the pdf here. - Women Thrive Worldwide

2009-2010
W O
R
L
D W
Biennial
I
D
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Report
Our Mission . . .
Women Thrive Worldwide envisions a world in
which men and women work together as equal
partners to secure better lives for themselves
and their families. We advocate for U.S. policies
in developing countries that support women
in their efforts to end poverty in their lives,
communities, and nations. Women Thrive
brings together a diverse coalition of more
than 50 organizations and 45,000 individual
supporters who believe that empowering
women is key to ending global poverty, and
that as American citizens we should ensure that
our government is playing a positive role in this
endeavor.
How We Work:
We ensure that decision-makers in
Washington understand the realities of
the lives of the world’s poorest women
and men
We raise women’s voices and the
solutions that they have to transform
their lives in front of Washington’s most
powerful players who enact
U.S. foreign policy
We advocate for more and better
resources for women and children
from U.S. international assistance and
trade programs
We support local women’s
organizations worldwide and help
transform legal, political, economic and
cultural structures to end discrimination
and violence against women and girls
U.S. policies have a major impact on millions of women worldwide.
We dedicate this report to local women’s organizations and our global partners—using
their lens to review our accomplishments in 2009 and 2010.
“
Women Thrive Worldwide
has become a leader in
advocating on behalf of
women and girls in poor
countries and proposes
well thought out,
practical and realistic
solutions to the complex
problems we face in
delivering effective
and sustainable aid to
developing countries.
”
John Danilovich
CEO, Millennium Challenge
Corporation, 2005-2009
2010: The Year Women and Girls Arrived at the Center
of U.S. Assistance
For decades, the women’s community has been pushing to shift U.S. foreign policy so that
women’s voices and needs are made part of its core instead of being at its periphery. 2010 was
the year that the U.S. government finally heard us.
The State Department and the United States Agency for International Development
(USAID), which oversee all U.S. diplomacy and assistance programs, released in December
2010 their first-ever blueprint reorienting their work to meet 21st century challenges.
The Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR), is a forward-thinking
vision that fully recognizes that women and girls are core to effective international
programs from hunger and food security to health and climate change to economic growth,
democracy-building and humanitarian assistance.
What this means is that instead of small, separate ‘women’s projects,’ the U.S. Government’s
billions of dollars in aid programs will all include women. This is a fundamental, gamechanging shift in how the U.S. engages with women and girls around the world and delivers
its aid.
Women Thrive is very proud to have played a central role for more than 12 years in making
this shift happen. It is a moment to celebrate.
But we also know we’re just at the starting line. This blueprint needs to be built out into
reality. We will be watching closely to ensure that these good intentions are translated into
real programs and result in tangible changes in the lives of the poorest women and girls
worldwide.
“
Women Thrive provides smart,
strategic and practical solutions
to help eradicate poverty and
increase prosperity. They
also make sure the voices of
poor women and girls from
around the world are heard on
Capitol Hill. Their real-world
experience and counsel guide
lawmakers and policy experts
who are working to help lift all
people out of poverty.
”
Mary Landrieu
U.S. Senator from Louisiana
Our Impact: Economic Opportunity
How Women Thrive’s advocacy helped Nicomedes Toruno, Survivor and Entrepreneur,
Los Zarzales, Nicaragua
When Hurricane Mitch touched down in October 1998, Nicomedes Toruno’s home was
ravaged by floods. Thanks to a small loan from her family, Nicomedes and her husband were
able to buy a farm, five cows and two calves: just enough to get them and their two children
back on their feet.
Ten years later, the Torunos stopped surviving and started thriving. The reason: effective,
smart U.S. assistance from the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) program, which
gave $175 million to Nicaragua for economic development and poverty reduction.
Nicomedes was one of 2,588 women farmers to benefit.
For Nicomedes, MCA investments meant improved pasture grass to feed her cattle, electric
fencing to protect pastures and a forage chopper to prepare the feed for the herd, all delivered
with a particular focus on her needs as a woman.
What sets the MCA program apart is its focus on gender equity, which would not have
happened without Women Thrive’s strong Washington advocacy (from 2002 to today)
to ensure that all MCA programs include women every step of the way. Women Thrive has
been the lead organization pushing the MCC to adopt a comprehensive gender policy that
mandates that its programs effectively reach both men AND women. This gender policy is
what ensured that women like Nicomedes were not left behind.
For more about Nicomedes visit www.womenthrive.org/Nicomedes
“
Women Thrive
Worldwide has has
grown to be a leader
not only in the field
of women and girls,
but also in bringing to
the table some of the
most innovative ideas
to solve the complex
problems we face in
delivering effective
aid to developing
countries.
”
Representative
Jan Schakowsky, IL
Our Impact: Ending Violence Against Women
Dulce Marlen Contreras, Founder, COMUCAP, La Paz, Honduras
A daughter of farmers in the rural region of La Paz in Honduras, Dulce Marlen Contreras
saw women in her community suffer domestic violence for decades. She recognized that to
reduce violence long-term, she needed to attack the problem at its root: poverty. In 1993,
Marlen founded Coordinadora de Mujeres Campesinas de La Paz, or COMUCAP, which
trained women to grow and sell organic coffee and aloe, and also educated them about their
rights. Today, household violence among COMUCAP families is close to zero, and all the
children in the community go to school.
