YWCA Power to Change Fund

In 2007, the World YWCA created the Power to Change Fund which supports women-led initiatives in local communities through the YWCA’s global network that reaches over 25 million women and girls in 125 countries.  Our priorities for grant making are efforts targeted to ending violence against women, securing sexual and reproductive rights and promoting peace and security.  The World YWCA makes critical investments in building young women’s leadership to champion their rights and challenge deep-seated cultural practices and beliefs that discriminate against women and violate their rights. In addition to direct grant making to YWCAs, the World YWCA invests in opportunities for women and young women to engage in global policy-making spaces, grounding our global advocacy voice in the daily realities of women and girls in local communities. Working from a human rights-based approach, the World YWCA seeks to reach the most vulnerable groups of women and girls in communities, including survivors of violence and women living with HIV.

In the last financial year, the Power to Change Fund has supported innovative women-led projects in 40 countries for a total of USD 770,357.  4000 women and girls directly benefited from intensive training and support services and a further 33,000 participated in broader outreach and educational activities.  As a movement-fund, the World YWCA also provides extensive technical support and training to YWCAs accessing the fund to strengthen project design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.  The World YWCA also creates spaces for the sharing of best practices and reflecting on lessons learnt among YWCAs and partners to strengthen our collective efforts to advance women’s rights worldwide.

Read success stories of the World YWCA Power to Change Fund:

http://www.worldywca.org/Member-Associations/Power-To-Change-Fund-Success-stories