Co-Impact has reiterated its commitment to raising and deploying $1 billion, through its Gender Fund, to initiatives working to advance gender equality and promote women’s leadership across the global south.
The Gender Fund, which is now open for applications, will support locally-rooted organisations working to make systems just and inclusive and advance women’s leadership at all levels.
The grants will be awarded to initiatives that focus on systems change with the aim to improve gender-equitable outcomes and women’s leadership in the health, education, and economic opportunity sectors, and/ or institutional change to advance women’s ability to enter, rise to, and thrive in leadership positions in the academic and professional domains of law and/or economics.
All of the grants are expected to go to Global South and locally-rooted organisations in countries like Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Senegal, and South Africa in Africa, while India, Indonesia, Philippines, and Sri Lanka for countries on the Asian continent and Brazil, Mexico, and from Latin America.
Also, organisations that bring feminist approaches to the core of their initiatives will get at least 75 per cent of the grants.
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Co-Impact, Olivia Leland, said: “We are really excited about this open call and recognise the critical role that women’s rights organisations and feminist movements play in advancing gender equality.
“I believe that together, we can move towards the common goal of making systems just and inclusive for women and girls to rise to and thrive in leadership positions at all levels,” Leland said.
He added that Co-Impact recognises that there are multiple ways to advance gender equality. Through the open call, Co-Impact invites applications from Global South and locally-rooted organisations – civil society groups, think tanks and academic institutions, professional associations and networks, women’s rights groups, and feminist and allied movements, among others. Three types of grants will be awarded ranging from $1 million to $20 million, allocated over a three to six-year period.