Asociación Mujeres con Éxito

About the Organization Contact and Service Areas Successes and Impact Innovative Solutions for IPV Survivors’ Economic Security Survivor Leadership Understanding Economic Harm in Context

About the Organization

Country

Ecuador

Number of survivors served in a year

51 to 100

Languages

Spanish

Groups most commonly served

Disabled persons Indigenous peoples, communities, or nations Refugees, migrants, or internally displaced persons Rural communities Women

Type of organization

Nonprofit or non-governmental organization (NGO) Other non-traditional organization Small business Social enterprise

Program model(s)

Community-based financial initiatives Holistic crisis response Survivor-centered income generation Systemic change through strategic partnerships Transforming social norms through community-building

Contact and Service Areas

Email

as***********************@***il.com

Address

Baltazara de Calderón 2-26 y Miguel Vélez, Cuenca, Ecuador

Service Area(s)

Azuay Province, Ecuador

Successes and Impact

“Women return and tell us stories that we can hardly believe are possible.”

Asociación Mujeres con Éxito has transformed the lives of more than 480 survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) through an innovative model that combines technical training, immediate income generation, and solidarity networks that transcend generations and contribute to sustainable change in communities.

Transforming economic and personal trajectories

The Mujeres con Éxito model has enabled hundreds of survivors to significantly change their economic and personal situations. Many have managed to complete their formal education, establish their own businesses, and access stable jobs after completing the program. In addition to acquiring practical skills, survivors build self-confidence and a clear path to stability, setting them up for long-lasting security. “So it’s effective: I get training, my children are in a safe space, and I also have money,” a participant notes.

The organization’s holistic approach benefits not only survivors but also their families, creating an environment where survivors can thrive both financially and emotionally. “Every woman who comes here and then leaves does not leave the same,” Mujeres con Éxito states. “They always leave with new experiences, higher self-esteem, and stronger skillsets.”

Support networks that transcend generations

Mujeres con Éxito’s impact goes beyond the economic, creating a space where survivors can rebuild their confidence and support each other to change key dynamics in their lives. The organization explains the importance of this transformation: “That possibility that they have in this space to say, ‘No, I don’t want to. I’m not going to do it,’ which is something they haven’t been able to verbalize their entire lives. That is a tremendous impact.” Participants develop relationships that continue even after completing the program, ensuring that women can face new challenges with the confidence that they are not alone.

This supportive environment also benefits participants’ children, who witness models of resilience, independence, and self-determination. These transformations contribute to breaking intergenerational cycles of violence.

Recognition and positioning in the community

Mujeres con Éxito has positioned itself as a benchmark of excellence in its community. For sixteen years, they have operated a successful catering business that serves clients from all walks of life, including high-level government officials. “We serve everyone [through our catering business] from individual clients to the mayor. . . . We have provided services to ministers, we have even served the president. They are impressed with the excellent service we provide.”

This recognition has culminated in official awards, such as a municipal distinction for social service. The organization has transformed public perception—people no longer see them as a charitable project but value them for the quality of their products and services: “We are no longer one of these ventures where people say, ‘I’ll buy from them just because they’re women and I want to help.’ No, people come here because we offer a good product, because we provide good services, and on top of that they can contribute to a social project.”

Innovative Solutions for IPV Survivors’ Economic Security

“This is first and foremost . . . a matter of rights, because [as] women [we] have the right to manage our own resources and to decide how to use them. And it is this empowerment, this possibility of managing my resources, that allows me to make healthy decisions about my life.”

About the Program

Mujeres con Éxito launched its economic autonomy program over sixteen years ago in response to a need that survivors identified: upon leaving shelters, they faced enormous barriers to accessing the job market. What began as a training center has transformed into a comprehensive model that offers training, immediate income, and ongoing support.

The program combines three key elements: technical training that compensates participants for each hour of learning, social enterprises that participants run collectively, and complementary services that ensure no survivor is left behind. Crucially, survivors themselves actively plan and implement the program, ensuring that strategies remain relevant and responsive to their lived realities.

This flexible model, adapted to the realities of women survivors, not only transforms individual lives but also creates a sustainable foundation for the development of more inclusive and resilient communities. With this program, Mujeres con Éxito demonstrates that a comprehensive, flexible, and survivor-centered approach can break cycles of economic dependency and violence.

Program Development and Key Strategies

Mujeres con Éxito’s success is grounded in three key strategies that respond to the specific needs of survivors:

Technical training with immediate income
Collectively managed small businesses
Survivor-centered adaptability

Technical training with immediate income

Removing economic barriers from day one

Mujeres con Éxito has designed practical programs that offer technical training in areas such as cooking, artisanal baking, and laundry. During each hour of training, participants not only acquire practical skills but also receive financial compensation that allows them to cover immediate needs.

