Capacity Building at Women of the World

There are numerous examples of Women of the World’s development of capacity. Building capacity is defined as making the non-profit organization more efficient and building clients to self-sufficiency. This definition leaves a lot of room open for different consuling, casework, and service to be deliniated as capacity building.

Women of the World does not believe that Capacity Building is a magic wand that we can wave and the need for hard, messy, and sometimes costly service work will go away – indeed some refugee women will start at a negative capacity, issue-riddled and requiring a lot of 1-on-1 time and casework. Capacity Building will never replace empathatic Critical Casework, it can only supplement it.

Learning new things is difficult. So capacity is built slowly… first the example is shown, the next time, the teacher watches while the student drives, and finally, the student drives and the teacher only buddy-checks. From afar, this can look like the answers are being given, but it’s a best practice for coaching capacity.

Capacity Building is about partnerships

Women of the World believes that Capacity Building is service delivered best in partnerships developed with government organizations, healthcare providers, business, and other non-profits. As the below figure shows, Women of the World is capable of service and, hence, Capacity Building all on its own, but partnerships ensure it has a greater scope and ensures that programs outlive their founders. This diagram also points out that while all service does not build capacity, no Capacity Building starts without service. This is supported by other governmental funding agencies like Equal Employment and Social Affairs Commission

Some of our current partners include but are not limited to:

• Desseret Industries
• Wasatch Women’s Social Club
• Utah Women’s Alliance for Building Communities
• Women’s Philanthropic Society
• Quilter’s Without Borders
• BYU
• University of Utah
• Department of Workforce Services

Examples of Women of the World’s Capacity Building:

1. Capacity Building in Education
   • Partnering with the DMV and driving schools in Salt Lake, numerous women have gotten the first driver’s licenses of their lives. Only the Executive Director is registered with the DMV to translate Arabic on legal forms.
   • College Registration, FAFSA, and Scholarship form completion assistance and resourcing have helped send six students to undergraduate and graduate school.
   • Health education workshops on the importance of early detection breast cancer screening in partnership with Comunidades Unidas.
   • Experiential English Language Learners (ELL) program developed in partnership with Brigham Young University’s Students for International Development.
2. Capacity Building in Employment and Entrapreneurship
   • WoW’s employment coordinator coaches each client on how to complete a resume and job applications. Subsequent applications are checked for spelling, grammer, and format only once each required field is completed.
   • Small business registration assistance and developing mini-grant funding for new refugee-owned-and-operated small businesses.
3. Other examples of Capacity Building
   • Women have been trained to fill out their own lease agreements and the importance of accuracy in filling out contracts.
   • Issues at the Immigration and Naturalization Service are resolved in such a way that both the refugee and INS better understand how to partner together.
   • Working with the Utah Health and Human Rights Organization, Women of the World ensures women improve their mental health (by offering translation services) to combat the nightmares of war.

If you have any questions about the Capacity Building or Service Work being performed by Women of the World, please feel to Contact Us.