Global Grassroots, Rwanda, August 2012

The mission: Global Grassroots' mission is to unite, empower and support relief of poor, distressed and underprivileged women world wide. Global Grassroots catalyzes ventures for social change designed by and for under-served women and girls, creating personal and societal transformation.

Program Summary: Global Grassroots’ Academy for Conscious Change is an 18-month incubator program that launches social change ventures designed by and for under-served women, combining trauma healing, non-profit management skills, leadership training, seed grants, and high-engagement support to enable vulnerable women. Teams address myriad issues including water access, gender violence, reproductive health, economic independence, and girls’ education. A grant of $50,000 from DFW will provide seed money to launch 3 new ventures in 2012 and initiate a new program in 2013 to include 7-10 new teams in Rwanda.

Why we love this program: This program is so exciting because it combines a thoughtful, holistic approach to supporting women who have experienced extreme trauma in the wake of war, with empowerment and real skill-building through supporting the launch of social ventures. Global Grassroots has developed an incredibly creative program that both builds leadership and applicable skills among the women who participate, and through social enterprises addresses the needs of other women in their community.

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