A Case Study in Planting Roots: Women's Empowerment, Psychosocial Support, and the Non-Profit Sector 

Welcome!

I am happy you made it. This past year, I have been working on something mundanely special. That is, the work that happens in social services or non-profits which is equal parts precious to those who receive service and reiterative of the everyday systems in place which might hinder grassroots progress.

In this website, you will find a dual-perspective analysis of the ways in which my Applied Project interacted with both the service-receivers (the clients and their community) and the service-provider (the non-profit organization itself). To find out more, each page on this site will explore a different aspect to this project... but it is best to start at the very beginning.

What is WELDP?

WELDP stands for Women's Empowerment and Leadership Development program, which was a program led by refugee women for refugee women in the Phoenix Metro Area. Supported through LSS-SW's clients and three of its volunteers leading the charge, the WELDP was a 10-week empowerment program that offered social support, professional development, and fostering connection among community through the themes of identity, interpersonal relationships, and authentic leadership.

What is Empowerment and Authentic Leadership?

The refugee experience is a disorienting one at that, as the consequences of being forcibly uprooted manifest in ruptures of one’s self concept and what they know of reality (Dowd, 2019 [1]). This means that our comfort to be ourselves, to embrace our identities, or to celebrate our cultures is influenced by the state of our social and physical environments. A commonality in literature on refugee experiences is the profound loss of individuality, self-concept, and independence; this is especially felt in the dynamics of relief assistance (Callamard, 2002 [2]). This destruction to the self and social concept contributes to feelings of isolation or disempowerment. The effects of such ruptures in these concepts can be seen in the interplay of identity and a newfound reliance on unfamiliar systems. 

As such, we approached WELDP with the goal of connecting women of similar experiences to help uplift each other while sharing resources that are available to them. Empowerment is the action of understanding one's self and becoming stronger, more confident, and claiming one's rights. Authentic leadership is the outcome of empowerment, and one quality of an authentic leader is to empower one's self and to therefore empower others.