Women Thrive has partnered with COMUCAP since 2008, gaining incredible insights that
helped create the International Violence Against Women Act (IVAWA). This groundbreaking
bipartisan bill, which came very close to passing Congress in 2010, makes ending violence
against women a priority in U.S. foreign assistance and foreign policy. Marlen was a regular
spokesperson, visiting Capitol Hill and talking to policymakers about the issue.
The partnership has gone both ways. Women Thrive’s advocacy and leadership training
empowered COMUCAP to advocate for women as part of the $72 million U.S. MCA
assistance program in Honduras. Marlen is proud to report that women farmers now get
technical training for agricultural projects, and more women in her region of Honduras
are receiving funding from U.S. assistance than in any other part of the country, thanks to
COMUCAP’s advocacy.
For more about Marlen please visit www.womenthrive.org/Marlen
Our Impact: Women and Agriculture
Maryam Sirima, Coordinator, Coalition Burkinabe Pour Le Droits de la Femme,
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
An African farmer is most often a woman: women grow the majority of basic foodgrains on the
continent. But women are hampered by lack of access to the most basic resource: good land.
In Burkina Faso, Maryam Sirima explains, half the land is controlled and
distributed by the government, and while the law itself does not officially
discriminate against women, the criteria to obtain land (such as being head
of a household) do exclude women. The rest of the land is controlled by
traditional leaders and passed primarily from men to other men.
Women Thrive began a partnership with Maryam and the Coalition Burkinabe Pour Le
Droits de la Femme (CBDF) in May 2009 to support Burkinabe women in their efforts
to obtain greater access to land. Specifically, Women Thrive and CBDF are working to
increase the participation of women in land reform discussions and secure a 30 percent quota
for women’s participation in agriculture and land access projects.
With the support of Women Thrive, CBDF and rural women will now have a voice in
creating rules that will define how land is acquired and titled for decades to come.
To watch a video interview with Madame Sirima, visit: www.womenthrive.org/Maryam
Our Partnerships: Grounding our Work
Our partnerships with diverse organizations in the U.S. and overseas are core to our work
and success.
In the last two years, Women Thrive created unique advocacy partnerships with local
women’s organizations overseas that have educated and informed our policy work, raised
their voices in Washington and very often strengthened their own in-country advocacy. Here
are some organizations we have been privileged to work with in 2009-2010.
Association Of War Affected Women, Sri Lanka
Africa Aurora Business Network, Ghana
Equipo de Monitoreo Independiente (EMIH),
Honduras
African Journal Of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition And
Development (AJFAND), Kenya
FEMUPROCAN, Nicaragua
Casa De La Mujer, Guatemala
Homefoods Inc., Ghana
Coalition Burkinabe Pour Le Droits De La Femme
(CBDF), Burkina Faso
Humaira Awais Shahid, Journalist and Parliamentarian,
Pakistan
Centro De Mujeres De Occidente (CDM), Nicaragua
National Women’s Collective, Sri Lanka
Coordinadora De Mujeres Campesinas De La Paz
(COMUCAP) Honduras
Red Nacional Indigena Apachita, Bolivia
Convergencia Civico Politica de Mujeres, Honduras
Voice Of Women Organization, Afghanistan
Development Action Association (DAA), Ghana
Fundacion Lider, Nicaragua
The Rural Outreach Program, Kenya
WFDA members advocating together in 2009 on Capitol Hill.
From L to R: Catholic Relief Services, American Jewish World Service, World Vision, United Methodist Women, Congresswoman Kay Granger (R-TX),
Women Thrive, Islamic Relief USA, National Council of Churches, InterAction, Women’s Learning Partnership.
In the United States, Women Thrive added a new
dimension to its partnerships by co-convening the
Women, Faith, and Development Alliance (WFDA),
a unique partnership of internationally focused faith,
development and women’s organizations whose goal
is to increase political will and action to increase
investments in women’s and girls’
empowerment around the
world.
Through its WFDA
partners, Women Thrive
has been able to work with
diverse, faith-based and
development organizations to push for a greater focus
on women and girls in U.S. foreign assistance.
Some faith-based organizations active within WFDA
include Adventist Development and Relief Agency,
American Jewish World Service, Catholic Relief
Services, Church Women United, Episcopal Church
In the USA, Islamic Relief, Lutheran World Relief,
National Council of the Churches of Christ in the
USA, National Spiritual Assembly of the Ba’hais,
Presbyterian Church, Seventh Day Adventist Church
Women’s Ministries, United Church of Christ, United
Methodist Church, Women of Reform Judaism and
World Vision.
Stepping Up and Speaking out for Women Worldwide
It is core to Women Thrive’s mission to ensure
that the concerns and realities of women living
in poverty around the world are heard loud
and clear—by U.S. policymakers and the
public.
