Women's Centers International

Home of the Women's Centers Movement


 

WCI's mission is to support the creation of safe gathering places for women in resource-poor environments.

Women’s Centers provide vocational and life skills training while fostering women's agency over their lives, promoting mental health and recovery from violence, and enhancing their capacity to build prosperity for themselves, their families, and communities.  


 The Women's Centers Network

Each Center adapts the Women's Center Model to local culture and needs.  Key programs include literacy and vocational training for improved livelihoods. All Centers  develop trauma-informed psychological support initiatives.

 

KENYA – Baraka Women's Center, Nairobi

Eleven years in operation  with 1,242 registered  members and a growing business enterprise, Baraka Mtido Fashion Accessories (BMFA).

 

KENYA - Baraka 2, BWC's sister Center in Rumuruti, Laikipia County, for Maasai, Samburu, and Turkana women registered more than 800 members after opening in 2023 for training in Tailoring, Beadwork, Hairdressing and Beauty skills, and Computer Literacy.

  

KENYA - Women's Power Center in Northern Kenya (WPC) in Kakuma Refugee camp. Providing adult literacy classes and bakery skills training for refugee women; 197 women registered as of December 2023. Additional livelihoods programs are planned.

 

UGANDADreams Destined Women Center, Mukono, serving young mothers. Pilot sewing and sweater-making training program April - Nov 2023.

 

ZIMBABWE - HOPE Zimbabwe, a new member of the network in Sakubva, a slum in Mutare. They are considering how to implement community health worker training.

 

We have suspended, possibly temporarily, our support of Centers in DR Congo and Syria.

 


 WCI Videos

See the full collection

 

Amazing Place

 

This 24-minute film takes you on an exploration of Nairobi’s  slums with the women who live there, and to Baraka Women’s Center, the amazing place where they discover their gifts, choose their path, and deploy their powers.

 

Facilitating Mental Health for Economic Development

An Innovative Training Model from WCI

 

WCI has prepared a curriculum for a Mental Health Training Program. We are seeking dedicated funding to implement a pilot throughout the WC Network. 


#No Excuses UN Campaign

 Until women are protected from sexual violence

The annual 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence awareness campaign, ran from 25 November to 10 December. It's a reminder that gender-based violence (GBV) is not just cruel and traumatising for women and girls, it also damages our families and economies. This year’s theme, “Invest to prevent violence against women and girls,  spotlights the economic cost of gender-based violence and the significant benefits of investing to reduce it.

Women's Centers make significant investments all year to bring awareness of GBV, and to counsel affected members.  #SupportWCI