GlobalWE Links.
Connecting our membership to organizations focused on global women's initiatives.
At Harvard GlobalWE, we know that understanding the issues facing women is important, but having the ability to act is vital to making a difference. GlobalWE Links provides a list of organizations that have existing women's empowerment initiatives in which our members can get involved through volunteering, internships, or other ways of giving. We've begun to identify organizations* working on pressing global women's issues, including access to healthcare and education, political rights and freedoms, anti-violence and conflict resolution, economic empowerment, participation in decisions about war and peace, and refugee management, among others. With access to a network of organizations, our members can become more deeply involved in issues affecting the lives and futures of women and girls across the world. Please see our list of organizations below, and check back as we continue to add GlobalWE Links. We encourage you to get involved in any way that you can!
Alliance for International Women's Rights
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AIWR is a U.S. non-profit organization with a mission of supporting women leaders and future women leaders in developing countries, with a current focus on Afghanistan and Nepal.
AIWR accomplishes its mission through its long-distance Empowerment Programs, which take advantage of free Internet technology to help open the world to Afghan and Nepalese women and girls through long-distance mentoring and tutoring. AIWR’s mentors and teachers use Skype to meet one-on-one with Afghan and Nepalese women leaders and future women leaders to provide high-quality, individual, focused education and mentoring. AIWR’s Empowerment Programs include its Mentor Program, which focuses on Afghanistan, and its English Program, which runs in Afghanistan and Nepal. For information about volunteering in the Mentor or English Program please see AIWR’s website (www.aiwr.org) or contact Lisa Herb at [email protected].
Art Works for Change
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Art Works for Change addresses social and environmental issues through art.
Art Works for Change is an Oakland, California-based 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization. We produce contemporary art exhibitions to address critical social and environmental issues. Some of our projects addressing female empowerment include:
True Stories Project: Oakland, CA and Kathmandu, Nepal
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Using the transformative power of art to address sex trafficking with adolescents at-risk or in exploitive relationships in these two communities.
The AWARE/OWARE Game for Female Empowerment, Electronic Version
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A digital game designed to address six aspects of female empowerment as experienced through various cultural perspectives.
Off the Beaten Path: Violence, Women and Art
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World-class art exhibition promoting awareness of, empathy for, and dialogue about violence against women.
An international traveling (2009-2014), multi-media contemporary art exhibition that utilized works by world-class artists to promote awareness of the root causes of violence against women; create empathy for women’s stories; foster a dialogue about the pervasiveness of violence against women; and inspire the belief that women and girls can be empowered with new behavioral choices.
Award Fellowships
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AWARD is dedicated to improving outcomes for Africa's smallholder farmers by strengthening the skills and voice of women.
AWARD is a catalyst for innovations with high potential to contribute to the prosperity and well-being of African smallholder farmers. We equip top women agricultural scientists across sub-Saharan Africa to accelerate agricultural gains by strengthening their research and leadership skills. An essential step toward improving outcomes for Africa’s smallholder farmers includes strengthening the voice of its women, on the farm, in the laboratories, in markets, and in policy forums. As part of the solution, it is critical to support the careers of African women agricultural researchers so they may contribute to poverty alleviation and food security at the highest possible levels.
BRAC
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BRAC is a development success story, spreading solutions born in Bangladesh around the world – a global leader in creating opportunity for the world’s poor.
What started out as a limited relief operation in 1972 in a remote village of Bangladesh has turned into the largest development organisation in the world. Organising the poor using communities’ own human and material resources, BRAC (formerly Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee) catalyses lasting change, creating an ecosystem in which the poor, especially women and girls, have the chance to seize control of their own lives. We do this with a holistic development approach geared toward inclusion, using tools like microfinance, education, healthcare, legal services, community empowerment, social enterprises and BRAC University. Our work now touches the lives of an estimated 135 million people, with staff and BRAC-trained entrepreneurs numbering in the hundreds of thousands, a global movement bringing change to 11 countries in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean.
Center for a New American Security
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CNAS is a Washington, D.C.-based think tank focused on the important issues facing our nation.
