Social Enterprise & Philanthropy
Tuesday, February 14, 2012"The Third Billion": A Dream Becomes a Reality
by Dr. Victoria Kisyombe, Founder, SelfinaShare this article:
Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania — When I was in New York in early February, I was reminded about the power of the American dream, and I began to realize that finally, the dream of millions of women in the world are being heard. They are being heard thanks to an innovative campaign, The Third Billion, which I am honored to part of.The Third Billion campaign is a major new global initative aimed at expanding women’s employment, access to finance, markets and education. It’s a decade-long campaign, launched by La Pietra Coalition, which will galvanize corporations and NGOs all across the world to tap into women’s economic potential as employees, entrepreneurs, producers and consumers. My homeland of Tanzania has a population of 40 million and 51 percent are women. It is no surprise that I am so passionate about what this initiative represents—hope.
I was asked to help launch the campaign. It’s a campaign we’ve all been waiting for. People forget women are half the population of the world, and now, we’re finally starting to be able to unleash our full potential through this tremendous opportunity and vision. The Third Billion Campaign will help engage women, and certainly I have been so fortunate to be able to do that in my community in Tanzania through Selfina, the organization I founded in 2002 which has impacted the lives of over 200,000 people.
My work and desire to make a difference began when my husband passed away. I was left without an income and no real means to support our young children. Almost 65 percent of women in Tanzania still earn less than a dollar a day, but while we have "legal rights," technically the problem of long held customs and traditions make it hard for us to hold onto tangible assets. For instance, we still live in an environment where only a man can inherit land, and so it’s very hard for women to own property. In today’s world that just isn’t fair, and that’s why I realized that micro lending (or micro-leasing might be more accurate for the work that Selfina does) for women provided so much hope.
I decided to push the government to allow leasing of land, making it possible to change the criteria of eligibility, and thus enable women with no assets and little business experience to engage in commercial activities to supports themselves and their families. Now we are expanding this model to other countries in the region. This shows you how unleashing the power of investment in women truly pays off, particularly in a part of the world where 75 percent of women live in rural areas.
Which brings me back to the motivation behind the Third Billion Campaign. I feel this is the campaign we’ve all been waiting for. The fact that I sat on a panel with executives from Goldman Sachs, Ernst and Young, Booz & Company, and the CEO of Vital Voices was a testament to their commitment too. Women’s empowerment is something global corporations are finally tapping into and investing in.
The Third Billion Campaign was a result of work carried out by Booz & Company’s analysis of International Labor Organization data on women in the global workforce. The Booz report determined that approximately 870 million women worldwide are “not prepared” -- lacking sufficient secondary education and/or “not enabled”—lacking support from families and communities—to take part in the world economy. The vast majority of these women, between the ages of 20 and 65—822 million—live in emerging and developing countries and the rest—47 million—live in North America, Western Europe and Japan. Counting female births and those under age twenty today, this number will add up to a billion in the next decade. That’s the same as investing in the entire populations of either India or China.
The urgency of the situation is clear. Women are expected to help support their families but, particularly in rural areas, they have virtually no employment opportunities. Small enterprises -- selling produce, groceries or other items -- are often the only alternative. But women lack access to productivity-enhancing technology, as well as the basic assets necessary to start these businesses. We are ready to blossom, if we receive the tools, the skills and the financing to grow. The time is now. My biggest dream is to see The Third Billion become an opportunity for all, after all there’s a billion people waiting for it to turn a dream of employment and economic stability, into a reality.
To read more about the Third Billion Campaign visit www.thethirdbillion.org.
About the author: Dr. Victoria Kisyombe is a veterinarian by profession. As the founder of Selfina, a micro-leasing company, she has used innovation, initiative, and determination to empower women in Tanzania to become economically self-sufficient.
Newsletter
RSS
