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Deep-seated stigma continues to plague efforts to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS in much of Sub-Saharan Africa. While access to antiretroviral treatment has expanded, the spread of HIV continues to rise in the West Nile Region of Uganda. Economic empowerment programs are often heralded as a key means to address gender inequality and poverty and mollify the impacts of AIDS-related stigma. In order to assess how economic empowerment programs impact HIV-positive women’s experiences with stigma, we conducted a series of focus groups with HIV-positive women involved with economic empowerment programs and interviews and focus groups with key family members of women with AIDS in West Nile Uganda. Employing an intersectional approach, we found that HIV/AIDS interrelated with particular marriage and descent practices in ways that further marginalized women. We also discovered that economic empowerment programs actively countered women’s vulnerability by directly addressing the mutual influences of axes of inequality within which women were embedded. Consequently, HIV-positive women were able to (re)gain a sense of legitimacy in their households and communities, ultimately mitigating their experiences with AIDS-related stigma. Our research highlights the need for a deeper understanding of how economic empowerment programs are embedded within larger cultural frameworks and perceived by those in participants’ greater social milieu in order to effectively assess the overall impact of interventions on AIDS-related stigma.

Microfinance programs have increased across the globe to help reduce poverty through access to small-scale capital. The spread has often dovetailed with structural adjustment policies in an attempt to address the financial needs of those in the informal economy. While microfinance institutions grow wealthier, their ability to enhance the financial stability of borrowers is tenuous. Research on microfinance programs in the rural highlands of Peru illustrates how they can undermine the financial security of borrowers, increase economic inequality, and decrease food security. Research findings also suggest that microfinance programs are unable to address the needs of women in the informal sector and that it is necessary to evaluate the effects of microfinance programs beyond that of the individual borrower. (Microfinance, Peru, economic development, women, empowerment)

Economic empowerment, HIV risk and AIDS-related stigma appear intricately intertwined for women in Kenya. Their interaction must be understood in order to implement effective economic interventions that also decrease HIV risk and stigma. We conducted a qualitative study amongst women in a rural Kamba-speaking community of southeastern Kenya to pursue whether engagement in an economic empowerment initiative (a basket weaving cooperative) influences women's perspectives and experiences with HIV risk and AIDS-related stigma. We conducted seven women's focus groups: participants in the local basket-weaving cooperative comprised four focus groups and non-participants comprised the remaining three groups. The HIV status of the women was not known. Three dominant themes emerged from the focus groups: empowerment, pervasive vulnerability and unanticipated social paradoxes. Contradictions found in these themes suggest that economic empowerment can become a double-edged sword. Economic empowerment enhanced perceived individual, domestic and social community status. However, this enhancement was not protective of domestic violence and perceived HIV risk. Social perceptions may have paradoxically contributed barriers to HIV testing and treatment putting women at greater HIV risk. In conclusion, economic empowerment initiatives for women in developing countries in the context of the HIV epidemic should be coupled with peer mediated support and HIV-risk education.

