Montana – Cambodia – Laos – Thailand – Vietnam

The Maureen and Mike Mansfield Center (MC) of The University of Montana (UM) hosted the 2012-2013 U.S. Department of State's 2012-2013 Women’s Empowerment Exchange Program. The Women's Empowerment program included 20 female professionals from Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam, who learned about increasing local capacity and connectivity and studied issues such as the environment, economic development, health, safety, security, strong families and education.

The program offered a hands-on approach to shared issues in women’s leadership and tools to maximize the potential of technology.  The program resulted in the development of an action plan created by each Southeast Asian participant with the assistance of a U.S. partner to advance the project goal which is teaching emerging leaders to engage in collaborative action to address women’s concerns that have global repercussions.

A key aspect of the program was empowering women by providing them with the skills needed to increase local capacity and connectivity.  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has stated, "...there is no question that the spread of cell phones has launched a new era of possibility in the fights against poverty, disease, hunger, corruption, and political oppression...[But] to have a wide impact, the technology must be widely available, and for 300 million women in low- and middle-income countries the technology is still out of reach."

See our 40 Asian and US fellows who participated in the 2012-13 program:

Cohort 1: Asian Fellows

Cohort 1: US Fellowship Coordinators

Cohort 2: Asian Fellows

Cohort 2: US Fellowship Coordinators

Click here to see a blog of one of the American participants, about her experience in Cambodia.