Women in Ecuador Learn Microfinance and IT Skills

Summary

CDI-Ecuador provides IT education to underserved populations and offers services specifically to indigenous women in rural and urban areas to strengthen their skill sets and roles in their community.

What is the issue, problem, or challenge?

CDI-Ecuador, part of the NGO the Center for Digital Inclusion, operates 41 centers which provide IT access and education in impoverished and under-served areas across the country. Women from indigenous populations are not only poor, but they also face discrimination based on gender and ethnicity. We provide specialized technical and entrepreneurial training for them to use these tools to develop a micro-business, earn income, use technology, help their community and transform their lives.

How will this project solve this problem?

CDI Community Centers are technology and learning spaces that partner with existing grassroots organizations in the area. We will provide specialized IT, micro-enterprise, and social engagement training in 3 centers that work with indigenous women.

Potential Long Term Impact

By being armed with the tools to fulfill their dreams, these women will learn to trust in themselves and to be active participants in their communities. They will be able to integrate into their communities as citizens without losing their identity

Project Message

At first they are followed or forbidden to return - their husbands don’t believe they are taking courses. But most, like Mariana Quispe, will finish with the knowledge that she can achieve her goals
- El Universo Journal (03/2008), El Universo Journal

Additional Documentation

This project has provided additional documentation in a Microsoft Word file (projdoc.doc).

Resources