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Portrait: Meet Melanie, SKImfi Chile Project Manager
SKIC’s project manager for SKImfi-Chile, Melanie O., discusses her work with SKI Charities and the path that led her to a passion for woman and child development. In your own words, what is your role in SKI charities? My first encounter with SKI Charities was a trip to Lebu I did to get to know the…
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Women Responding to Disaster
This year, disasters such as the ebola outbreak, the earthquake in Nepal, and the humanitarian crisis in Syria have torn apart communities across our globe. Throughout each of these tragedies, we have heard over and over again how disaster relief efforts must be better suited to impact the unique needs of women, who are too…
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Empowering Transformational Female Leaders
In a previous post, “Why Focus on Women?,” we discuss the importance of SKI Charities’ focus on empowering female entrepreneurs and providing education for young women. In the traditional communities of developing countries like Zimbabwe and Chile, where SKIC works, already-marginalized women are often made powerless by circumstances of conflict and unrest, with men historically and culturally standing as the heads of…
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Africa’s Mobile Technology Rise
The technology that has long provided convenience in most daily lives is now transforming opportunities available to entrepreneurs in developing countries. Mobile technology in Zimbabwe has risen to more than 71 percent, supplementing the work of SKImfi and allowing women in Zimbabwe to expand, organize, and promote their entrepreneurial efforts. Mobile technology in Africa has created…
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Faces of SKImfi: Prudence K.
When Prudence and her SKImfi group members gather for business meetings, they begin each session with a chant: “High high, it lifts you high. SKImfi lifts you UP!” Prudence K., a 30-year-old mother of three, launched an electrical supplies business after attending a Selection, Planning and Management workshop with SKImfi Zimbabwe. She accessed a $100…
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Why Early-Stage Scholarships? (Part 3)
In parts 1 and 2 of this series, we reported that investing in early-stage education makes social and fiscal sense for both the recipient and the community. In this post, we’ll explore how, relative to later interventions, early-stage intervention is remarkably more effective and much lower in cost. Policies that aim to repair educational deficits…
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In This Together
One of the main problems facing aid in the developing world is anonymity. Organizations that provide aid to “the children” or “the hungry” fail to specify whom, precisely, are the recipients of that aid. While these regions often desperately need aid, the blanket statement of “the hungry,” for example, diminishes the individuality of countless people…
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A Word with our SKIpgo Zimbabwe Program Manager
Elizabeth, our program manager for SKIpgo-Zimbabwe, discusses her work with SKI Charities and her passion for child development. In your own words, what is your role in SKI charities? I work for the SKIpgo Zimbabwe Trust, one of the projects run by SKI charities in Mutare, Zimbabwe. I recruit candidates who are eligible for the…
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Happy 3rd Birthday SKIC! – Zimbabwe Photo Journal
In October of 2010, Shyam K. Iyer began SKI Charities. Two countries, three projects, and hundreds of beneficiaries later, the organization is now celebrating it’s 3rd birthday. And we are just getting started. To celebrate the occasion we commissioned a photojournal of our very first project, the SKImfi Microfinance Institute in Mutare, Zimbabwe. To view…
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A Conversation with Shyam: Inspiration Found in Local Mapuche Craft-Making and Cuisine
Shyam returned from his most recent trip to Lebu, Chile inspired by the crafts, textiles, and food being created by SKImfi microfinance beneficiaries of indigenous Mapuche heritage. SKI Charities aims to give women a path to start and grow sustainable businesses that encourage them to utilize their culturally-embedded skillset. Listen in to hear more about…