Here's my new workplace. I am working with an NGO (non-governmental entity...kind of like our Not-for-Profits) that is an association for women only two years old and partially supported by the King's foundation. It's purpose is to support women in their crafts and to train young women the crafts as well. Primarily embroidery type of work is done here. One woman does ceramics...Moroccan style...which is fairly glitzy with little flowers and not the type Americans would typically be interested in buying. I got excited about the weaving, bought a purse and ordered a bunch more for gifts and thought placemats would be a winner for selling product...then found out that a woman who doesn't even belong to the neddie (what the place is called, and what I will be referring to in future blogs) is the only one who weaves.

I pretty much have been going there and just hanging out, watching and observing. But this next week I will have a meeting and we will start doing a community map, with them showing what places they frequent, what they like, what they wish they town had, etc etc. Since it's a very small town, that process shouldn't take long. We'll also do a seasonal calendar so I can learn more about what drives the economy and what people do when. All this information is to help know who will be available to work on a future project, how it will affect others, etc. Then will do a needs assessment with the members of the neddie (there are about 70 of them) as well as community people, using a matrix, to determine the priorities on what they really want. After that is done and we see what is the priority, we'll do a good old SWOT analysis on it to see if it stands up to being feasible. For non-business readers, SWOT is a business strategic planning mechanism used by most US corps, very effectively, if done right and followed through.

THEN, I'll help them start on the selected project. That should happen about the first of July. So the first six months or so is really getting settled into the community, learning the language, finding out who does what when and where, what THEY want and need, and what changes they will support, before any work is done. The important thing is that they decide to work on something that is feasible and can be sustained after I leave.

Hope that makes sense to those of you who have been wondering what it is I'm actually doing here! In the meantime, I drink lots of tea and nod and smile and bite my tongue about what I think of the gender dynamics of my little town...I have a "counterpart" which is a woman who is president of the neddie, and also happens to be the mother of the man of my household that I am staying in. Oddly enough, his wife is pretty much confined to the house, per her husbands wishes...