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Dear Friend,
 News reports and images are pouring in about the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti yesterday outside the capital city of Port-au-Prince. The board and staff of the Global Fund for Women, which has almost 20 years of history in supporting women’s rights groups in Haiti, wish to express our solidarity with the people of Haiti during this time of grief and loss.
We have established a crisis fund to enable long-term relief and rebuilding efforts led by Haitian women’s rights activists, whose work will be even more critically needed in the aftermath of this natural calamity.
Often referred to as the most impoverished country in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti has a proud history as a nation that challenged slavery as early as 1791 and remained a stubborn burr on the side of powerful slave owning nations, including both the United States and France. In more recent times, Haiti has faced tremendous socio-political and economic challenges, which have been compounded by a series of devastating natural disasters, including four successive hurricanes in 2008.
In the face of this ongoing adversity, grassroots women’s groups have worked relentlessly to ensure that the poorest of the poor have access to basic resources and can mobilize to ensure their rights. Since 1991, when the Global Fund made its first grant to a group of peasant women working with Partners in Health, the humanitarian group led by Paul Farmer, the Global Fund has provided over $300,000 in ongoing support to 18 women’s groups in Haiti working to protect human rights and improve ordinary citizens’ access to education, health, sanitation, and economic opportunity.
While the Global Fund is not a relief organization, we have encouraged our grantee partners in Haiti to feel free to use our funds to address urgent and immediate needs in their communities. We also applaud the interventions of sister organizations such as MADRE, Grassroots International and other direct relief groups such as Mercy Corps, CARE, and Action Aid. They are providing what Haiti’s citizens need right now.
Your contribution to the Global Fund for Women’s crisis fund will allow us to stand with the proud activists of Haiti to strengthen our support of women’s groups in the aftermath of the earthquake, and to continue that support long after the emergency needs have been met and major aid organizations have left the country.
We appreciate your support and your solidarity with the people of Haiti.
Sincerely,
Kavita Ramdas
President and CEO
Donate to the GFW Crisis Fund
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