The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) is a bipartisan national security think tank in Washington focused on research that informs and elevates the public debate about important issues facing our nation. Over the past two years, CNAS has worked on issues relating to women and national security, including its January 2015 study "Battlefields and Boardrooms: Women's Leadership in the Military and the Private Sector" (http://www.cnas.org/battlefields-and-boardrooms). In 2016, CNAS will produce a broader study of women in national security, looking at the pipeline of male and female talent that begins in colleges and universities and culminates in cabinet-rank positions, mapping the landscape of opportunity for men and women in national security, as well as the catalysts and barriers for success in this space.
In addition to these research projects, CNAS is committed to developing a diverse next generation of national security leaders through its Joseph S. Nye Internship Program (http://www.cnas.org/internships), its Robert M. Gates and Leon E. Panetta Fellows Programs (http://www.cnas.org/programs/gates-panetta-fellows), and its Next Generation National Security Leaders Program (http://www.cnas.org/programs/next-generation-national-security-leaders-program).
CSIS
http://csis.org/program/swsp​
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Smart Women, Smart Power
An initiative designed to amplify the voices of women in foreign policy, national security, and international business.
CURE
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Following a thorough Needs Assessment and supported by sponsorship funding, Project C.U.R.E. cargo containers bring the tools doctors and nurses need to treat disease, deliver vaccines, perform life-changing surgeries and ensure safe childbirth.
Project C.U.R.E. is skilled at working with partners to address systemic problems that cause maternal mortality and destabilize health care systems in developing countries. Project C.U.R.E. works with our partners to improve OB/GYN and women's health programs by providing items for improving basic or comprehensive obstetric care, STI diagnosis and treatment. The organization's strength lies with more than 17,000 volunteers, whose dedication touches the lives of patients, families and children in more than 130 countries. Project C.U.R.E. is the recipient of the GuideStar Exchange Silver Seal, the Charity Navigator Four-Star Rating and ranked by Forbes as one of the 20 Most Efficient Large U.S. Charities. For more information, visit www.projectcure.org. Established in 1987, Project C.U.R.E. was founded to help bridge staggering health resource gaps in the developing world by matching valuable medical surplus with healthcare facilities in resource-limited communities. Today, Project C.U.R.E. is the world's largest distributor of medical donations to developing countries. We operate six distribution centers in Colorado, Arizona, Tennessee, Texas, Illinois and Pennsylvania. During the fiscal year ending June 30, Project C.U.R.E. delivered 145 40-foot oceangoing containers worldwide, worth nearly $55 million.
Equality Now
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Equality Now advocates for the rights of women and girls around the world.
Founded in 1992, Equality Now is an international human rights organization that advocates for the rights of women and girls around the world. With offices in New York, Nairobi and London, presences in Amman, Jordan and Washington, DC, and a global network of activist partners, its work is concentrated in the areas of Discrimination in Law, Sexual Violence, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and Sex Trafficking – with a cross-cutting focus on adolescent girls. By combining grassroots activism with international, regional and national legal advocacy, the organization is working to achieve legal and systemic change so that women and men have equal rights under the law and full enjoyment of those rights.
Game Changer Design Chicago Lab (GCC)
https://ci3.uchicago.edu/gamechangerlab/
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The Game Changer Chicago Design Lab developes games, interactive learning experiences, and digital media art with and for youth.
The Game Changer Chicago Design Lab was developed as an experimental collaboration between Drs. Melissa Gilliam (OB/GYN) and Patrick Jagoda (English, New Media Studies). Through creativity and making, GCC develops serious games, interactive learning experiences, and digital media art with youth and for youth. This lab draws from social and clinical sciences to address issues relating to sexuality, health, social justice, and youth development. GCC uses participatory education to changes attitudes, behaviors and cultural norms in order to transform communities around sexual reproductive health and other critical issues that limit the wellbeing of marginalized youth.
GirlForward
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GirlForward is dedicated to helping refugee girls who have been resettled in the United States.
GirlForward is the only organization dedicated to creating and increasing opportunity for adolescent refugee girls who have been resettled in the United States from countries around the world. GirlForward provides refugee girls with individual mentorship, educational programs and leadership opportunities, creating a community of support that serves as a resource an empowers girls to be strong, confident and independent. GirlForward currently has programs in Chicago, IL and Austin, TX.
Girl Smarts
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Girl Smarts provides workshops to help public school girls gain the confidence needed for today's world.
