Neni Institute

Advancing women's agency.

What gives a woman the power to shape the course of her own life?

An independent platform examining the systems, resources, relationships, and institutions that expand or constrain women's ability to make consequential choices.

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What Neni studies

Five domains of agency

Agency is not one subject. Neni studies it where it is made and unmade — in clinics, classrooms, workplaces, councils, and the policies that surround them.

SDG 3

Health & Care

Health access, health literacy, patient voice, caregiving, maternal and reproductive health, clinical research, and the design of health systems.

SDG 4

Education & Skills

Knowledge, schooling, skills, digital access, credentials, and lifelong learning across a woman's life course.

SDG 8

Work & Economic Life

Employment, income, workforce participation, unpaid labor, childcare, caregiving, and economic security.

SDG 5

Leadership & Voice

Representation, advocacy, civic participation, social capital, leadership, and decision-making.

SDG 10

Systems & Policy

Institutions, laws, public systems, organizational practices, and the policies that expand or constrain the other four domains.

Health, work, and education are lenses through which Neni studies agency — not the whole of what Neni is.

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Why agency

Agency is the difference between having options and having a life you chose.

Agency is the practical ability to make consequential decisions: what to do with your time, your body, your income, your education, and your voice — and to have those decisions hold.

It depends on resources and information, but also on the systems around a woman: who schedules her, who pays her, who believes her, who counts her. We prefer the word agency over empowerment because women are decision-makers, not recipients.

Alignment

Championing SDG 5: Gender Equality

Neni is independently aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals. We are not affiliated with or endorsed by the United Nations.

SDG 5

Gender Equality

Umbrella thesis and primary frame.

SDG 3

Good Health & Well-Being

Health, patient agency, caregiving.

SDG 4

Quality Education

Education, skills, literacy, access.

SDG 8

Decent Work

Participation, paid and unpaid labor.

SDG 10

Reduced Inequalities

Race, class, geography, exclusion.

Founder perspective

Michele Slawon Tokpah, MPA

A global learning strategist, public administrator, and civic leader.

Michele founded Neni Institute to create a focused space for exploring the conditions that shape women's ability to make consequential choices about their lives.