Fourteen million girls under 18 will be married this year – that’s 38,000 today or 13 girls in the last 30 seconds – according to the UN Population Fund.
Girls deserve better. Girls deserve education, to dream big, and to make those dreams a reality. Girls deserve to make their own decisions about their growing bodies; about when and whom they will marry, if at all.
We're committed to a world with zero violence against girls and women. With grant partners from Malawi to India, and support from donors such as the Nike Foundation, Global Fund has worked for more than 20 years to give adolescent girls equal rights, education legal advocacy, and leadership training.
Lydia HoldenGrant partner Shaheen works to “crash” weddings of child brides in India through what they call “sting operations.” Determined to stop the practice of child marriage, the women and girls of Shaheen document every sting operation and bring the names of those involved to the police and the media, while also working to change the legal minimum marriage age to 18.
Iris GarciaMeanwhile, in Sub-Saharan Africa, Girls Empowerment Network-Malawi (GENET) is working hand-in-hand with girls to advocate for similar laws by empowering them to raise their own voices. GENET’s approach to ending child marriage is completely girl-centered. In their girl empowerment program, girls participate in community meetings, lead discussions, and produce documentaries to change the conversation about the value of girls. With GENET, girls power up with the leadership skills necessary to change the situation for themselves and others.
Results speak for themselves: as a result of investments by Global Fund for Women, the number of girls enrolled in school in Malawi has increased by over 50 percent, more than 30 girls have been rescued from forced marriages, and cases of child marriage are now rare in the community.
A mighty movement can grow from a single spark, or a single seed.
That’s what we’re seeing in Burkina Faso, Kenya, and Uganda, where Global Fund for Women supported 22 women’s groups who are training women to grow their own food more sustainably. The Rural Women Striding Forward initiative, made possible with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, empowers women at the grassroots level by teaching sustainable agriculture techniques and building leadership skills.
All photos by Terry LorantSince the initiative launched in 2011, more than 5,000 women have taken part, using the skills they learn to grow produce such as bananas, pumpkins, and other indigenous food that was previously lost to the community. The result? More food for their families, and more income for the women who sell their extra produce at the market.
In fact, as a result of the training, households that previously had only one meal a day are now having three quality meals a day. And it doesn’t stop there. When the women generate more income as a result of selling their produce, they are more economically empowered, earn more respect from their husbands, and are more frequently seen as leaders. The initiative also trains women in other activities that spark women’s human rights, including literacy and business management—making their yield even more fruitful.
Politics may still be considered a man’s game in Asia and the Pacific, but not for long. The programs of Dalit Women’s Rights Forum (DWRF) in Nepal empowered 35-year-old housewife Namsara to raise her voice and take action. Namsara began sharing her own experience with domestic violence and her ideas to end violence with other women in her community, becoming a popular leader and change generator in her village as a result. Now, in addition to holding leadership positions on important village committees, she is helping to shape government legislation to advance women’s human rights.
S. Smith PatrickNamsara is just one of countless women in Asia and the Pacific who are finding their voice, empowering others, and unleashing their potential to advance women’s human rights. With a four-year investment from the Funding Leadership Opportunities for Women (FLOW) Fund of the Government of the Netherlands, Global Fund for Women is supporting organizations who are leading the charge to end violence and poverty, recruiting women to run for office, and applying grassroots solutions to climate change.
Syed Javaid A. KazaiTo date, Global Fund for Women has awarded $2,287,537 to 123 organizations in 23 countries throughout Asia and the Pacific with Funding Leadership for Women (FLOW) grants to energize thousands of women and girls to become vibrant leaders. In all, our work on the FLOW initiative to propel progress for women touched the lives of almost 200,000 people in its first two years.
Human trafficking for sex work, domestic work, and labor exploitation is rising at disturbing rates. In Asia alone, an estimated 30 million women and children have been trafficked over the past 30 years. To tackle and spotlight this critical issue, Global Fund for Women launched a three-year anti-trafficking initiative for Asia in July 2013, with support from the ING Foundation.
The initiative has enabled women’s groups in India, Indonesia, Nepal, Philippines, and Thailand to combat trafficking by strengthening networks of survivors, identifying and implementing the most effective strategies to prevent trafficking, and gaining increased visibility and voice in government and other high-level decision-making spaces.
Photo courtesy Shakti SamuhaWe kicked off the initiative by selecting our local partners – 10 grassroots organizations, one national network and one global network dedicated to ending the trafficking of women – and making initial grants. In April 2014, in partnership with a local advisor and grant partner, we brought the 12 groups together to share learnings and create shared goals. The groups left the meeting with new strategies, fresh ideas and examples from their peers in other countries, and sharpened objectives for their work in the time ahead.
