Reflections

Success in Support

Overall, WELDP was a success, as we provided our participants with a new social network, mentors, professional development resources, and an outlet for struggles and persevering through challenges. The women who participated were touched by our efforts, and lasting friendships were made among the group. Celebrating their achievements at the graduation ceremony with their families and friends, we took photos, exchanged contact information, and shared delicious food (I learned Afghan dishes have the most delicious flavors... and lots of beef). 

The women were able to acquire information about English classes, GED and College Admissions, Financial Empowerment, and Stress Regulation & Counseling Resources. Our participants were especially enthusiastic about learning how to open their own savings accounts. Those who had special skills in a subject were able to teach the others what they learned about starting businesses, translating professionally, job searching, mindfulness and spiritual strength, and so much more. Above all else, though, the women loved to chat amongst themselves about their lives, their families, their home and what they left behind, but also their lives in the States. I had seen firsthand how they became closer and closer with each session, opening up about their worries, their pain, and on good days, the beauty in their lives. From makeup tips to applying to school, this program offered women space to meet other women with similar experiences and created a network of social support and resources. 

Conclusions on Planting Roots for Psychosocial Support and Women's Empowerment in the Non-Profit Sector

While the WELDP began with uprooting an existing curriculum and addressing problematic elements in refugee services, our project started with the idea that refugee women should feel like they have a community and all the support available to them. Our small group of women came together to begin a new program, one that approached needs-based services with a psychosocial perspective. As a community, women can provide each other with the resources that they both seek and already have acquired. Through bottom-up approaches and participatory techniques, like our professional development activities and an option for women to share their own expertise with each other, resonant care can be provided. Through social-emotional connections, women can share in their struggles and seek encouragement, compassion, and support. Our program helped to empower women as authentic leaders among each other and equipped them with skills to do so outside of our classroom. 

However, it is no easy feat to secure the organizational and supra-structural support of grassroots efforts like ours. There is no guarantee that we will be able to continue another version of this program, despite its success given the resources we had available. LSS-SW is understaffed and must consider reallocating funds for similar efforts in its Women's Empowerment and Refugee Services programs. It is possible that Sadaf and graduates from our program could continue laying roots for resonant psychosocial support and professional development programs, but without grounded, participatory efforts to do so, LSS-SW might get stuck in the NPIC's cycle of supporting the status quo. To get programs like WELDP off the ground, social services organizations like LSS-SW should employ refugee women to support refugee women. In this system, an investment in their empowerment and autonomy is a bold step to radically providing solutions that make meaningful impact in their clients' lives. 

I hope to see this change. The WELDP planted roots with the potential of becoming fruitful on a wide scale, and it requires attention, care, and a bold step in the right direction to break from the ground up.