ASWA's Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative promotes entrepreneurship among poor women in African countries by providing seed capital and technical training for their businesses, and encouraging group investment and savings. This investment approach borrows from traditional group support structures familiar to these communities. The Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative also strengthens and reinforces ASWA's educational and anti-violence programs by providing greater economic opportunity to women. With this Initiative, ASWA provides modest seed capital to groups of women, who agree to allocate this capital to its members so they may start or expand their businesses. In exchange for this contribution, the women's groups meet periodically to share lessons learned with their peers and to participate in training funded by ASWA. These groups are also encouraged to employ savings strategies to augment the initial capital contribution so even greater amounts are available to successful groups in the future. ASWA's seed capital is used by women to spark their entrepreneurial potential and promote self-sufficiency. Women may use ASWA's capital to start or expand small-scale businesses, such as building a vegetable stall at the local market, purchasing a sewing machine to provide tailoring services, or purchasing inventory for a village kiosk. ASWA monitors the uses of its contribution through local representatives who participate in group meetings and assist ASWA in selecting women's groups to participate in the initiative. Successful groups may be eligible for additional contributions from ASWA.