What is the Evolution Board of Directors?
Context:
Aristri Sud was founded in 2009 to empower women by developing their entrepreneurship skills to generate increased revenue. After several years of bespoke interventions on 3 continents, the Artistri Sud Social Entrepreneurship Training (ASSET) program was designed in 2012-2013 by a team of experts to address the many common needs of (women) small producers globally who were trying to improve livelihoods and earn a living from their existing assets. This program was piloted in 2013 in Bolivia.
Over the ensuing 10 years, AS innovated its flagship program annually: curriculum was designed to meet the needs of entrepreneurs working in craft, as well as tourism, and more diverse subjects; each year, activities were redesigned to maximize learning and impact; new methodologies, educational technologies and approaches were integrated; modules explicitly addressing gender equality were developed with great impact; a leadership and train-the-trainer programs were also developed and added. All these program innovations were designed and implemented to catalyze the empowerment of women–to support agency and to bring women’s influence to their own homes, their communities and beyond. The main vector for increasing women’s influence and leadership is their capacity to increase incomes. A retrospective impact study of Artistri Sud’s work published in 2020 indicated significant impacts in incomes (average of 94% in one year), home ownership, improvements in living conditions, confidence, agency, mentorship and more.
Current status
In 2023, AS is prioritizing women in small-scale regenerative (organic, sustainable) farming, as a means of generating even greater impacts in the areas of biodiversity and nutrition (see one pager and backgrounder for more information about this strategic shift).
This evolution will involve:
the launch of a new brand
innovations to our programs
new / additional approaches to resource-development
building communities of engaged supporters
a strategic plan to guide the organization’s direction in the coming years
Evolution Board – the vision:
Our vision is of a group of 8-10 people who will come together to shepherd the organization through this evolution – hence the name, “Evolution Board of Directors”. This group would be formed for a reduced term with the specific goal of helping develop strategize in 3 major areas:
Financial sustainability
People
Programs
It is planned that a strategic plan incorporating these areas will be the outcome of this process. Board members will commit to sharing their thoughts and expertise to help develop strategies on these topics.
It is anticipated that a couple of meetings will be held on each of these topics in the coming months; we plan to wrap up activities by the end of this year.
Evolution Board members will then have the option of forming the new Board of Directors, and of rolling these 4-5 months of service into a regular 2 year board mandate, if desired by the member. The Evolution Board will determine the terms of the regular board mandate.
We are currently looking for these motivated, thoughtful, committed movers-and-shakers with diverse expertise to create our new board of directors.
Tentative plan:
Aug: recruitment & onboarding
Sept: begin meetings – 1 to 2 per month
December: wrap up!
What To Do Next:
To inquire further or to put your name forward for this interim role (with the possibility of continuing onward), please contact us below using the contact form at the bottom of the page.
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