Main Goal and Objectives

1. Empowering Women Through Economic Mentorship (WEEM)Target Country: Jordan; 12 villages throughout the country

2. Main Goal and Objectives • The overall goal of WEEM is to develop the capacities of vulnerable women to engage in local development processes. To accomplish this, WEEM works to: • Develop mentoring partnerships between successful Jordanian businesswomen and specific groups of vulnerable women • Increase capacity of vulnerable women to engage in sustainable economic initiatives at local level, through targeted skill training in legal, project management and gender budgeting frameworks • Provide support for women, particularly vulnerable women, to actively engage in sustainable economic initiatives at local level in order to reduce poverty and increase civic participation

3. Most Significant Changes Observed to Date • The first time participating women and local council members have had an open discussion on women’s socio-economic participation in underdeveloped areas of Jordan. • It is considered uncommon for local council members to sit with their female constituents. • Previous conversations about development in these areas typically involved only men.

4. Program Challenges • Vulnerable women from underdeveloped regions making the long trip to Amman to participate in focus group discussions and knowledge-sharing sessions with successful businesswomen. Sometimes this required women to spend one or more nights in Amman. Since many of the women targeted by WEEM come from highly conservative areas, it is sometimes difficult to convince their families to allow them to make an overnight trip far from home.

5. Funder and Evaluation Challenges • To this point, WEEM has experienced no challenges in funding or evaluation.