The decision to focus our journalism training opportunities toward women reflects both a commitment to equality and a strategic development strategy.

Strategic empowerment.

When Cristi Hegranes conceived of Global Press Institute, her aim was to simultaneously create journalism training and employment opportunities that also fostered community dialogue and development.

"I wanted to enable people to become journalists, because I believe journalism is an empowering profession," Hegranes says.

Her model provides in-depth training followed by long-term employment.

"Personal empowerment is the first step to developing strong, thriving communities," she says.

But it didn't start out as a woman-centered initiative.

"The more research I did, the more I realized that training women would not only increase our ability to fulfill our community development goal, it would also be a practical business decision for Global Press Institute, in terms of return on investment, retention rates and long-term success indicators," she said.

International development agencies have demonstrated that investing in women and girls is often the best bet in developing countries. In fact, $1 invested in providing skills-based education to women typically results in a $34 return on investment to the global economy. What's more, when women are educated and employed, the United Nations and countless NGOs have documented that poverty is alleviated, infant and maternal mortality rates decrease, population growth is more controlled and overall quality of life indicators in a community improve.

"Plus, we know that when women receive skills training they tend to stay close to home, where men tend to leave their villages in favor of larger cities where they are more likely to get a higher paying job," Hegranes adds.

Today, Global Press Institute boasts a 91 percent retention rate among the women trained in the last four years – a striking statistic that reflects why we chose to invest in women!

But just because we train mostly women does not make our aims political or exclusionary! Our inclusive employment platform not only welcomes men, but also relies on them to fill leadership positions, board posts and supporter profiles. Men in Mongolia, Nepal and Mexico have also taken part in our Newsroom training endeavors.

Training and employing women is a strategic choice that has resulted in personal empowerment, community development and, most importantly, exceptional journalism!

Educating women means investing in long-term organizational development and strategic success.