Colombia is a beautiful country with amazing bio diversity and filled with wonderful, warm and hospitable people. However they have been sunk by a civil war that for more than 40 years has done nothing to help its people fight poverty. Due to the lack of opportunities and intense violence it has the highest number of internally displaced people of any country in the world.

Out of a population of around forty million, three million are displaced. In the last decade a lot of communities, tired to be relegated to a second level, have started their own initiatives to find their way out of poverty by themselves. Some of these initiatives are now sponsored by the government or by private organizations. And a lot has been achieved. However, there’s still a long way to the right direction. The informal economy is huge and the rewards in the area very limited and unstable. Especially, for women who
often have to provide for themselves and their own families.

Our program in the Atlantico region, will try to help out girls and women within their own communities, to increase the chances of success and to slow down the rate of migration to major cities by providing them with the tools they need to establish lives in their own communities, for the long term.

The Colombian Government has launched an impressive campaign to stimulate the micro and medium enterprises(PYMES). Educational, logistical and financial support has been offered with the partnership of public and private parties. However, at the grass-roots level, where the true line of poverty rests, it is often untouched by these initiatives.

In Colombia we are in the process of establishing many more partnerships for the BBIP program. Check our Go-Op initiative to see our Colombian women’s products!

 

India

In India, FEM International works in collaboration with the Vidya Foundation.

India is a land of great geographical and ethnic diversity. With a history that dates back more then 5000 years it is home to 18 languages, 500 dialects, 30 religions, and over a billion people. India provides the international traveler with endless opportunities for exploration. Accounting for this, Cross-Cultural Solutions has created two distinct India programs, an urban program in New Delhi and a rural program in the Himalayas in the town of Dharamsala, (a town with a large Tibetan refugee population and home to the Dalai Lama).

New Delhi, where Vidya Foundation is based, is both a thriving modern city and the home of much of India's great history. The streets of New Delhi are characterized by an amazing contrast that is shocking at first but some how inspiring. You will encounter unimaginable poverty; but there is something in Indian culture that despite the adversity always gives time for a welcoming smile.

 

Thailand

Thailand has a beautiful landscape and an inspiring culture, and though in the last few decades it has shown an incredible growth rate, the growth, as it is the case of countries in ways of development, has been with disparity- enlarging the gap between poor and rich.

A large network of NGOs, in association with some government initiatives, have been providing relief to the marginalized sections of the society.

Young girls and children are subject to the worst kind of exploitation and are part of a well establish network of child prostitution in the region that compromises women not only in Thailand, but Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar, formerly Burma. Due to the desperation of poverty, vulnerability in young girls, along with the very complex, familiar and social context they face, girls/women usually return to prostitution after several months out of it. The business training has been requested several times, by local initiatives trying to fight this phenomenon.

In Thailand FEM International works in collaboration with Cross Cultural Solutions (CCS) and the Kredtrakarn Foundation .Our main objective is to provide basic business training to young girls who have been either engaged in sexual trafficking or have been exploited in child laboring. Through the dynamics of our BBIP (Basic Business Instruction Program) and through our Channel of Distribution the Go-Op Initiative (Girls out of Poverty and Prostitution), we aim to increase the level of confidence, self-esteem and increase the chances of fighting their way out of child prostitution.

 

 

Local Initiative with the population in Montreal

Progressive young and multicultural Montreal is the home of FEM International.

In Montreal we are running a number of interesting programs such as ModEthik, 5a7Etiks and the Local Volunteer Initiative. If you are in the area contact us to learn more about the ways you can get involved!