This project of Sisterhood for Development continues from our Strategy and to support ethnic young women/girls to raise awareness, develop transformative leadership, build confidence through Education Development, Mentorship and Gender Promotion.

Searching for ways to empower Hmong ethnic women and girls, Sisterhood for Development (SFD) teamed up with Enterprise and Development Consultants (EDC) to build their digital capabilities. The collaboration focussed on the development of an online platform to support ethnic women and girls in gaining access to formal and non-formal education opportunities, as well as to enable them to be involved in leading and managing online platforms. 

Over the course of the project, Sisterhood provided internships to 20 students and implemented the “Youth Mentorship Curriculum” (by youth for youth), through which 12 youth trainers trained 97 students from their villages, schools and universities and conducted two women’s networking meetings. The project focused on building a support network and providing mentorship opportunities through internships, scholarships and online platforms, while allowing previous participants to be active in leading and guiding the integrated online platform. In total, 129 rightsholders were reached face-to-face, whereas the online reach via Facebook and YouTube amounted to almost 300,000 views. 

The empowerment of Hmong ethnic women and girls under the project depended on several key outputs, including the successful development of the Sisterhood online platform by EDC, the successful management of posts on Facebook and YouTube by Sisterhood staff and students, the successful production of five video training topics, and the successful completion of “The Girl’s Voice” online campaign. 

Empowerment trainings that stood out include: 

• Skills related to video production training 

• Social media management training 
• Poster creation training 
• Media editing software training 
• Content creation training
  

Achieving these results, Sisterhood was motivated to aim towards the following goals: 

• To document and promote ethnic women role models at several levels, so that women’s voices are heard and respected by others. 
• To continue the online campaign for girls’ voice and to begin meetings with Hmong ethnic customary law leaders to alter customary law for the benefit of women and girls. 
• To extend this model for altering the customary law to other ethnic groups based on lessons learned and recommendations from the Hmong ethnic group.
  

“Before I never thought that ethnic girls from a rural place like myself could use an editing program like this. I am very happy, not just that I can edit, but that I also can train other friends as well.” – Ong Vue, a student participating in the project. 

The above quote from an indigenous girl exemplifies the fundamental outcome of our initiative, which has been about empowerment. 

A Most Significant Change (MSC) video was created to showcase the empowerment of ethnic women and girls within the project’s context: 

Furthermore, five training videos were produced based on a variety of styles. The EDC team assisted in the preparation of materials for video recordings. The production process was empowering for both students and the Sisterhood team, as it put into practice various techniques of making a film from start to finish. 

Links to five training videos: 

• Session 1, on social relationship: https://fb.watch/1S_zvCGYhV/ 
• Session 2, on plan for successful or road journey: https://fb.watch/1S_FK_SsPh/ 
• Session 3, on money management: https://fb.watch/1S_HN2Lolq/ 
• Session 4, on time management: https://fb.watch/1S_Jy32qvX/ 
• Session 5, on self-income planning: https://fb.watch/1S_L8ipUTu/ 

XXX

Through the project, more women and girls stood up and started to talk about their feelings, showing how the old customary law and gender norms impacted them and their families. This created a good starting point for the women as well as their families and communities to change. 

A first key result of the project was the support of scholarship assessment and the development and promotion of a youth mentorship curriculum via training for SFD staff and mentors. The curriculum included sessions on planning, income generation, education, and safe relationships and friendships. A second key result was the campaign “Quest daughter’s voice” at the community level, which became a public forum for entire communities to discuss. Community leaders and representatives came up with ways to share each clan’s experience and practices at the family level. Many women spoke up with strong opinions and shared their feelings about pleading for a change for women. 

“I am very sad, I never went to school because I was a woman, they said I could not, now I have to stay with my husband, which is very difficult because I know I cannot go back to my parents’ house like in the drama. Now that I have been chosen by the people of the village to represent the Lao women’s union at the village level, I am very disappointed that I am unable to read. I will not threaten my daughter in the same way that my parents have threatened me. I also believe that all women should work together to effect change, rather than waiting for the elders, leaders, or men to do so.” – Woman attending the campaign event under the “Quest daughter’s voice” campaign at community level.