Gretchen Wallace Empowers Women In Rwanda And Other Post-Conflict Societies

When asked about her personal and professional inspirations, Gretchen Steidle Wallace names neither an A-list celebrity nor a political figure but, rather, an unemployed and barely educated South African woman.

In 2004, when Wallace was researching the HIV/AIDS pandemic in South Africa, she befriended Zolecka Ntuli, a then-25-year-old woman who, despite having no job and virtually no access to funds, had launched a neighborhood support group to combat sexual violence in the area after a 12-year-old girl was assaulted by a group of teenage boys.

"Zolecka didn't have the skills or the capacity to plan ahead for grants and funding, yet here she was, starting a dialogue about sexual violence against children in a region where [such matters were] still relatively taboo," Wallace, 37, recalled. "I thought, 'There must be women all over the world who have similar ideas for change. What if those women had more opportunities and resources?'"

That encounter, Wallace said, is partly what inspired her to establish Global Grassroots, a Hanover, N.H.-based nonprofit organization that supports social change for women in Rwanda and other post-conflict societies. Global Grassroots participants enroll in two-week-long programs where they are trained in what Wallace describes as "social entrepreneurship." An additional 18-month work-study and apprenticeship component helps graduates gain "creative resourcing" skills -- including designing a mission statement and how to "diagnose" a social issue -- necessary to launching their own nonprofit operations on issues facing women and girls in their communities.

Since the organization's 2004 founding, Wallace -- who spends between two to four months each year in Rwanda -- said about 300 "change agents" have completed Global Grassroots training programs, and some of them have since gone on to establish groups like Abanyamurava, or "Hard Workers." Abanyamurava's 19-member, all-female team helped start a clean water collection and delivery venture in Kigali, Rwanda, that is expected to soon reach 6,000 residents in an area where sexual violence is rampant. The project is all the more impressive considering that only seven of the 19 members know how to read, and its 39-year-old leader is a mother of eight with just a first grade education.

"Many of these women were living on just a few dollars a day," Wallace said. "Some of them have not gone on to more than a few years of elementary school. But they have so much wisdom and insight about their communities … and they've gone from being poor farmers to managers of their own nonprofit."

Also critical to Global Grassroots' success is the fact that Wallace and her colleagues see themselves as partners, rather than as leaders within the participants' communities. "We're here to try and facilitate, but not lead, these grassroots-initiated ventures," Wallace said. "One of our core values is the participatory development paradigm … we never impose our values or viewpoints on them."

Though Global Grassroots has faced its own share of resource challenges since its founding, Wallace said she would never consider changing her mission. "I feel really lucky to be working in a realm that has so many success stories of its own," she said. "We measure our impact on more than just our numbers ... we look for transformation within the individual … and their community."

For more information on Global Grassroots, click here.

Comments

[Jenagain]

07:43 PM on 09/09/2011

Hate to say it, but I will. Bring those women here to the US. Our government will pay their way.

[NancyY]

07:30 PM on 09/09/2011

Everyone - check out their website at http://www.globalgrassroots.org; this definitely appears to be a worthy cause. Another worthy cause is Women for Women, http://www.womenforwomen.org. This organization has been in operation since 1993; they focus on empowering women from several war-torn regions, from areas in the Balkans (Bosnia & Herzegovnia, Kosovo), the Middle East (Iraq and Afghanistan), and Africa (Nigeria, South Sudan, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo). I remember sponsoring them for rabbits, goats and other types of livestock to be sent where they were needed. They also train women in crafts, jewelry making and etc., which can be sold for profit to help sustain them and their communities.

[masterkcb1]

07:09 PM on 09/09/2011

so what happens to the poor boys and men in this situation? If u dont help the men they will just keep doing whatever they want. Helping the women is pointless, women over there have basically no rights, so why teach them things they will not be allowed to enforce? The first thing that needs to be done is teach the young boys how to act responsible and how to treat women.

[giftsthatpurr]

04:50 PM on 09/09/2011

Great story. Glad there are people out there working to make our world a better place.

[Halaji]

03:35 PM on 09/01/2011

Excellent story. Thanks for reporting it.

[Kris W]

03:39 AM on 08/31/2011

The sad reality is boy's, young men and men face far more poverty and hardships and have zero assistance whatsoever. As all charities now have a "Women and girl's" only approach. Look up the dancing boy's of Afghanistan. While feminist's and all the "ladies first" do gooders of the west where making sure girls had an education they thought nothing of thousands of boy's being turned into sex slaves.

It is sad that such gender based bigotry exist's in the 21st century.

[giftsthatpurr]

04:49 PM on 09/09/2011

You aren't serious are you?

[NancyY]

06:57 PM on 09/09/2011

You don't seem to get it. Men don't have babies. Women are usually physically weaker than men, and unable to defend themselves if attacked. And, basically, women don't rape men. I guess you don't know what goes on in some of these third-world nations; please re-read the article. Youths and men who rape girls and women don't use condoms, and don't send flowers afterwards. The women are often stuck with horrific injuries, possibly an STD (or more) and a possible pregnancy to remind them of the attack.

[TINKER6]

01:58 AM on 08/31/2011

Great job may their journey's be prosperous!

[i the ys]

08:53 PM on 08/30/2011

An aid worker once asked a liberated group of women why they still walked behind their men folk. One woman answered for the entire group with a one word reply. Landmines.