Second-year student Tshering Yudon spent four months at Vital Voices Global Partnership as a McLarty Global Fellow. Yudon spent an additional three months compiling and enhancing her research on the structure, characteristics, dynamics, and value of women’s business networks. She led the first iteration of mapping business connections for Vital Voices, which will supplement the limited literature on women-led small and medium-sized enterprises and their networks.
Research shows that women face disproportionate barriers in accessing markets, finance, training, and networks despite operating 25-33% of all businesses around the world. Vital Voices Global Partnership addresses these needs through programs like the VV GROW fellowship, a yearlong tailored training program that helps bring women together from Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). In 2013, the program brought together 83 women from 32 countries that made three business fellow-to-fellow business connections on average.
In collaboration with the VV GROW Fellowship and the Impact Evaluation and Research teams, Yudon developed a comprehensive study that reviews and applies social network analysis (SNA), an upcoming field of study, which allows the mapping and measuring of relationships and transactions between two connected entities. She crafted 21 dynamic network maps to visualize and explain the complexities of business connections amongst women leaders. In addition, she defined five categories of business connections as follows: foreign market expansion, resource exchange, advising, network building, and partnerships for social impact. These categories are key to streamlining the monitoring and evaluation systems for future network data.
“Tshering has mapped networks of women leaders in our programs for the first time,” said Marguerite Berger, Vice President for Impact Evaluation at Vital Voices Global Partnership. “Her innovative work is enabling us to better understand network dynamics among the women we serve so that we can strengthen the Vital Voices Global Leadership Network as a whole, a major component of our organizational strategy.”
Yudon completed her network research as part of her final Capstone, the culminating field service project at the Clinton School of Public Service. She will continue to consult with Vital Voices as they implement the recommendations from her findings.
About Vital Voices Global Partnership
Vital Voices Global Partnership is a leading international women’s organization that seeks to identify, invest in, and bring visibility to extraordinary women from all around the world to build peaceful and prosperous communities.Their international staff and team of over 1,000 partners, pro bono experts and leaders have trained and mentored more than 14,000 emerging women leaders from over 144 countries.
For more information on Vital Voices Global Partnership: http://www.vitalvoices.org/
About VV GROW Fellowship
The fellowship is offered yearly to women business owners of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The fellowship program offers a unique blend of online learning, in-person training, and tailored support services to help elevate the women and their businesses to the next level.
For more information on VV GROW: http://www.vitalvoices.org/what-we-do/issues/economic-empowerment/vv-grow-fellowship
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