Photo courtesy Shakti SamuhaShakti Samuha, one of the groups, was founded in 1996 by survivors of trafficking in Nepal and has grown to be a network of 500 women and girl survivors throughout the country. Through Global Fund for Women’s initiative, Shakti Samuha aims to expand its work to 28 high-risk trafficking districts in Nepal in order to reach and support more survivors.
“I’ve endured persecution, received threats, and been attacked. They’ve tried to kill me and have threatened me with different kinds of weapons.”
This testimony from a women’s human rights defender in Guatemala says it all: activism is dangerous. In many regions, speaking out, standing up, and charging ahead for women’s rights is met with violence and threats. In Mesoamerica – a region comprised of Mexico and Central America – there has been a recent and disturbing rise in violence against women and the women who work to defend their rights.
In an effort to protect and strengthen women fighting for social justice in the region, Global Fund for Women provided initial funding to six local organizations to launch the Mesoamerican Women Human Rights Defenders’ Initiative (IMD) three years ago. In collaboration with various organizations, the IMD has made significant progress including the creation of the Mesoamerican Registry of Attacks, the only system of its kind in the world, which records statistics on attacks and threats, and helps to shine a light on the needs of women human rights defenders. In 2013 alone, the IMD provided more than 100 women activists and their families with emergency resources, shelters, self-care centers, counseling and workshops.
©Paola GianturcoThe IMD is focused on creating national networks, recognizing that women activists in the region often do not have the same personal support systems as men. Since 2009, they have created five national networks in Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala, which have organized and supported more than 360 women from diverse social movements to develop security and self-care strategies. In addition, the IMD regularly brings together activists for workshops to share innovative strategies and learn together. In January 2014, 75 IMD members, activists, and donors came together in Mexico City to share stories, strengthen regional partnerships, and exchange ideas for advocacy, fundraising, and training to support the fearless work of women’s human rights defenders.
In too many cultures around the world, equality is especially elusive for the most marginalized populations. LGBTQI and indigenous people, sex workers, and others often face violence and horrible threats, as well as legal discrimination that undermines the most fundamental human rights. For years, Global Fund for Women has funded groups around the world who continue courageously advocating for real, lasting social change and human rights for all.
Photo courtesy Zagreb PrideAfter a long and fierce fight by thousands of activists for same-sex civil unions in Croatia led by several of our grant partners in the region – including Zagreb Pride Organization, Lesbian Organization Rijeka (LORI), Lesbian Group ‘Kontra’, Zenska Soba (Women’s Room), Le Zbor, and many others – the parliament passed the Same Sex Life-Partnership Act in 2014. As Zagreb Pride put it: “[The] last few years have been very turbulent for LGBT and women’s movements in Croatia, and although we are now celebrating a big victory, our political and cultural struggle for equality continues.”
Photo courtesy Le ZborFurther east in Georgia, Global Fund for Women grantee partners mobilized non-governmental institutions and citizens to lobby for anti-discrimination legislation that would apply to every citizen on any basis, including sexual orientation, ethnicity, race, gender identity, language, and religion. In May 2014, the Georgian parliament passed the law almost unanimously. While enforcement remains to be seen, these laws are considered very positive and critical steps toward human rights and equality in Europe and Central Asia.
What do you get when you bring together over 50 women’s rights powerhouses from 15 countries in one of the world’s most volatile regions?
Global Fund for Women’s largest convening ever, for starters. Responding to an unprecedented level of social and political upheaval and some of the worst human rights crises in ongoing armed conflicts, we brought together leaders from the organizations we fund, our advisors, and other women’s rights activists in the Middle East and North Africa for a two-day meeting in Amman, Jordan in January 2014.
The meeting – supported by the Channel Foundation, Margot Milliken, and an anonymous donor – opened a safe space for leaders of the women’s rights movement to exchange innovative strategies for advocacy and social change, share lessons and stories about their work on the ground, and develop responses to the challenges many of them face, including horrific violence, threats, and imprisonment.
Following this collaborative meeting, activists left with new relationships and a renewed, fully charged commitment to unite to advance human rights in the Middle East and North Africa.
All photos ©Bowerbird PhotographyA major advocacy win in the region came just months after the convening. Global Fund for Women has been supporting KAFA (which means “enough” in Arabic), in its advocacy efforts to pass the first anti-domestic violence law in Lebanon. KAFA along with several other women’s groups in Lebanon, worked tirelessly on drafting the bill and bolstering support over the course of five years. In April 2014, an amended form of the bill was passed. As the amended bill did not include punishment for marital rape, KAFA has launched a renewed campaign to generate awareness and to prove to the members of parliament responsible for the omission that they must change their course.
