Despite the renewed commitment of the international community to provide economic opportunities for poor women, most observers suggest that the majority of the past and current experience of community enterprise programmes for women has failed to make any significant impact on women’s incomes and social empowerment.
The main purpose of this chapter is to assess the impact of GMCL on enhancing economical and social empowerment of women in order to better understand the potential of this particular type of initiative in promoting capacity building and local development. Major outcomes o this research include giving voice and visibility to poor women, identifying their preferences and decision-making needs to poverty reduction and finally, developing culturally-sensitive policy recommendations that consider the multiple dimensions of empowerment.