Girl Smarts is a series of workshops designed to give 4th and 5th grade public school girls motivation and skills to move forward with confidence and strength in the years ahead. Designed by a 21 year Army veteran and an elementary school counselor, Girl Smarts is based on leadership and character principals combining straight talk and fun activities to bring home the reality of being in control and staying in control in today's world. Girl Smarts workshops are presented in the school for two full years and focus on making the girls "the team". Our committed message is that girls are best when they are strong and they are strongest when they stand together. All girls deserve the skills they need to be leaders in their own lives. Girl Smarts delivers those skills.
HarassMap
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HarassMap is working to end the social acceptibility of sexual harassment in Egypt.
HarassMap is an award winning volunteer-based initiative founded in late 2010 that is working to end the social acceptability of sexual harassment in Egypt. HarassMap’s mission is to engage all of Egyptian society to create an environment that does not tolerate sexual harassment. All their activities and projects are geared towards encouraging bystanders and institutions to speak up against harassers and have a zero-tolerance attitude towards sexual harassment. They train volunteer teams to go out in their neighborhoods to encourage bystanders to take a positive action against sexual harassment, and partner with small and medium size businesses, corporates, and educational institutions and support them in enforcing a zero-tolerance policy against sexual harassment in their space – shop, café, vehicle or university, as part of their Safe Schools and Universities, Safe Areas and Safe Corporates programs. HarassMap also does research and provides a reporting and online mapping tool to report sexual harassment, and they run communications campaigns online and offline to challenge perceptions about sexual harassment.
Indego Africa
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Indego Africa employs a uniquely business-driven approach to empowering women in Africa.
Founded in 2007, Indego Africa's mission is to help artisans in Africa break cycles of poverty and achieve sustainable financial independence. Indego provides more than 1,000 women in Rwanda and Ghana with steady income by designing and selling their handcrafted products around the world. Indego pools 100% of the proceeds from product sales with grants and donations to fund custom business, entrepreneurship and leadership education programs for its artisan partners.
The Ivy Girl Academy
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The Ivy Girl Academy provides confidence in leadership training for girls.
The Ivy Girl Academy is a confidence in leadership training program 14 ladies. We specialize in teaching the girls how to have healthy relationships- with themselves and other girls- as opposed to engaging in mean girl behavior.
Little Sisters Fund
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The Little Sisters Fund provides scholarships and support to girls in Nepal who would otherwise not attend or continue school.
Established in 1998, the Little Sisters Fund began with a single scholarship for one girl. Since then, it has grown to support the education of more than 2,200 girls in 20 districts of Nepal through nine complementary programs that tackle multiple dimensions of injustice. The Little Sisters Fund provides long-term scholarships to economically disadvantaged and at-risk girls who would otherwise not attend or continue school. Without the opportunity to go to school, many girls face child marriage, child trafficking for the sex trade, and child labor. Through supplemental programs – mentoring, awareness-raising, teacher training, and preventative health care – we ensure girls thrive through the end of school and beyond.
MADRE
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MADRE is an international women's human rights organization.
We partner with community-based women's groups worldwide facing war and disaster -- our sister organizations. Our mission is to advance women’s human rights by meeting urgent needs in communities and building lasting solutions to the crises women face. Our history is rooted in progressive movements for peace, justice and women’s human rights.
Maiti Nepal
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MAITI Nepal is committed to protect Nepali women and girls from various forms of exploitation and torture.
MAITI Nepal was born out of a crusade to protect Nepali girls and women from crimes like domestic violence, trafficking for flesh trade, child prostitution, child labor and various forms of exploitation and torture. A group of socially committed professionals like teachers, journalists and social workers together formed Maiti Nepal in 1993 to fight against all the social evils inflicted upon our female populace. Most of all, its special focus has always been on preventing trafficking for forced prostitution, rescuing flesh trade victims and rehabilitating them. This social organisation also actively works to find justice for the victimized lot of girls and women by engaging in criminal investigation and waging legal battles against the criminals. It has highlighted the trafficking issue with its strong advocacy from the local to national and international levels.
Media For Freedom
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The Mission of Media for Freedom is to promote freedom, democracy, anti-terrorism, literature, women rights, public health, peace and empowerment.
Nepal Youth Foundation
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NYF provides freedom, health, shelter and education to impoverished youth in Nepal, and is committed to ending the practice of Kamlari.
