Mentoring Refugee Women and Fostering an Entrepreneurial Mindset
Gii brings together established immigrant and refugee women with recent arrivals to provide a network for both emotional and practical support, as well as to serve as an information resource. An important aspect of practical support is cultivating an entrepreneurial mindset to help these women and their families. The group meets regularly over Zoom for online mentoring and for discussing the unique needs of female refugees. With the help of an interpreter, the women engage in an interactive Q&A, candidly sharing both the challenges and joys they have experienced.
These sessions are geared toward meeting several outcomes. We aim to make the refugee women feel welcome and respected in their new community, to reduce their anxiety, and to develop a social support network through which they build a sense of community.
Women(2)Women Mentorship And Sewing Collective
In January 2022, Gii initiated a Women(2)Women Mentorship planning process to pair refugees with settled immigrants to receive emotional and practical support, cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset, and serve as an informational resource. The six-month planning phase engaged 87 refugees, mostly from Afghanistan, and recruited 17 settled immigrants to provide support and advice. In addition to the mentoring, the group met regularly over Zoom to discuss the unique needs of female refugees. With the help of an interpreter, the women engaged in an interactive Q&A, candidly sharing both the challenges and joys they have experienced. All of this allowed Gii to establish guidelines, measure outcomes, estimate costs, and plan future activities. The results were notable improvements in the women's integration into their new communities, support for their families, and in some cases earning of income.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Gii now intends to use these findings to launch a pilot program to extend benefits to 120 women refugees.
Gii will deliver training and resources to address other high-need areas, such as Domestic Violence, Social and Emotional Well-being, Financial Literacy, Career and Leadership, and Culture. Gii has actively worked to develop these programs with the help of higher education professionals and community resource staff.
In addition to structured workshops, Gii will work with certified coaches (leadership, well-being, and similar) to deliver one-on-one coaching to a portion of each cohort, depending on participant interest. These coaching sessions will further assist participants in obtaining financial stability, self-reliance, and enhancing emotional well-being.
Through this program, we aim to have the following outcomes for refugee women:
Build entrepreneurial skills;
Achieve a better understanding of domestic violence resources within the community;
Enhance financial literacy skills and be better equipped to analyze and address financial needs within the family unit;
Better emotional and social wellbeing for refugee women;
Develop leadership skills and self-sufficiency.
Gii continues to build on the success with this deserving and motivated group and aims to expand to other parts of the US.
Typically, the Afghan refugee women did not have to work outside their homes in their native countries. However, without formal education, they arrived in the U.S. with thoroughly developed homemaking skills. One such skill is sewing. Gii has supplied sewing machines to 82 women and connected them with neighborhood dry cleaning, alteration businesses and other outfits, who contract out to them for alterations and repairs. We have been able to foster entrepreneurial mindsets through this programming.
Currently, the women are averaging 15-18 dollars an hour for their skilled labor, enough to make the difference between poverty and getting by. But the goal is not for these women to just “get by”; it is their first step in becoming entrepreneurs. The comradery between the women and other community members has begun to lead to even more developed sense of business. The women are finding great satisfaction in their ability to contribute to community and family.
Having access to other women who are more experienced with life in the United States has been invaluable. In particular, the U.S. women listen keenly to any concerns expressed and even help contact the appropriate agencies or authorities if intervention is needed.
Finally, the whole mentoring experience has given the refugee women a chance to develop their leadership skills and raise their awareness of human rights and women's health issues.