Economic empowerment, HIV risk and AIDS-related stigma appear intricately intertwined for women in Kenya. Their interaction must be understood in order to implement effective economic interventions that also decrease HIV risk and stigma. We conducted a qualitative study amongst women in a rural Kamba-speaking community of southeastern Kenya to pursue whether engagement in an economic empowerment initiative (a basket weaving cooperative) influences women's perspectives and experiences with HIV risk and AIDS-related stigma. We conducted seven women's focus groups: participants in the local basket-weaving cooperative comprised four focus groups and non-participants comprised the remaining three groups. The HIV status of the women was not known. Three dominant themes emerged from the focus groups: empowerment, pervasive vulnerability and unanticipated social paradoxes. Contradictions found in these themes suggest that economic empowerment can become a double-edged sword. Economic empowerment enhanced perceived individual, domestic and social community status. However, this enhancement was not protective of domestic violence and perceived HIV risk. Social perceptions may have paradoxically contributed barriers to HIV testing and treatment putting women at greater HIV risk. In conclusion, economic empowerment initiatives for women in developing countries in the context of the HIV epidemic should be coupled with peer mediated support and HIV-risk education. L'émancipation économique, les risques liés au VIH et le stigma du sida semblent étroitement entremêlés pour les femmes au Kenya. Cette interaction doit être comprise pour permettre la mise en œuvre d'interventions économiques efficaces, pouvant aussi diminuer les risques liés au VIH et la stigmatisation vis-à-vis des personnes vivant avec le VIH. Nous avons conduit une étude qualitative parmi des femmes vivant dans une communauté rurale - dont la langue est le kamba - du Sud-Est du Kenya, pour examiner si l'engagement dans une initiative d'émancipation économique (coopérative de vannerie) a un impact sur les points de vue et les expériences des femmes concernant les risques et la stigmatisation liés au VIH/sida. Nous avons animé sept groupes de discussion thématique avec des femmes. Quatre de ces groupes étaient composés de femmes qui participaient à la coopérative locale de vannerie, ce qui n'était pas le cas pour les trois autres groupes. Le statut sérologique de ces femmes vis-à-vis du VIH n'était pas connu. Trois thèmes dominants ont émergé des discussions : l'émancipation, la vulnérabilité généralisée et les paradoxes sociaux non anticipés. Les contradictions relevées pour chacun de ces thèmes suggèrent que l'émancipation économique peut devenir un couteau à double tranchant. L'émancipation économique a renforcé les perceptions sur le statut individuel, domestique et socio-communautaire. Cependant, ce renforcement n'a pas eu d'effet protecteur vis-à-vis de la violence domestique et des perceptions des risques liés au VIH. Les perceptions sociales peuvent avoir, de manière paradoxale, contribué aux obstacles au dépistage et au traitement du VIH qui exposent les femmes à de plus grands risques liés au VIH. En conclusion, les initiatives d'émancipation économique destinées aux femmes dans les pays en développement confrontés à l'épidémie de VIH devraient être couplées à des initiatives de soutien par des pairs et à des programmes d'éducation sur le VIH. Para las mujeres de Kenia, el empoderamiento econémico, el riesgo de contraer el vih y el estigma relacionado con el sida guardan estrecha relacién. Es necesario comprender su interaccién a fin de implementar programas econémicos efectivos que disminuyan el riesgo y el estigma ocasionado por el vih. Los autores llevaron a cabo un estudio cualitativo entre mujeres de una comunidad rural de habla kamba en el sureste de Kenia, con el objetivo de investigar si su participacién en una iniciativa de empoderamiento econémico—una cooperativa de tejido de cestas—incide en las perspectivas y experiencias de las mujeres respecto al riesgo de vih y al estigma ocasionado por el sida. En este sentido, se conformaron siete grupos de enfoque integrados por mujeres: quienes participaban en la cooperativa de tejido de cestas se incorporaron a cuatro de los mismos; mientras que aquellas participantes sin afiliacién a la cooperativa se incorporaron a los tres grupos restantes. El estado de salud de estas mujeres con respecto al vih era desconocido. De los grupos surgieron tres ejes principales: empoderamiento, vulnerabilidad generalizada y paradojas sociales no previstas. En dichos ejes se encontraron contradicciones que demuestran que el empoderamiento econémico puede ser un arma de doble filo. Por un lado, el empoderamiento mejoré el estatus individual, doméstico y social-comunitario. Por el otro, dicho mejoramiento no confiere proteccién ante la violencia doméstica y frente al riesgo percibido del vih. Paradéjicamente, las percepciones sociales pudieron haber creado barreras ante la realizacién del examen de vih y el tratamiento de la enfermedad, lo cual habría colocado a las mujeres en una situacién de mayor riesgo de contraer vih. En conclusién, en países en desarrollo, las iniciativas de empoderamiento econémico para las mujeres en el contexto de la epidemia de vih, deberán ser acompañadas por sus pares, así como por el acceso a informacién relativa a los riesgos de contraerlo.

Microfinance is a development strategy that has spread throughout the world. It has been heralded as a key means of alleviating poverty and empowering women, yet research on its effectiveness has been mixed. This dissertation examines how microfinance programs and development interventions more broadly, are impacting poverty alleviation and women's empowerment in the south central Peruvian Andes. In part one of the dissertation I discuss women and development theory and microfinance interventions. I then provide a background on the Agrarian Reform of 1969, the Shining Path, mining exploitation, and contemporary politics in Peru which illustrate historically rooted socio-economic inequality in Peru. Part two of the dissertation explores how such relations of inequality impact microfinance programs and other development interventions in the Andahuaylas valley. To begin I focus on the economic impacts of microfinance programs on a community and regional level. I explore how microfinance bans are influencing the use of paid labor as opposed to communal labor exchange practices and implications for women. I then discuss the role of microfinance in instigating greater competition in the Andahuaylas valley, how such processes impact economic inequality in rural highland communities, and the role of communal processes in tempering centralization of resources and social and political inequality. I then move to an analysis on an individual and institutional level. I look at how employees of a microfinance institution view and approach women's empowerment as opposed to rural women and men to analyze the effectiveness of this institution in meeting their borrowers stated needs. I then analyze discourses surrounding gender relations in the rural community of Sacclaya versus among professional mestiza women, which reveal the complexity of women's empowerment predicated on issues of race, class, and ethnicity and questions the authority of some women to \"empower\" others. The final section merges community/regional and individual/institutional level analyses through a discussion of assimilation versus cultural preservation processes. I explore the role of class and ethnicity in failing to acknowledge larger socio-economic constraints on rural men and women and implications for poverty alleviation and women's empowerment in the south central highlands of Peru.

Economic empowerment, HIV risk and AIDS-related stigma appear intricately intertwined for women in Kenya. Their interaction must be understood in order to implement effective economic interventions that also decrease HIV risk and stigma. We conducted a qualitative study amongst women in a rural Kamba-speaking community of southeastern Kenya to pursue whether engagement in an economic empowerment initiative (a basket weaving cooperative) influences women's perspectives and experiences with HIV risk and AIDS-related stigma. We conducted seven women's focus groups: participants in the local basket-weaving cooperative comprised four focus groups and non-participants comprised the remaining three groups. The HIV status of the women was not known. Three dominant themes emerged from the focus groups: empowerment, pervasive vulnerability and unanticipated social paradoxes. Contradictions found in these themes suggest that economic empowerment can become a double-edged sword. Economic empowerment enhanced perceived individual, domestic and social community status. However, this enhancement was not protective of domestic violence and perceived HIV risk. Social perceptions may have paradoxically contributed barriers to HIV testing and treatment putting women at greater HIV risk. In conclusion, economic empowerment initiatives for women in developing countries in the context of the HIV epidemic should be coupled with peer mediated support and HIV-risk education.