Grant awarded to Women for Women International (WfWI)

Congratulations to WfWI, they have been awarded a $25,000 grant. The grant will support WfWI’s target population of marginalized women in conflict affected countries. Countries WfWI supports include: Afghanistan, DRC, Iraq, Nigeria, Rwanda, and South Sudan. WfWI’s programs targets women who have limited access to resources, including single heads of households, widows, refugee returnees, and internally displaced persons. Most women served make under $1.25 a day and are illiterate. WfWI has also undertaken men’s engagement activities targeting male family members and male leaders in communities.
WfWI feels they are making a sustainable difference by providing women with access to education, resources, and circles of support through their 12 month economic and social empowerment program. They also encourage male family members and local male leaders to raise their awareness and support for women’s rights. They do this through their men’s engagement training.

Funds will be used to support WfWI’s operations. In 2016, they estimate that 15,000 marginalized women will be enrolled in their 12 month empowerment program. In addition to support of the empowerment program, funds would be used to for needs such as:
* Support of 250 Syrian female refugees in North Iraq
* Provide over 350 male leaders with men’s engagement training in Afghanistan and DRC
* Support WfWI’s research agenda
* Fund a video and audio collection of WfWI’s participants
* Expand WfWI’s electronic data collection to a cloud platform

Funds would be spent within WfWI’s fiscal year ending in December 2016 and would be allocated across all country offices they support.
WfWI measures success by collecting data on indicators tied to four key outcome areas: women are well, women are decision makers, women have social networks and safety nets, and women sustain an income.
WfWI’s monitoring and evaluation program maintains connections with women participants over time and assess changes in their lives. They collect self-reported data on social, health, and economic outcomes at enrollment and at graduation from the 12 month training. They also follow up one and two years after graduation.