“For every hour they train here, they receive money. Every hour that women are learning how to serve customers, how to polish serving ware, how to operate a convection oven, how to run a small store, how to manage inventory—every hour they spend here, they receive money,” the organization comments. This approach ensures that participants start generating income from the beginning of their training process, helping them take immediate steps toward financial independence.

Certified technical training

Once survivors acquire specialized skills in the organization’s areas of technical training, they receive recognized certifications that can then help them expand their employment opportunities. With a curriculum that combines professional skills with basic business knowledge, Mujeres con Éxito prepares survivors as both employees and entrepreneurs.

Collectively managed small businesses

Social entrepreneurship as a space for learning

The businesses that Mujeres con Éxito operates—including a catering service, café, bakery, canning operation, and copy center—function as real-life laboratories where participants practice their skills while generating collective income. This hands-on experience in a supportive environment fosters mutual support and confidence among participants and provides them with valuable work experience.

Solidarity as a driver of growth

This collective model fosters relationships of mutual support that transcend the workplace. The more experienced participants become natural mentors, creating a virtuous cycle that fosters a sense of belonging and collaboration. Even after graduation from the program, solidarity networks continue to provide support and transformation.

“It’s a beautiful exercise of peer mentorship, because the women with the most experience—we still have some of the original founding members on our team, who have been working with us for sixteen years—are the ones training the new members as they join the process,” one participant describes.

Survivor-centered adaptability

Flexibility for all circumstances

Recognizing that each survivor comes with unique circumstances, Mujeres con Éxito constantly adapts its programs. For those with mobility difficulties or disabilities, the organization modifies activities without compromising the quality of the program.

The organization describes its approach: “No one is ever left out; instead, we adjust. For example, if one of our peers can’t move around much, what she will do is fold the clothes for our small laundry service. So we will adjust tasks so that she can learn to fold, learn to iron—things she can do without needing to move around a lot. For the [participant] who has vision problems, for example, we can work with her to strengthen certain skills; for instance, she could work on embroidery or other specific tasks that fit her needs.”

Comprehensive services to eliminate obstacles

The organization provides childcare during the training sessions, recognizing that many participants are single mothers or primary caregivers. They also offer emotional support and individualized tutoring when group sessions are not feasible for survivors.

Personalized life plans

Each participant develops a personal plan with the support of social workers, identifying specific goals and concrete steps to achieve them. This approach ensures that the program responds to individual aspirations while maintaining a collective framework of support. Mujeres con Éxito encourages survivors to take the long view: “We have gotten through the immediate emergency phase—they saved their lives, fled their homes, and had their basic needs met in the shelter. [So we ask,] ‘What dreams do you have now?’”

Survivor Leadership

“I participated in the training process [at Mujeres con Éxito], and I’ve been here for eleven years, supporting women who are also going through this process. I was welcomed [by the organization], so I know everything that being welcomed entails. And to move forward, we need to be accompanied—but accompanied by the right people. I provide daily support, and it’s wonderful to do this. I can share my experience with other women, and this creates a closeness with them so that they can make it too.”

One of the fundamental pillars of Mujeres con Éxito is their focus on survivor leadership within the organization. Over the years, many survivors who began as participants have become key leaders within the team, making critical decisions for the program’s operation and guiding others in their healing journeys. Survivors become mentors and leaders as they share their own experiences and grow together, building a collaborative and supportive leadership structure within the organization.

This survivor leadership model ensures that the organization’s strategies are deeply connected to the realities of the communities they serve. Survivor-leaders bring a unique understanding of the barriers and opportunities women face in situations of violence, allowing the program to constantly evolve to respond to emerging needs.

Understanding Economic Harm in Context

Survivors of gender-based and intimate partner violence in Ecuador face multiple forms of economic harm worsened by deeply entrenched structural and social factors. The following factors affect the economic realities of survivors, as well as their options for achieving security and economic autonomy:

Inequality and gaps in economic rights limit survivors’ options
Displacement and migration intensify survivors’ economic precarity
Social isolation weakens support networks essential to achieving economic independence
The escalation of violence and organized crime aggravates risks for survivors

Inequality and gaps in economic rights limit survivors’ options

Economic abuse falls outside the legal framework but deeply impacts survivors

Although 42.8% of Ecuadorian women have reported being subjected to some form of intimate partner violence in their lifetime,² economic abuse—including forced financial dependency and control of resources—is often not explicitly addressed in Ecuadorian law. This legal gap leaves survivors without specific protections against forms of violence that can be just as devastating as physical abuse.

Mujeres con Éxito highlights the consequences of not addressing these other forms of partner violence: “Psychological violence against women . . . has affected their ability to make decisions about joining the workforce. Ideas about their limitations have been imposed on them [by their harm-doers]—‘you have no education, you have never been able to achieve anything, if I wasn’t there you would have nothing, you have never been able to create anything, you own nothing.’ It has held them back and had a significant impact on their lives, preventing them from taking the first steps toward entering the workforce.”

