The Climate Gender Equity Fund (CGEF) is a public-private partnership focused on catalyzing gender equity in climate finance. A year after launching, CGEF has announced the first cohort of women-led organizations selected to receive grants, each of which is focused on advancing gender-equitable climate action in Africa.
The three organizations selected include:
- The Clean Technology Hub, a women-led acceleration hub in Nigeria that is scaling new climate technologies;
- WomanHub, an accelerator in South Africa that supports female science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) business founders; and
- M-Kayla Ventures, an incubator in Kenya that focuses on women entrepreneurs working on climate-smart agriculture solutions.
The founding members of CGEF include USAID, Amazon, Reckitt, Visa Foundation, and The UPS Foundation. Combined, they have committed $20 million to the fund; in addition, USAID announced an additional $5 million during the COP28 climate change conference.
The funding will be used over the next several years to make additional grants to businesses, investment vehicles, accelerators, incubators, and grassroots organizations supporting women-led and women-benefitting climate solutions. CGEF expects to announce additional grantees in the near future.
“We are thrilled to announce the first cohort of women-led organizations to receive grants from the Climate Gender Equity Fund to advance gender-equitable climate action around the world,” said USAID Chief Climate Officer Gillian Caldwell. “This wouldn’t be possible without our continued partnership with CGEF’s founding members—Amazon, Visa Foundation, Reckitt, and The UPS Foundation. USAID and our partners invest in women, not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because it’s the smart thing to do.”
One: Women’s Climate Shock Insurance Launched To Protect Vulnerable Populations
On December 5, 2023, at a session during the U.N. Climate Conference of the Parties (COP28) in the United Arab Emirates, Climate Resilience for All launched the Women’s Climate Shock Insurance Initiative for extreme heat and flood to support the livelihoods of 150,000 women in India and Pakistan.
This initiative will provide insurance against climate disasters caused by flooding and extreme heat, which disproportionately harm women. Many women who work outdoors or in dangerously hot indoor conditions in India and Pakistan report year-round illnesses, miscarriages, urinary tract infections, dizziness, crop losses, loss of income, and more. These afflictions are caused by lack of clean water, unbearable hygienic conditions, and unprecedented high temperatures which have a range of effects, such as crop destruction and a decrease in vaccination rates due to insufficient refrigeration. In addition to deterioration of living areas, climate events cause the migration of affected persons into urban areas, which then exacerbates climate-produced destruction.
The initiative will provide income support directly to the individual when harmful heat waves and extreme flooding occur. Beyond that, the program will provide participants with the choice of an item of protective equipment such as solar lights and an early warning system to provide actionable guidance for specific areas and populations. The program will also bring new participants into the financial system with bank accounts and banking applications through use of smartphones.
Led by Climate Resilience for All, the initiative’s partners include the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA in India), a 50-year-old trade association, and Khwendo Kor (Pakistan), a 30-year-old organization. With Swiss Re, a globally recognized reinsurance company, we will collaborate on creating these new insurance products designed to provide income when harmful and potentially deadly climate disasters strike.
For the full press release, see the link below:
https://www.climateresilience.org/newsroom
For more information on Climate Resilience, use this link:
https://www.climateresilience.org/
Two: Bridging The Gender Divide One Reliable Grant At A Time
Hard-won gains on women’s rights are under attack across the globe. Targets include sexual and reproductive rights and women’s political participation. The attacks are well-funded: In Europe alone, over 707 million dollars have been invested in anti-gender organizations from 2009 to 2018.
The Alliance For Gender Equality (AFGE) has provided support to 36 organizations since being founded in 2021. The Alliance is composed of Bodossaki Foundation, Fondation CHANEL, Fondation de France, Fondation RAJA-Danièle Marcovici, JPMorgan Chase, King Baudouin Foundation and Fonds L’Oréal pour les femmes. It is hosted by Network of European Foundations. In that time it has distributed grants totalling 4 million euros.
Contrary to popular opinion, gender inequality is a significant issue within Europe where one in three women has experienced physical or sexual violence. Rates of violence against trans women, Black women, women with disabilities are much higher. Furthermore, 43% of LGBTQIA+ individuals report experiencing discrimination.
This violence is expensive. Gender-based violence incurs a cost of 366 billion to the EU annually. Addressing this behavior will not only help build an equal society, but also could result in a GDP boost by trillions of Euros over the coming decades.
To stop gender-based violence, the key is to dismantle the systemic structures that reinforce gender inequality while prioritizing the funding of gender equality organizations. The Alliance for Gender Equality in Europe seeks to make necessary changes through practical solutions.
