009. From January 2010 on, she has headed the
Womanity Foundation. She also sits on the Board of Directors of Geneveroule and Giving
Women. Antonella holds an MSc in Media & Communication from the London School of
Economics and Political Science (LSE) and a Licenceès Letters from the University of
Geneva.
Indrani Sharma, Country Representative, WCM India
Indrani Sharma has been engaged in the non-profit sector for the past 15 years and has
worked with various national and international organizations of repute on a wide range of
development projects, which include social entrepreneurship, microfinance and livelihood.
Her area of involvement has been community mobilization, capacity building and
community engagement. She has experience not only in India but also South Asia (i.e. in
countries such as Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan) and has represented South Asian
projects at a global level. She has successfully worked with organizations like Ashoka
and PlaNet Finance. She continues to provide consultancies to development projects and
organizations through her consulting firm.
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Tiana Vilar Lins, Country Representative, WCM Brazil
Tiana has been committed to the non-profit sector for 15 years and has worked across
Brazil, Paraguay and India to deliver impactful results on social projects, primarily with a
focus on youth and social enterprise. Tiana has worked in youth and adolescent
development at the Alliance Institute and managed the selection of social entrepreneurs
in Brazil and Paraguay for Ashoka. Additionally, Tiana’s professional life has taken her
into the realm of improving the organizational development of organizations at the social
mobilization agency she co-founded, Aracati, and at ICEP, an institution focused on
enhancing public education, as the general manager.
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