May 30, 2019

Located in the rural city of Gouandiaka in the southern Sikasso region of Mali, Senê Yiriwaton is a cereal producers’ cooperative that was founded in 2016 to unite cereal producers in the area in order to join together to negotiate for strong prices. The cooperative is composed of 55 members, including 51 men and four women, and has a six-member board that meets once a month. Their mission is to produce and commercialize cereals such as corn,…

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March 1, 2017

Haoua Cheick Seip, IESC volunteer expert, on assignment in Ampara, Sri Lanka, in 2011.

When Women Help Women, Entrepreneurs Thrive
By Marissa Germain

Women in West African cultures’some of which are historically matrilineal’hold positions of respect and strength. As the providers of shelter, food, wisdom, and comfort, they have often been called to firmly hold their communities together in the face of conflict and…

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October 12, 2016

 

Sanogo Diarra owns a company that employs 22 women from her neighborhood.

Sanogo Diarra’s fruit processing company has created good jobs for women in her community
It was 2009, and Sanogo Diarra saw that women in her neighborhood needed jobs. More than that, they wanted jobs. And she wanted to help them. In Mali’s capital city of Bamako, she founded a company that processes dried fruits and vegetables.

With her…

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