Renewed Women’s Voice and Leadership – Kenya, South Sudan, Ethiopia

Project: Renewed Women’s Voice and Leadership

Goal: To strengthen the ability of women-led organizations and networks to advocate for gender equality and women’s rights and to increase their effectiveness

Target group(s): Local and regional women-led and women’s rights organizations (WLOs and WROs) and networks

Duration:

Kenya: March 2025 – September 2030 (5 years)
South Sudan: March 2025 – March 2032 (7 years)
Ethiopia: March 2025 – March 2031 (6 years)

Description:

The situation
Women-led and Women’s rights organizations and networks are on the front lines of powerful change, supporting women to know about and fight for their rights, improve their lives and strengthen communities. However, these organizations face many challenges:

Women’s rights organizations only receive 0.13% of Official Development Assistance (ODA) and only 0.4% of all gender-related aid (Association for Women’s Rights in Development)
Stringent financial and compliance regulations can make funding inaccessible to many grassroots women’s rights organizations, and funding that is accessible may unpredictable and not available long-term
Donors may see women’s rights organizations as project implementers rather than recognizing their expertise and leadership in shaping strategies and activities
Organizations may be limited in their program management capacity due to cultural and gender norms that limit women’s participation in decision-making
Competition and division among organizations and between generations
Limited ability to coordinate within some countries and connect to movements outside
Limited access to governments to influence policy