Gender equality remains an urgent priority, especially due to widespread resistance and repulsion of global promotions to rights encounters.
The 2025 International Women’s Day theme, “For All Women and Girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment,” called for the need for action to ensure equal rights, opportunities and power for all, defending a feminist future where no one is left out. This year marks the 30th anniversary of Beijing’s platform for declarations and actions, providing a groundbreaking global blueprint to advance the rights of women and girls. Since adoption, the framework has promoted legal protection, access to services, youth engagement, and advances in challenging, outdated social norms and stereotypes.
However, challenges such as violence, discrimination and economic inequality remain.
Faced with a global funding crisis and slow progress, Co-Impact, a collaboration between philanthropists working to advance gender equality around the world, is driving the transformation of millions of women and girls.
Gender funds promote this effort.
The US$1 billion initiative is designed to dismantle systemic barriers and improve women’s power, agents and leadership across Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Simply extend beyond fundraising projects to transform the system and create sustainable and lasting change for those closest to the problem. Women-led local organizations in these regions receive large, long-term funds from the fund. This flexibility allows local partners to choose strategies that create meaningful and lasting impacts for their communities. Co-Impact rejects the idea that solutions impose externally determined methods, believing that they are best devised and implemented by those closest to the problem, often by women themselves.
As a result, local communities are empowered and gender equality is strengthened.
In her reflection on International Women’s Day, Africa’s co-impact director Mary Wandere discussed the $1 billion gender fund and promising approach across Africa to improve health, education and the economic system. To create systemic change, she encouraged collective action and challenged social norms. She also spoke about the need to accelerate action on gender equality, as the 2024 Global Gender Gap Report estimates it will take 134 years to achieve parity.
On International Women’s Day, we look back at the progress and challenges of gender equality. Tell us what this day means personally to you and how it contributes to the women’s rights debate.
This year’s theme is about accelerating action. This resonates with me as we are far behind when it comes to achieving the goals set by the global community. The most important step in recent history is the adoption of the Beijing Action Platform. This is the world’s first blueprint for promoting women’s rights. And that was 30 years ago. The 2024 Global Gender Gap Report, published by the World Economic Forum, estimates that it will take 134 years to reach gender parity at the current rate of progress.
Despite the multiple crises we face, from climate-related challenges, the threat of a pandemic, and armed conflicts to high unemployment, we should not delay our actions on gender equality. In fact, ensuring that our actions unlock the possibilities of women and girls can be the successful drivers needed to change the tide during most of these crises.
As a leader in this field, what drives your commitment to gender equality?
Growing up, I witnessed firsthand discrimination among girls who were denied educational opportunities. It has become my calling to change biased and unjustified systems. I’m not doing this at work, but being a champion of gender equality as a commitment to using my career and the opportunities I had. My work allows me to open the door and use my voice to defend a world where my path is determined not by their gender, but by their inherent dignity and rights as humans.
In light of the global funding crisis and slow progress in gender equality, how is Co-Impact’s $1 billion Gender Fund addressing Africa’s challenges?
The Gender Fund is one of the most ambitious responses to chronic funding shortages, focusing on women and girls living in major regions around the world, including Africa. With this fund, we provide funders with the opportunity at once to join forces and join forces to achieve a massive impact. The fund’s resources are deployed to support local, rooted and primarily women-led organizations with the expertise and relationships needed to bring about sustainable change. We work with them to make sustainable improvements to our health, education and economic systems that can reach the entire population but are embedded and increase their impact over time.
Specifically, our partners are working to strengthen primary healthcare systems in countries such as Ghana and Kenya. We support efforts to keep the girls in schools and improve the rate of completion in Tanzania and Zambia. It also partners with organizations that tackle sexual harassment in higher education institutions.
When it comes to economic empowerment, our partners support women’s access to financial services, credit and business capital, allowing greater participation in economic activity. They help address barriers to formal employment and entrepreneurship, especially for women in agriculture, informal trade and small business. It also supports leadership development initiatives and ensures that more women have the opportunity to lead in government, business and civil society.
How do you hope that the Gender Fund will inspire others to take action?
Gender funds and Co-Impact models have proven, more generally, that it is possible to create large-scale, sustainable change in the gender equality space when resources are systematically deployed. There are three major areas that we hope to encourage action.
First, focusing on improving women’s leadership and gender equality through health, education and economic opportunities is the most effective way to make an impact. These three issues are central to human welfare and a prosperous future. Second, having a locally rooted partner in the driver’s seat ensures that you will support the best ones to solve problems, including women. This is why we put such a great emphasis on women’s agencies. And thirdly, addressing inequality is a complicated task. Complex tasks require collective action. The joint funding model is the best response to enable these organizations to provide the long-term and flexible funding needed to change the system.
It is estimated that only 1% of global funding for gender equality reaches women’s organizations. How do gender funds ensure that resources are directed towards the most pressing needs?
We are proud to be supported by a vast network of over 50 funders from all parts of the world. We draw from the evidence produced through their diverse perspectives and experiences, and through our collective work, to ensure that we will always learn and continue to harmonize where the world is heading.
It also ensures that local relevance is at the heart of the model beyond this global community. Our grants in Africa are led by local teams. We identify, fund and support organizations rooted in African contexts. We are fully confident in the abilities, knowledge and experiences of our local partners, addressing the root causes of inequality and providing the flexible support needed to create deep and lasting change.
As Africa Director of Co-Impact, what is your vision for the Gender Fund? And how do you see transforming systems to promote gender equality in the region?
We are patient with our goal of raising more funds to achieve our US$1 billion gender fund goal by 2030. Having this clear roadmap will bring many funders to our journey, allowing us to recognize leadership at all levels at the highest levels of key sectors, institutes and government, with the importance of women’s power, agencies and leadership at all levels.
Research shows that if women do not have the necessary voices, agents and power within existing systems, then a fair system cannot be achieved if gender equality itself does not exist. The ambition of gender funds is to be an important driver in creating a strong ecosystem of rich African organizations that will advance system change and promote women’s rights for generations to promote gender equality and women’s rights.
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What are the key barriers that prevent gender equality from moving forward at the pace we want, especially in the African context?
Funds are often cited as the most important barrier, but it is not just the availability of funds. You need to ensure that the right kind of funds arrive at the right kind of organization. For empathy, this means securing more flexible funding for locally rooted, largely women-led organizations.
We also need to challenge the current narrative of competing priorities. This makes gender equality considered less urgent than other areas such as economic development. Gender-based inequality is not a secondary issue. They undermine both social and economic development indicators. If it continues to eliminate half of the world, society will never fall into its potential.
And finally, we need to overcome the broad norms and stories of women’s place in society and their ability to lead. We need to support initiatives that promote women’s leadership in key areas such as law, economics and politics. There you can make the biggest impact.
When celebrating International Women’s Day, what messages and convocations do you want to work towards gender equality with individuals, organizations, governments and what messages and convocations do you want to encourage action?
– For the individual: Change begins with you, so see what you can do in your power to empower a woman. Accelerating action towards gender equality should not be considered a woman’s obligation. It should be the mission of everyone, as it benefits all society.
– For organizations: especially those at the forefront of advocating for gender equality – your work is important. Focus on getting all systems to work, not just addressing symptoms, but also addressing the root cause, and making sure that all systems work for women and girls in particular.
– In the case of government: Progress without women and girls is not possible as it constitutes at least 50% of your population. You won’t realize your development goals unless you invest in their empowerment and equality.
