Recent Clinton School graduate Sophia Said has won a second place award at the UALR Graduate Research Expo for her research on a microfinance program for women entrepreneurs in Pakistan.
Said completed an assessment of the program run by Development Action for Mobilization and Emancipation (DAMEN), a nonprofit that has worked for grassroots development in Pakistan since 1992.
The objective of her study was to assess the changes brought in women’s lives because of the microloans and gauge the overall impact of small-scale loans on the personal, social and political empowerment of women who live on less than $2 a day.
Said traveled to more than 100 villages to interview 878 women entrepreneurs and conducted rigorous statistical analysis to learn the affect of the microloans on the lives of the women and their families. She also made recommendations on how to create a stronger model for microloan programs to create a meaningful social change. Said credits Clinton School interim associate dean Todd Shields and professor Al Bavon for helping her conduct the analysis.
A native of Lahore, Pakistan, Said completed the project last summer in the Clinton School’s International Public Service Project (IPSP) program.
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