Letter from the PresidentDear friends, Spring Greetings! March was an invigorating month as we joined our grantees, advisors, and supporters in New York to mark the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day, on March 8th. While the day commemorates the brave women workers of New York City, it is better known globally than “locally” here in the United States. 2010 marks two more anniversaries: the 30th of the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the UN treaty on women’s rights, and the 15 years since the adoption of the Beijing Platform for Action—a commitment to gender equality. Global Fund grants to women activists ensured their strong presence at the New York meetings of the United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women. Women’s movements have realized significant achievements since 1910. Most women have the vote. They form 52% of the elected legislature in Rwanda. Passage of a landmark bill in India will result in women holding one-third of legislative positions in the world’s largest democracy. Yet, as our grantee partners remind us—we have a long way to go. Women’s vulnerability to violence and poverty is further stressed by escalating military expenditures in countries around the world. The US sets a poor example—it spends more than all other nations combined on its military and remains the largest producer and vendor of military hardware. Women refuse to concede their vision of a just world to bullets and bombs. They are demonstrating that peace is a viable alternative. In response to their urging, the Global Fund has launched an initiative to support women-led efforts to dismantle militarism and reclaim genuine security. We are channeling financial resources to them and seek to raise awareness about how militarized societies compromise women’s health, safety, and human rights. Martin Luther King Jr. said “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.” The passage of the US health care bill is a small step in the right direction—we hope that reductions in military spending will follow, because investments in human capital are the only true guarantee of our collective security.
Kavita N. Ramdas Kavita is the 2010 recipient of the Council on Foundations’ Robert W. Scrivner Award for Creative Grantmaking. This prestigious award is given annually to a grantmaker that has made a critical difference. Congratulations! |
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Global Fund for Women
Global Fund for Women
Promoting women’s economic security, health, education and leadership
Spring 2010
In solidarity,
In March, the three of us traveled to New York for the 15th anniversary of the 1995 Beijing Conference on Women and the 54th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). The forum offered an opportunity to hear how the historic Beijing summit has resulted in actual, lived change for women worldwide. Despite the economic recession and major cutbacks in donor funding, we were pleasantly surprised at the unprecedented number of women at the CSW this year—nearly 8,000 women from over 100 countries.
In the aftermath of the earthquake that struck Haiti this January, the Global Fund for Women activated the Crisis Fund and made emergency grants to our grantee partners leading relief efforts on the ground. Within a few weeks, we received over $100,000 to support Haitian women’s groups.
This spring, the Global Fund for Women released an impact report analyzing the underlying causes of violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the ways women's groups are using Global Fund support to promote women’s leadership in restoring justice and building peace. Funding a Women’s Movement Against Sexual Violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo: 2004-2009 profiles ten women's organizations applying innovative, community-based strategies that empower women to lead change. Authored by Muadi Mukenge, Regional Director for Sub-Saharan Africa, with Caitlin Stanton, Senior Development Officer, and Congolese advisor Aimée Kady, the report offers proactive recommendations for future support in the DRC. Available in English and French.
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Last June, on the occasion of Father's Day, GlSUCCESS STORIES
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