Interweave's Self-Reliance Program

Earn Your Living, Live Your Life, Grow Your Community

The Self Reliance Program is a high-impact initiative designed and sponsored by Interweave Solutions - an international nongovernmental organization - to enable participants in developing countries to achieve self reliance and succeed in business, home and community.

Working with local organizations, including micro-finance institutions, humanitarian agencies, churches and local neighborhood associations, the Interweave Self Reliance Program enables participants to start and expand successful businesses and as families and community groups, to gain capacity to plan, unite and solve shared problems. Local neighborhoods generate economic and social capital to move beyond poverty on a self-sustaining basis.

Three Plans

The program’s focus is to generate self reliance by interweaving strengths of three life priorities - business, home and community. Through regular classes, individual coaching, peer mentoring, and community dialogue and action, participants work individually and collectively to create, implement and regularly renew three plans:

  1. A business/employment plan to grow income
  2. An individual or family plan to improve home life
  3. A group action plan established with neighbors to solve community problems

To help participants create these plans, Interweave has developed two guiding manuals – Success! and Neighbors Working Together - to advance a learning and action curriculum we call “6 P’s and the Q.”

6Ps stands for the 6Ps of successful business – plan, product, price, promotion, process and paperwork. Participants learn and apply the principles and practices to find success in starting and expanding their own businesses.

The “Q” stands for Quality of Life in Home and Community
Participants learn, plan and act together for individual and family well-being and growth. (Budgeting, finances, health, sanitation, parenting, jobs, etc.) and for solving common problems and improving community life. (health, education, environment, human rights, home surroundings, water, etc.)

Measurable Outcomes

Participants increase income by 50% or more as they initiate businesses, jobs, family plans and concrete community improvements. In the process they gain specific skills, confidence and solidarity and generate emotional, economic, and social sustainability.