Under the COVID-19 Emergency Response Window, WPHF is channeling urgently needed programmatic and institutional funding to local women’s organizations working at the forefront of pandemic response in crises settings around the world.
Our COVID-19 CSO Projects & Partners
WPHF is supporting 42 projects implemented by 62 local women’s organizations, to counter COVID-19 and sustain their vital work, in 18 countries across the globe:
Asia & the Pacific
Afghanistan
Bangladesh (Cox’s Bazar)
- Light House, Programme for Helpless and Lagged Societies (PHALS), and Loving Care for Oppressed Societies (LoCOS) on a joint project to mobilize women and women’s groups to stem the spread of COVID-19 and address its gendered impacts, including GBV and trafficking.
- RW Welfare Society (RWWS) to sustain its work providing women in Cox’s Bazar with counselling, education classes and skills training, as well as to strengthen the skills of its Rohingya women-led volunteer network through trainings on policymaking, governance and project management.
Fiji
- Medical Services in the Pacific (MSP) on a project to sustain access to SRHR services and support for survivors of GBV during COVID-19 using gender transformative approaches, including engagement with men to mitigate and prevent GBV.
Myanmar
- Akhaya Women on a project to raise awareness of and change public attitudes around domestic violence and SGBV during the COVID-19 pandemic, while promoting access to SRHR, together with local women organizations.
- Alliance for Gender Inclusion in the Peace Process and Gender Equality Network on a joint project to support women affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in conflict areas by investing in their business initiatives and distributing hygiene kits to women and children, as well as raising awareness on the increasing number of GBV cases during the COVID-19 pandemic through online advocacy programs, podcasts on GBV and the distribution of IEC materials.
Palau
- Palau Red Cross Society on a project to strengthen the leadership and meaningful participation of women in addressing the COVID-19 outbreak by supporting 17 community women’s groups and respective leaders to disseminate information and participate in community decision-making regarding the pandemic response.
Solomon Islands
- Malaita Provincial Council of Women Trust Board (MPCW) on a project to improve communication and financial capacity using digital technology to remain in contact and sustain operations during COVID-19 associated restrictions on movement.
Vanuatu
- Vanuatu Business Resilience Committee (VBRC) on a project to address the gendered impacts of COVID-19 while building the capacity and resilience of women. This project aims to accelerate economic recovery in the wake of COVID-19 by providing women business owners with a range of coaching, business-skills training and network development as well as cash grants to sustain infrastructure and capital, reducing tensions on households and incidents of domestic violence.
Americas & the Caribbean
Colombia
- Corporación Vamos Mujer on a project to support rural and urban women who have been particularly affected by the pandemic in 12 municipalities of Antioquia, including providing trainings on management, women’s rights and gender issues.
- Fundación Chiyangua on a project providing communication capacitation and tools for Afro-Colombian and indigenous women leaders in rural areas of Cauca so that they can lead as messengers for their communities on topics related to COVID-19 and GBV prevention.
- Aldeas Infantiles SOS Colombia on a project to facilitate humanitarian access to food and other basic necessities for vulnerable women and mothers in the conflict-affected Chocó region of Colombia, while preventing and addressing SGBV in times of COVID-19.
- Corporación Yo Puedo on a project to provide emergency aid to women and support over 30 grassroots organizations that will help women who are economically impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Red Nacional de Mujeres/ Corporación Humanizar on a project to support survivors of VAW, particularly through the provision of SRHR services, and to raise awareness with the broader public on domestic violence. The project will use a mobile app to provide women with information on COVID-19 measures and prevention, which can also be used by women to seek help in case of violence.
- Corporacion Hombres en Marcha on a project to improve social response of men and women in the 13 sub-regions of Nariño to face the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on preventing domestic violence against women and promoting the participation of men in unpaid care activities.
- Red de Mujeres Chaparralunas por la Paz on a project to address the economic impacts of COVID-19 and strengthen the economic resilience of rural and indigenous women in southern Tolima.
Haiti
- Fondation pour la Santé Reproductrice et l’Education Familiale (FOSREF) and Refuge Femmes Haiti on a joint project to mobilize local women’s organizations to raise awareness on the pandemic and the alarming increase of VAW, while supporting vulnerable women and populations – including people with AIDS and members of the LGBT community – with cash, strengthening their access to maternity and other SRHR services.
- Union des Femmes à Mobilité Réduite d’Haiti (UFMORH) on a project to provide economic resources and cash transfers to women affected by the crisis, while ensuring that public health messages raising awareness of COVID-19 are delivered to all women, especially women with disabilities, through social media content, radio and television spots.
Africa
Democratic Republic of Congo
- Aide à la future elite feminine (AFEF) on a youth-led project to ensure access to education for marginalized young women, girls and boys during the pandemic by improving their access to IT and online platforms.
- Réseau National des Associations des Femmes Rurales en RDC (RENAFER) on a project to economically empower women entrepreneurs in order to reduce the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their income generation, further protecting them from SGBV and promoting their participation in decision making within households and communities.
- AGIR Ensemble on a project providing a holistic response to the escalating incidents of SGBV during the COVID-19 pandemic by organizing awareness campaigns and engaging with community leaders, women’s organization, survivors of SGBV, men and boys in Kinshasa and to facilitate survivors’ access to legal services and justice.
- Collectif des Femmes Journalistes to sustain its work training women journalists, acquiring equipment, and improving their access to internet, which will ensure quality dissemination of critical information on COVID-19 and combat misinformation.
