Overseas Education Fund (OEF) records

The Overseas Education Fund (OEF) was established by the League of Women Voters of the United States in May, 1947, in an effort to rebuild communities, post-WWII, with civic education, organizational techniques and leadership training focused on the potential contributions of women. The incipient organization was at first designated as the Carrie Chapman Catt Memorial Fund in honor of the women’s suffrage advocate who led the campaign for the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The organization was subsequently called the Overseas Education Fund of the League of Women Voters, then later OEF International.

OEF was active in hundreds of foreign countries, most prominently those in Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia. The goals of OEF programs abroad included: strengthening women’s economic involvement in their communities; working with women in identifying development obstacles confronting them; and helping women establish and manage their own businesses. The last of these goals was facilitated largely through the activities of OEF’s Women in Business (WIB) Program, beginning in 1981. Within the United States, OEF organized international forums to provide education on the needs of women in third world countries, as well as promote cross-cultural interaction; promoted international development through workshops, publications and other projects; and actively sought funding and support through Congress and other granting institutions for worldwide development of women’s issues.

During the first years of its existence, OEF focused its efforts on providing training and consultation services to leaders of women's and voluntary organizations in twenty-five developing countries (Small Enterprise Development: SED). Starting in the 1960s and continuing into the 1970s and 1980s, OEF received funding grants from the Agency for International Development (A.I.D.) of the U.S. State Department as well as corporate and private organizations to support over fifty field- and U.S.- based training programs for women leaders in South and Central America and the Caribbean (Women in Development: WID). During these decades OEF refocused the social welfare orientation of many women's and voluntary organizations toward "self-help" community development in rural and urban areas, offering technical assistance and training (Women in Development Technical Training: WIDTech). OEF’s Women, Law, and Development Program (WLD) began in 1983, advocating for education to improve the legal status of women, followed in 1986 by the Program of Education for Participation (PEP), a community education and action program based in Central America, which employed innovative and informal educational methods to help participants understand and use democratic processes effectively.

By the end of the 1980s, with government funding rapidly drying up, and projects in Senegal and El Salvador running into problems, OEF International began experiencing budget shortfalls. By early 1990, the organization was searching for a more focused identity and financial security by appealing to the changing trends in funding organizations. However, in September, 1990, it was clear that the program running in Somalia would have to be closed out prematurely due to the political instability and violence that overwhelmed that country. Already financially unstable, OEF was unable to recover from the loss, and though valiant efforts were made to eliminate debt and restructure, the organization closed down operations in 1991.