Their approach includes:
- Providing funding and capacity-building for small, frontline organizations working on gender equality across Europe that support with people living in the most vulnerable situations
- Building collaborations with and between funders and grantee organizations that accelerate their learning and inform more effective gender equality work
- Establishing a robust donors collaborative on gender equality in Europe deepening our understanding of the most impactful ways to support the gender equality ecosystem
- Mobilizing the philanthropic community to support gender equality in Europe
To read the full announcement, use this link:
Three: DDP Expands U.S. Dance Festival Research, Finds Significant Drop in Full-Length Works by Women
Dance Data Project® (DDP) today announces the 2023 U.S. Dance Festivals Report. This is the fourth DDP report using a gender-lense to study programming and artistic directorships at dance festivals. This report is the first to focus on U.S.-based festivals. This year’s expanded coverage reviewed 39 U.S. festivals and increased the total number of works examined to over a thousand works.
The report described a good news/bad news scenario.
When comparing these shared festivals, the number of mixed-bill, live, film, and hybrid works by women increased from 2021. “We are encouraged by hitting the 50 percent mark when it comes to all works programmed at U.S. dance festivals this year,” said DDP Research Consultant Maya Canestaro.
Unfortunately, there was also the bad news. “It is important to note, however,” Canestaro continued, “that the percentage of full-length works choreographed by women was much lower than in the past, at just 36%. The creation of full-length works is a lucrative and formative career opportunity that has consistently trended low for female choreographers, and it is one that we will continue to investigate in future reports.”
The percentage of women choreographers varied according to the specific form of the program. Works performed at these festivals were presented in various formats.. Across the different modes, 49% of the live works, 52% of the film works, and 54% of the hybrid works were choreographed by women.
There was also another measure of inequality uncovered. In programs that featured professional ballet companies, the equity balance was 0.43. The use of such companies is also indicative of higher pay. In programs without professional companies, the equity balance was 0.51.
The takeaway is that while women are making progress, they still have not achieved parity, especially in the more lucrative facets of dance production.
The link to the announcement of the report, and the DDP website is below:
Four: WGBH News to Establish Equity and Justice Reporting Unit
WGBH, Boston’s Public Radio and TV stations, the fastest-growing local newsroom in the region, announced the launch of a new multiplatform unit that will focus on racial and socioeconomic equity issues in Greater Boston and beyond. While located in Boston, WGBH creates a variety of programming for PBS and NPR affiliates nationwide.
The Equity and Justice unit will develop regional and national interest stories around these key topics, expanding its commitment to community events, engaging directly with the audience, and elevating community voices using the GBH News platform.
The unit is being supported with a $750,000 grant from the Barr Foundation. The grant will help GBH News to add a new wrinkle to its reporting, by ensuring every story includes an awareness of minority experiences.
“Shining a light on inequity — whether around healthcare, housing, income, or other topics — is an important job for our news organization,” said Susan Goldberg, president and CEO of GBH. “As the nation’s largest producer of public media content, we want to ensure awareness of these pressing issues is woven into the stories we tell, the way we work, and the platforms on which we share news and information.”
Part of the goal is to ensure that all communities feel represented by the media. This focus on community has already produced notable successes. A limited-run broadcast of Spanish-language show Salud increased listenership among Hispanic audiences on 89.7FM on the Boston radio dial. A similar collaboration with local podcaster James Hills brought his program Java With Jimmy to GBH’s Boston Public Library studio space.
To read the full press release, use the link below:
About GBH
GBH is the leading multiplatform creator for public media in America. As the largest producer of content for PBS and partner to NPR and PRX, GBH delivers compelling experiences, stories and information to audiences wherever they are.
Find more information at gbh.org.
Five: Amplify Her Foundation Off to Bold Start, Announces $1M to Grantee Partners
The Amplify HerⓇ Foundation announced that it will grant a combined total of $1 million to New York City nonprofits working to advance the leadership of women and girls across the boroughs. The announcement comes less than two months after the release of “If She Can Make it Here”, their comprehensive research report on women’s and girls’ leadership in New York City. The report was conducted in collaboration with IDEO.org and The New York Women’s Foundation
Amplify HerⓇ Foundation is a new private grantmaking foundation with the mission of supporting women and girls from underserved communities to become transformative changemakers. The report was instrumental in identifying the greatest barriers women face and interventions that support them in overcoming those obstacles.
Almost two dozen recipients were chosen from a pool of nearly 150 requests for support after an in-depth review process, including site visits from Foundation staff and the all-volunteer Amplify HerⓇ Leadership Network, The organizations chosen address a broad variety of challenges, including: girls’ leadership development; women’s leadership development; equitable representation; women’s entrepreneurship; and advocacy.
Most of the grantees are women-led, with diverse leadership, and specifically serve women of color, immigrants, and other communities that face systemic barriers. Many of them are smaller organizations.
To read the full press release, follow this link:
https://link.nynmedia.com/view/6512650e172b9a7664099719jztbq.61p/c6d4edea
The complete list of recipients can be found here:
The website can be found here:
https://www.amplifyherfoundation.org/
Related:
The Butterfly Effect: Tracking the Growth of Women’s Funds
Not Enough! Giving for Gender Equality Totals $6.3 Billion in U.S.