Liberia
- Association of Female Lawyers of Liberia (AFELL) to sustain its operations ensuring women’s access to justice and pro bono support for indigent women and children survivors of SGBV, including through securing remunerations for staff, office space rentals and equipment, training to strengthen the skills of members of the organizations, and communications costs to serve their communities.
- Disabled Children and Female Empowerment Network (DCFEN) to sustain its work enhancing the participation of women and girls with disabilities in policy implementation and decision-making processes, including by providing access to mental health and psycho-social services during the pandemic.
- Supporting Citizen Initiative for Development in Africa (SCIDA) on a project to raise awareness of COVID-19 and to prevent and respond to GBV, strengthening the leadership and meaningful participation of women and girls in all decision-making processes in addressing the COVID-19 outbreak at the community level through coalition building and engagement between women, girls and state actors.
Nigeria
- Gender Equality, Peace and Development Center (GEPaDC) on a project to strengthen the ability of women to lead in the prevention of the spread of COVID-19 through the development and dissemination of public health information, improve handwashing and hygiene facilities in targeted camps and train women’s groups and leaders to play a stronger role in advocacy and accountability.
- IYALI Community Development Association (ICDA) to sustain its work tackling issues and addressing the most urgent needs of grassroots communities through the development of staff capacity in technical areas related to COVID-19 and trainings for staff in entrepreneurship and skills development, enabling them to better support beneficiaries as the crisis wanes.
South Sudan
- Jonglei State Women’s Organization on a project to increase women’s participation and leadership in humanitarian response and raise awareness of COVID-19 through the distribution of information via radio awareness campaigns, as well as trainings on hygiene and handwashing.
- Child Care Organization CHICO to sustain its work on peacebuilding and reconciliation processes around women and child abductions in Jonglei.
This project will allow CHICO to strengthen its technical, operational and financial capacities by purchasing computerized financial software, office internet installation and train staff on COVID-19 awareness.
Sudan
- Sahari Organization for Development on a project to raise awareness on COVID-19 and SRHR as well as provide food security through cash transfers for women economically impacted by the COVID-19 crisis.
- Women’s Wings Organization (WWO) on a project to support women IDPs and their families in Mayo and Elfathin Khartoum through the COVID-19 crisis, aiming to stop misinformation, stigma, and fear about COVID-19 through awareness campaigns, distribute hygiene kits and build women’s capacity to prevent and respond to the pandemic.
Uganda
- Amani Initiative on a project to sustain its work preventing child marriage through the improvement of its management information systems. The initiative will also help the organization purchase computers and smartphones to work remotely so that it ensures the continuity of its services during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Kyaka United Youth Deaf Association (KUYDA) on a project to sustain its work providing humanitarian support to women and girls with disabilities in Kyegegwa District, helping the organization adapt to the crisis by upgrading its facilities and providing training to staff and volunteers who have been financially impacted by COVID-19.
- Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET) on a project to sustain its work enhancing the meaningful participation of women’s organizations in local and national emergency response — helping to improve its IT infrastructure and equipment for the increased use of digital platforms for advocacy to prevent the further spread of COVID-19.
- National Association for Women’s Action in Development (NAWAD) — together with KBT, EBT, and KHWG — on a project targeting vulnerable women who work at truck stops and border crossings, or sell market produce in the city of Mbarara — providing trainings on COVID-19 so that they can spread public health information and awareness at the local level.
Middle East & North Africa
Jordan
- Towards a better tomorrow for development and empowerment Association-Najat on a project to provide access to support services for SGBV survivors, and access to SRHR services for young women and adolescents, including Syrian refugees, in responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and its gendered dimensions. This includes building the capacity of a youth committee to support girls and raise awareness of SGBV.
Palestine
- The Culture and Free Thought Association (CFTA) together with 10 CBOs on a joint project to build the capacity and provide financial support to women-headed households across the Gaza strip who are at risk of losing their small businesses due to the COVID-19 related economic crisis. The project will also provide women and girls, including women and girls with disabilities, with a full package of SRHR services.
- Mother’s School Society on a project to help women business owners who are economically affected by the COVID-19 crisis to maintain their activities by providing them with cash grants, scheduling one-on-one counseling sessions and organizing trainings on management, accounting and online-selling.
- Women’s Affairs Center (WAC) – together with Union of Health Work Committees-Gaza Strip (UHWC) – on a project to build the capacities of community-based organizations in COVID-19 protective measures as well as in the detection, treatment and referral of vulnerable women and girls. The project raises the awareness of Palestinian women on the key role they can play in COVID-19 response and beyond by familiarizing them with Palestine’s COVID-19 response Plan and the WPS agenda. The project also facilitates women’s and girls’ access to key emergency health services, particularly through the distribution of dignity kits and home visits, provides them with economic support – notably through cash transfers – and prevents and responds to cases of SGBV through psychosocial hotlines and legal counseling.
Yemen
- SOS Center for Youth Capabilities Development on a project to promote women’s awareness of UNSCR1325, leadership and community participation in all decision-making processes in response to COVID-19, creating positive mechanisms for partnership and coordination between civil society organizations in preventing and responding to the pandemic.
- Ana Ahaq Foundation to sustain its work protecting women and girls during conflict, preventing SGBV, facilitating women and girl IDPs’ access to health services and empowering them economically through the development of its institutional capacities, including in accounting and human resource systems, as well as GBV case management.
- Alf Ba’a Civilization and Coexistance Organization on a project to establish a women’s network in Aden, Lahaj, Abyan and Al Dalaa governorates of 20 women-led or women’s rights local CBOs affected by COVID-19 that are contributing to peacebuilding.
