Fund for Gender Equality annual report 2018-2019

Author(s)/editor(s)

Sara de la Peña Espín (writer), Gretchen Luchsinger (editor)

This year, the Fund for Gender Equality (FGE) celebrates ten years of partnerships with women’s civil society organizations and victories in the fight for gender equality. The FGE has proven to be a crucial feminist grant-making mechanism promoting women´s economic and political empowerment. Since 2009, FGE has provided more than USD 66 million in grants in 80 countries, touching the lives of more than 10 million beneficiaries and strengthening the capacities of more than 140 grantee partners.

The 2018–2019 annual report highlights the past year’s achievements and key results in 2008, which directly reached more than 90,000 women at local, national, and regional levels.

Some key results from 2018 include:

25 women-led civil society organizations’ capacities strengthened
256,000 beneficiaries sensitized on women’s rights
23,700 women gained technical leadership, literacy, and vocational skills
4,000 men engaged as allies
20,740 women with increased incomes
255 women trained who were appointed or elected into leadership positions

An ever-evolving grant-making programme, the FGE continues to explore innovative ways to achieve gender equality by 2030 through more strategic support to the women’s movement. The report features some of them, including:

FGE’s “Rethink. Experiment.” social innovation initiative,
a South-South exchange strategy that unlocks the potential of knowledge exchanges and synergies, and
a research–action project about the future of women’s rights organizations.

An update on the latest news from grantees who, years after the FGE-funding projects, continue to reap their spillover effects, and a new section with op-eds written by grantee partners, close the report.