Here are some selected media outlets that
featured Women Thrive and our issues in the
past two years:
Women Thrive Worldwide Board of Directors
Co-Founder and
Founding Chair
Elise Fiber Smith
Chair
Joe Keefe
PAX World Mutual Funds
Vice Chair
Stephenie Foster
Secretary
Carol Head
Oliver’s Artisan Breads
Company
Treasurer
Mike Caggiano
Raffa
General Counsel
Carol Bilzi
Mayer Brown LLP
Members
Mark Blackden
Liz Blake
Habitat for Humanity
International
Suzanne Lerner
Jenny McGill
Columbia University
Farhiya Noor
Ecolab
Cathy Novelli
Susan Plimpton
Adriana Quinones
UN Trust Fund to End
Violence Against Women
Trevor Tomkins
Milk Specialties Company
Cathy Demers
Jodi Ecker Detjen
Dining for Women
Sheilah Dols
Ecolab Foundation
Carrie Elston
Carole Egigian-Nichols
Yanka Erimtan
Hilary Feldstein
Julie Freeman
Mary Chris Gay
Libby Gill
Stefani Greenfield
Susan Hadler
Jennifer Hall
Julie Hall
Harriett Harper
Kaitlin Hasseler
Kathy Herbst
Amy Heyden
Linda Hollander
Denise Hornick
Annetta Horton
Sandra Willett Jackson
Anne Hale Johnson
Christine Kelley
Lynda Leigh
Patricia Lewis
Rebecca Liebman
Beth Littleford
Eugenia McGill
Carol McIntyre
Matching Gift
Michael Stars and Cohen
Family Foundation
Microsoft Giving Campaign
Constance Morella
Nathalie Morin Ou
Vicki Morrow
Ann Marie Mullins
Bob And Janet Neary
Network for Good
Farhiya Noor
Linda Ohsberg
Anugraha Palan
Deborah Patel
Cecelia Puz
Seana Rafferty-Hanson
Marjorie Randolph
Amy Reed-Hogrefe
John Repede
David Rodgers
Kathy Rulon
Harry and Elinor Sachse
Ritu Sharma
ShopItUpChic LLC
Stephen Skolozynski
Suzanne Smith
Gay Steadman
Lois Stovall
Joan Stringfield
George Sweazey
Jane Ubell
Teresa Van Hoesen
Vincent Van Liew
Logan Vasina
Nancy Warner
Cecille Wasserman
Melissa Weeks
Christy Whitman
Susan Wilkes
Elizabeth Wisler
Wendy Wolf
World Of Good
2009 and 2010 Donors
Visionaries
Academy for Educational
Development (AED)
Anonymous
Elizabeth Blake
Center for Interfaith Action on
Global Poverty (CIFA)
The Clara Fund
Connect US Fund of Tides
Foundation
The Coxe Fund, an advised
fund of the Silicon Valley
Community Foundation
craigslist Charitable Fund
The Dobkin Family Foundation
Family Violence Prevention
Fund
Ford Foundation
French American Charitable
Trust (FACT)
The Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation
The William and Flora Hewlett
Foundation
InterAction
Suzanne Lerner
New Field Foundation Fund of
Tides Foundation
Cathy Novelli
NoVo Foundation
Open Square Foundation
Oswald Family Foundation
Peter C. Cornell Trust
Astrid Pregel
Nancy Rubin
Tides Foundation
Trevor and Jenny Tomkins
United Nations Development
Fund for Women (now
part of UN Women, the
United Nations Entity for
Gender Equality and the
Empowerment of Women)
The Winds Of Change
Foundation
Humanitarians
T. Beck Foundation
Hamed Borhanian
Michael Caggiano
Robert Challener
Elizabeth Colton
Full Circle Living
Connie Morella For Congress
Committee
Elise Fiber Smith
Carr-Mattison Family Fund, a
donor advised fund
Stephenie Foster
Paola Gianturco
Joan and David Hadden Fund,
an advised fund of the
Silicon Valley Community
Foundation
Carol Head
JustGive.org/I Do Foundation
Andrea Kaye
Joseph Keefe
LifeTime Television
The Lodestar Foundation
Mayer Brown LLP
Milk Specialties Global
North Star Foundation
Pax World Women’s Equity
Fund
Carol Pearson
Susan Plimpton
William Reese
Richard Taylor
United Nations Foundation
Valentine Foundation
Women For Women
International
Women’s Division, Global
Ministries of the United
Methodist Church
Linda Zelizer
Advocates
Anonymous
Anonymous, through United
Way of the ColumbiaWillamette
Carmelle Ahituv
Francine Allaire
Mary Agnes Antonopoulos
Katherine Babiak
Karin Bartimole
Phyllis Beatty
Valerie Bell
Denise Berger
Jane Bernauer
Annie Biggs
Carol Bilzi
Barbara Blywise
Robin Brown
Mayra Buvinic
Terry Carlson
Ann Compton
Mercy Grace Consignado
Women Thrive Worldwide
1825 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Suite 600
Washington, D.C. 20009
T: 202.884.8396
F: 202.884.8366
E: [email protected]
www.womenthrive.org
Photo Credits: Boaz Rottem (cover), Darcy Keifel, Cuenta Reto del Milenio, Gilvan Barreto/Oxfam and Jessica Kizorek
Design: Manu Badlani, By-line