Strategic Grants: Catalysing Change

Strategic Grants supported partners to:  

• Respond quickly and flexibly to contextual changes, emerging needs and strategic opportunities
• Respond to emergencies
• Fill critical funding gaps
• Pilot innovative approaches or fund work that was “less attractive” to other donors
• Participate in national, regional and international advocacy and movement spaces
• Strengthen internal systems, structures, and processes
• Shore up their governance

Core operating costs

From covering rent, salaries, insurance, repairs and accessibility infrastructure to self-care, wellbeing, and mental health support, SGs have been supporting organisations to keep operating. 

• Ethiopian Women with Disabilities Association (EWDNA) provided wheelchairs, canes and crutches to disabled women and children to support their mobility.
• Deaf Women Included (DWI) in Zimbabwe ensured the availability of sign language for events.
• Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe (WCoZ), Polycom and Sankalpa hired consultants to support the development of their strategies
• Setaweet and Minority Wowyn in Action (MWA) strengthened their financial management and oversite, National Association for Women’s Action in Development (NAWAD) and Young Women’s Leadership Institute (YWLI) carried out internal audits
• Nepal Disabled Women’s Association (NDWA) secured funding from United Nations Trust Fund by covering fees for a consultant to support the development of their funding application.

Movement and Alliance Building

Partners were able to participate in international movement, network and alliance building spaces (like CSW, AWID, Beijing +30 Africa Regional Meeting and the Global Disability Summit) 

Partners also hosted their own movement strengthening events:  

• The Mentoring and Empowerment Programme for Young Women (MEMPROW) hosted an intergenerational convening on digital literacy as well as learning exchanges with staff, the Girls Network and students from Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Ethiopia.
• Voices of Women Media collaborated with the BAR Association of Nepal to host a conference called ‘Citizenship in the Name of the Mother: Legal and Practical Difficulties.
• NDWA was an organizer of the One Billion Rising Celebration.

Advocacy and Communications

Many partners used the grant to organise and participate in influencing and advocacy spaces, organise campaigns and improve their digital infrastructure,  

• WCoZ and Women in Politics Support Unit (WiPSU) organised meetings and events between WROs and policy makers to address the PVO Bill and its impact.
• Sankalpa produced and released two TV episodes where the Integrated Election Bill was discussed with a member of the House of Representatives and a member of the Elections commission.
• EWDNA participated in a peacebuilding programme where the voices of Disabled women were amplified in conflict resolution and community cohesion spaces.
• The Center for Domestic Violence Prevention (CEDOVIP) organised the Purple Ribbon campaign to raise public awareness and change societal attitudes toward GBV.
• Women Challenged to Challenge (WCC) organised community drama performances for awareness raising on Disability rights
• VOW Media produced animated videos to raise awareness on girl’s rights. These were shown on TV, giant screens and in movie theatres.

Projects, Programmes and Service Delivery

Partners piloted new initiatives to support economic and climate resilience:  

• WCoZ provided 82 marginalised women with seed funding for community business development.
• Femprist expanded their existing project, Another Chance, which engages women to expand on skills they learnt while incarcerated to start small businesses and provide a service to the community.
• Mitini were able to provide economic support to an elder to generate a stable income.
• FARUG purchased a van to use as a mobile office, clinic, therapy space and emergency vehicle.
• SIHA provided digital literacy training for grassroots women vendors. This translated into increased online visibility, market access and income generation.

Emergency Response

Protection and medical care was provided to survivors of sexual and gender-based violence. 

• SIHA Network’s provision of housing, counselling and medical treatments for women in conflict areas
• Access to abortion by DWI in Zimbabwe
• Disability responsive shelters by EWDNA in Ethiopia
• Mental health support for frontline activists by WIPC in Uganda
• Provision of humanitarian relief (e.g. following a recent earthquake in Nepal)
• Safe evacuation support provided for staff from Sudan (WIPC and SIHA)

Partners have used funds to cover a huge range of needs and activities, from core costs to advocacy, movement building, programme implementation and emergency response. What this has powerfully shown is that relatively small investments, when timely, flexible, and rooted in trust, can catalyse powerful change. 

What our partners say

“We were able to centre staff wellbeing not as a perk, but as a political commitment to justice within. For an organisation rooted in grassroots feminist organising, this was both radical and necessary.” (MWA, Kenya)  

“…Targeted interventions [funded through strategic grants] not only addressed immediate needs but also unlocked longer-term possibilities for agency, dignity and independence.” (SIHA, Regional)    

“Flexibility fuels innovation: supporting grassroots voices necessitates adaptable funding to test, refine and expand [our] approaches” (DWI, Zimbabwe)     

“Unlike rigid, project-based funding, this model allows us to breathe, to imagine, and to build with intention.” (YWLI, Kenya)   

“Through this grant, we have learned the immense value of flexible funding in strengthening feminist organizations and movements. It has reinforced the importance of trust-based partnerships between donors and local organizations, allowing us to address real needs on the ground and implement activities that truly align with our vision.” (Sankalpa, Nepal)   

“For the women and communities, we work with, this flexibility translates into more inclusive, timely, and relevant support. It enables us to adapt our programs to their real-life circumstances and needs, rather than trying to fit those needs into pre-set funding boxes” (WCC, Kenya)