Women’s Socio-Economic Empowerment Programs

How does RET help? 

With the purpose of responding to the socio-economic needs of vulnerable young women and women, RET has been providing socio-economic empowerment interventions to support vulnerable women all over the world. RET´s interventions work across the triple nexus supporting inclusive economic growth through the full, equal, and safe participation of women and young people in society and the economy in order to help them lead their own journey towards prosperous livelihoods and self-reliance.

RET is committed to aligning all its programs to the Sphere`s Humanitarian Standards, the Minimum Economic Recovery Standards (MERS), and the IASC Gender Handbook in Humanitarian Action. RET is also fully committed to supporting Sustainable Development Goal 5: Achieve Gender Equality and Empower All Women and Girls, to ensure women and girls have equal access to education, health care, decent work, and representation in political and economic decision-making processes particularly during times of crisis and in fragile contexts. RET is also committed to supporting Sustainable Development Goal 8 “Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all” by enhancing the socio-economic empowerment and self-reliance of women and when relevant of their families.

RET´s interventions are tailored according to the context, the legal restrictions to work, the cultural and social norms, the age and the profile of concerned women. However, some key principles and program components are core to each of RET intervention.

• Using a gender and conflict sensitive holistic approach, RET provides a combination of technical training workshops coupled with individual mentoring and follow up approach. The training includes Entrepreneurship, Social Entrepreneurship, Business Opportunities, Marketing and Product Design Sessions for both, refugees, and local women. Additionally, the program provides awareness raising sessions on SGBV and SRH issues after which women can also access to individual counseling, psychosocial support, and when needed referrals mechanism. Finally, they are also exposed to cultural and social activities.

• RET has a holistic multi-sectorial approach to the socio-economic empowerment, and social cohesion of vulnerable women to strengthen their resilience and their self-reliance. The holistic aspect of RET’s interventions has allowed it to address different dimensions of a woman’s life. As such, RET’s programs are not only about training on specific job/ business-related skills, but also focus on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) and issues around Gender-Based Violence (GBV), as well as child-care issues. The programs also ensure access or referral to psychological and legal services when needed and ensures individualized follow-up to guarantee the continued engagement of concerned women. The types of vocational workshops are selected after a thorough needs assessment and feasibility study realized by

RET to identify the demands of marketplace. As a result, refugee and host community women produce natural, sustainable, handmade, and innovative products that are of top quality with professional packaging.