Founded in 1990 by retired California Supreme Court lawyer Olga Murray, the Nepal Youth Foundation provides freedom, health, shelter and education to Nepal’s most impoverished youth. NYF puts education at its core by working to improve quality and access to education for all Nepali youth, especially women and girls. NYF is also committed to women’s justice, leading a successful campaign to end Kamlari. NYF has rescued more than 12,700 girls since it began its campaign in 2000 to end the practice of indenturing young girls as household slaves, and is now helping the girls live healthy and productive lives by providing education, vocational skills, counseling, advocacy and leadership training, and co-op loans.
PCI Media Impact
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PCI Media Impact uses broadcast media to tell stories about the world's most pressing health, environment, and social justice issues.
For over 30 years, PCI Media Impact has used the power and scope of broadcast media to tell community-driven stories that increase knowledge, change attitudes and shift behaviors on the world’s most pressing health, environment, and social justice issues. Over the course of three decades of work in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and the Americas, we have reached more than one billion people... and counting. We have produced over 5,000 serial drama episodes of 100 programs in 60 countries. Our media presents audiences with role models that inspire hope, engagement and social change. Our social justice portfolio deals explicitly with issues of women’s empowerment and gender equality, such as our Avon award winning program Strong Women, Strong Voices which explores the way women living in Bolivia and Peru confront the violent machismo rooted in their customs as well as the abuse provoked by community members involved in armed conflict. But we know that strong women and their voices make a happier ending for every story which is why our media in the health and environment arenas also feature both real and fictional examples of empowered and engaged women.
Pro Majur
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Pro Mujer is a leading women's development organization headquartered in New York City.
Pro Mujer delivers vital services that help women lift themselves out of the constant crisis of scarcity, run successful businesses, invest in their own wellbeing, and uplift their families and communities. Pro Mujer serves more than 250,000 women annually in Argentina, Bolivia, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Peru.
Right To Be Free
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Right To Be Free funds the rescue and rehabilitation of trafficked children in Africa and broadens awareness of human trafficking.
Right To Be Free is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that funds the rescue and rehabilitation of trafficked children in Africa and broadens public awareness of human trafficking (modern day slavery). We directly fund the rescue, rehabilitation and reintegration of enslaved children in Africa. Our field partner, Right To Be Free/Africa, is a non-governmental organization (NGO) in Ghana, that works on the front lines to stop child trafficking and save child slaves. Our educational outreach programs raise awareness of human trafficking through complimentary presentations to schools, civic and trade organizations and community groups in the U.S. and worldwide. Where needed, we fund the education of reintegrated children; young girls attend school instead of working to help their families. We provide micro-loans to parents and single mothers who struggle under impoverished conditions to support their families. This offers a sustainable solution to address the poverty that fuels human trafficking.
Room to Read
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Room to Read provides girls in low-income countries with literacy skills and support to complete secondary education with skills to make key life decisions.
Founded in 2000 on the belief that World Change Starts with Educated Children®, Room to Read’s innovative model focuses on deep, systemic transformation within schools in low-income countries during two time periods which are most critical in a child’s schooling: early primary school for literacy acquisition and secondary school for girls’ education. We work in collaboration with local communities, partner organizations and governments to develop literacy skills and a habit of reading among primary school children and ensure girls can complete secondary school with the skills necessary to negotiate key life decisions. Room to Read has benefited 10 million children across 17,500 communities in Asia and Africa and aims to reach 15 million children by 2020.
Women in Film
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Women in Film is dedicated to the equal and positive representation of women in all forms of global media.
Women In Film is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting equal opportunities for women, encouraging creative projects by women, and expanding and enhancing portrayals of women in all forms of global media. Given that women comprise 50 percent of the population, WIF’s ultimate goal is to see the same gender parity reflected on and off screen. Founded in 1973, WIF focuses on advocacy and education— provides scholarships, grants, and film finishing funds—and works to preserve the legacies of all women working in the entertainment community.
Woman Beyond Borders
https://www.facebook.com/pg/womanbeyondborderscbo/posts/
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Woman Beyond Borders is a grassroot organization based in Kibera (Nairob, Kenya), the largest urban slum in Africa.
The organization advocates for reduction of sexual gender-based violence, female genital mutilation, early marriage and teenage pregnancy amongst individuals in the community.