Women-Led Grassroots De Photoessay by Allan Lissner


“My life and family has changed, but the whole community has benefitted too because if you educate a woman – one lady – you are educating the whole community.” – Hadija, VICOBA member in Lushoto, Tanzania.


All photographs copyright Allan Lissner


by Bangladesh’s Grameen Bank, the idea behind VICOBA is the belief that poor people have the skills, capabilities and abilities to improve their own economic development and social welfare.


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In the Philippines, the KILUS Foundation is a women’s cooperative where a group of urban housewives have channeled their creativity into a project that makes use of some of the worst kinds of garbage, providing a livelihood for over 500 women. The KILUS Foundation collects used plastic juice containers that would otherwise clog up sewers, rivers and landfills, turning them into fashionable purses, bags, wallets, footwear, carpets, furniture, curtains and even picture frames which are now sold all over the world. In a field that is increasingly becoming dominated by


corporate models of development, these stories provide examples of alternative models that are based on the dignity and ingenuity of the people. These women-led initiatives empower communities to find local solutions to their own local problems. These often-untold stories of community role models transforming their own communities are at the heart of a stronger, more inclusive, healthier and more socially just model of international development.


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n Tanzania, Village Community Banking (VICOBA) provides a structure through which communities are able to organize themselves, provide skill-sharing, and capacity building in an effort to combat poverty. Inspired


Sara (top centre) co-owns a small beauty salon in Ge a week to get their hair done and exchange the latest


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