Grant awarded to Women’s Global Empowerment Fund (WGEF)

The Foundation is happy to again partner with WGEF to help women and children in Haiti with a $35,000 grant.
Funding from the McQuade Foundation
in 2017 would specifically be used for two of WGEF’s programs. The Healthy Period Initiative and the
Women’s Bakery Initiative in Cap Haitian, Haiti.
To address the issue of menstrual health, and the challenges women face with regard to access, hygiene
and socio-cultural stigma, WGEF created the Healthy Period Initiative (HPI).
WGEF aims to drive economic and socio-cultural change through enterprise and education. With the
purchase of a manufacturing unit, WGEF will produce a low cost sanitary product for the women and girls.
WGEF will also provide education and resources to assist in development of successful social enterprises
that provide safe and sanitary resources for all women in these communities. Funds will be spent in 2017
and will help purchase a machine that will quadruple the number of pads produced at one time. Additionally
funds will help pay for supplies and admin costs.
New to WGEF this year is the Women’s Bakery Initiative in Cap Haitian, Haiti.
Funding for the bakery will be spent in two ways. First, to construct a water project to help bring safe and
sustainable water to improve the bakery’s productivity and provide irrigation to large urban gardens.
Secondly, funds will be used to help the construction of a large urban vegetable garden
WGEF uses quantitative and qualitative data to measure effectiveness and relevancy. They complete a
yearly survey on a chosen subject; in the past this has included food security, sustainability and
empowerment. This year (2017) they are collaborating with students at Oxford University, England to create
an assessment tool to evaluate our program, impact, and long term sustainability (Aug 2017) focused on
how literacy facilitates success and empowerment in our program. Their staff and leaders continually
gather information from all programs to assess effectiveness and outcomes.