An interview with Sharon Buteau

In an exclusive conversation, Sharon Buteau, shares with us her story, a powerful tale of experiences as she continues a decade-and-a-half long journey through India as research leader and the Executive Director, LEAD at Krea University.  From combining passions, skills and experience into choosing research to drive impact, transitioning from a researcher to heading a […]

On India’s invisible entrepreneurs

Ria Dutta and Sharon Buteau of LEAD at Krea University share insights on the barriers faced by women entrepreneurs in India’s handloom and handicrafts sectors. The piece, published in AVPN Asia, delves into the existing ecosystem for women entrepreneurship and solutions to empower women entrepreneurs. Read the article here.

Addressing the unpaid childcare crisis for women and girls

The learning session on ‘Addressing the unpaid childcare crisis for women and girls: How can we build better after COVID-19?’ held in December last year, as part of the learning series started by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, aimed at fostering learning, exchanging ideas and establishing connections across partners working on evidence, advocacy, policies, and interventions related to COVID-19’s social and economic impacts on women and girls. As part of the larger mandate, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), and IWWAGE at LEAD are collaborating to undertake an evidence review of the current childcare crisis and the road for post-COVID recovery and resilience. A paper is underway outlining the different pathways in which COVID-19 is impacting women’s care burden, with recommendations for policy solutions and measures that could be explored in different contexts by governments, the private sector, and other key development actors, with a focus on low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

AVPN SAICF 21: Reimagining India’s Social Protection Architecture

LEAD at Krea University hosted a session “Re-building a dynamic and durable blueprint for India’s Social Protection Architecture” at AVPN Asia’s South Asia Impact Capital Festival. The panel featured Executive Director Sharon Buteau and Soumya Kapoor Mehta (Head – Initiative for What Works to Advance Women and Girls in the Economy), and was moderated by Vivek Bhandari (Visiting Professor of History, Krea University). The discussion revolved around reimagining India’s social protection architecture in the new normal, using emerging design elements that are research, data, and systems driven.

#WERiseTwitterChat – Enabling women entrepreneurship in India

On the occasion of Women’s Entrepreneurship Day (November 19), LEAD at Krea University and IWWAGE hosted a Twitter chat to explore strategies for enhancing women’s participation in entrepreneurial activity and strengthening enterprise resilience. The chat explored strategies for addressing restrictive social norms that influence women’s participation in aspirations for entrepreneurship, improving skilling programs, and building business acumen, enabling meaningful access to technology and markets. Participants also discussed strategies for collecting better-disaggregated data and integrating a gender lens in entrepreneurship development programs and policies. Read the highlights in this blog.

IWWAGE launches ‘Gender in Focus’ Magazine

IWWAGE launched the first edition of its quarterly Magazine, Gender in Focus. The digital magazine showcases IWWAGE’s work in the intervention, research and advocacy space around key issues emerging as challenges for women’s economic empowerment in India. Gender in Focus presents a teaser of some of the work that IWWAGE is involved in, to address some of these challenges and in capturing best practices.