Unequal land and resource ownership heightens economic insecurity

Inequality in land ownership and lack of employment opportunities increase women’s economic insecurity.³ Indigenous and Afro-Ecuadorian communities face a disproportionate impact and are frequently dispossessed of their lands and resources.⁴ This limits women’s economic options and can lead to economic dependence on others, including harm-doers.

This structural inequality is even more pronounced in rural and Indigenous communities, where women shoulder additional burdens. “The violence inflicted [on women] is the same, whether in the countryside or in the city. But I believe that rural women face higher levels of violence. Working the fields is hard; it is very taxing. And on top of performing hard physical work, women face violence,” one participant explains. Survivors in these communities face additional barriers, such as limited access to formal employment and financial resources,⁵ creating a cycle where economic insecurity and violence reinforce each other.

Displacement and migration intensify survivors’ economic precarity

Internal displacement due to violence and natural disasters has increased in Ecuador, affecting 49,000 people in 2024.⁶ In addition, Ecuador is home to nearly 440,000 Venezuelan refugees and asylum-seekers, many of whom face challenges accessing basic services and legal protections.⁷ These conditions increase the economic hardship of migrant and displaced women, many of whom are also survivors of intimate partner violence.

Social isolation weakens support networks essential to achieving economic independence

The social context in Ecuador creates additional barriers for survivors seeking economic autonomy. “In this country, there is a lot of shame and guilt around reporting violence. Especially in the city where we are based, where state statistics say that 8 out of 10 women are living through violence. But it is a very conservative, very religious city, where family carries great weight,” the organization states.

This combination of high rates of violence with conservative social norms creates an environment where survivors who seek help face family and community rejection. Losing family and social networks has direct economic consequences, especially for mothers who need childcare to be able to work. The organization notes that survivors say, “We have lost all our safe networks. Our family has already cast us aside because we reported the violence.” Without these networks, many women are unable to access employment or training opportunities, perpetuating their economic insecurity.

The escalation of violence and organized crime aggravates risks for survivors

In 2019, the province of Azuay recorded the highest rates of gender-based violence in the country, with 79.2% of women having been subjected to some type of violence at some point in their lives—figures that significantly exceed the national average of 64.9%.⁸ This situation has worsened dramatically since 2023 due to the security crisis in Ecuador, where homicides increased by 429% between 2019 and 2024,⁹ including an alarming increase in femicides linked to criminal groups.¹⁰

This escalation of violence has created new challenges for organizations like Mujeres con Éxito, as many survivors seeking services face heightened levels of crisis and risk due to this context of widespread insecurity. The situation becomes even more complicated when harm-doers have ties to organized crime groups, compromising the security of shelters and support services. In this context, strengthening networks between organizations is crucial to maintaining safe spaces and ensuring that survivors can access the resources necessary to build economic autonomy without compromising their physical safety.

Notes

Direct quotes are slightly edited for style and flow.
Instituto Nacional Estadísticas y Censos (INEC) [National Institute of Statistics and Census], Encuesta Nacional sobre Relaciones Familiares y Violencia de Género contra las Mujeres [National Survey on Family Relationships and Gender-Based Violence Against Women], Quito: INEC, November 2019, https://www.ecuadorencifras.gob.ec/documentos/web-inec/Estadisticas_Sociales/Violencia_de_genero_2019/Boletin_Tecnico_ENVIGMU.pdf.
Claudia Garcia-Moreno, Henrica A. F. M. Jansen, Mary Ellsberg, Lori Heise, and Charlotte H. Watts, “Prevalence of Intimate Partner Violence: Findings from the WHO Multi-Country Study on Women’s Health and Domestic Violence,” The Lancet 368, no. 9544 (2006): 1260-69, https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(06)69523-8.
Nieves Zúñiga, “Ecuador – Country Narrative Report 2022,” Land Portal, September 22, 2022, https://landportal.org/book/narratives/2022/ecuador.
Human Rights Watch, Ecuador: Events of 2022, World Report 2023, New York, NY: Human Rights Watch, 2023, https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2023/country-chapters/ecuador.
Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), “Ecuador: Internal Displacement Overview,” IDMC, 2025, https://www.internal-displacement.org/countries/ecuador.
“Ecuador,” Where We Work, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), accessed October 3, 2025, https://www.unhcr.org/where-we-work/countries/ecuador.
INEC, National Survey on Family Relationships and Gender-based Violence.
Human Rights Watch, Ecuador: Events of 2024, World Report 2025, New York, NY: Human Rights Watch,” 2025, https://www.hrw.org/es/world-report/2025/country-chapters/ecuador.
“Mapas y cartografía social del Ecuador [Maps and Social Cartography of Ecuador],” Asociación Latinoamericana para el Desarrollo Alternativo [Association for Latin American Alternative Development], accessed September 10, 2025, https://www.fundacionaldea.org/mapas.