The Mekong Women’s Empowerment Project (Empower) aimed to advance women’s economic empowerment by increasing the clinical capacity, business skills, and financial independence of entrepreneurial health providers, known as MSI Ladies. MSI Ladies are qualified midwives, nurses and doctors who had a desire to generate supplementary income but faced barriers, such as training needs or lack of quality supplies.
The project empowered these providers with the necessary skills to develop their businesses and enhance their ability to deliver sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and family planning (FP) services within their communities.
Empower supported 451 female entrepreneurs to build their private businesses that deliver a range of high quality, affordable SRH/FP services and products in communities with high unmet need. During the end-of-project evaluation, MSI Ladies and community partners repeatedly referenced the high quality clinical and business training provided by MSI and the impact that had on their confidence levels and income.
The four-year project (2018-2022) was funded by the Australia Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) through the Gender Equality Fund. The project was managed by MSI Reproductive Choices (MSI) and implemented through country program offices in Cambodia (MSIC), Myanmar (MSIM) and Vietnam (MSIV).