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FGE’s 2011-2012 grantmaking cycle is now closed and the Fund is no longer accepting applications. Please check back here in October 2012 for a list of grantees and information about our next Call. Due to the high volume of applications we will not be able to provide information about specific proposals.
Visit the Granteespage to learn about the programmes from the Arab States selected in the first phase of the grantmaking cycle. Learn more about the work of FGE grantees:
- Fact Sheet: Grantees in Conflict and Post-Conflict Contexts
- FGE – Arab States Grantees Fact Sheet
- FGE – Climate Change Fact Sheet
- FGE – 2011 Grantee Results Fact Sheet
- Video [ English | Spanish ]
Women make up more than half the world’s population, but the majority of them live in poverty. For their lives to change, they need access to and control of economic resources and political power: to speak out, run for office, and support themselves and their families. 
UN Women’s Fund for Gender Equality helps change the lives of women all over the world. The Fund’s goal is to advance women’s economic and political empowerment through high-impact, multi-year grants of up to USD 1 million.
The money is awarded directly to women’s organizations and partnerships between governmental and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Spain’s donation of USD 65 million started the Fund in 2009, followed by Norway’s USD 3 million, Mexico’s USD 800,000 and the Netherland’s contribution of USD 1.2 million. The Fund totals USD 71 million and is one of the largest and most recent grantmaking funds dedicated to women’s rights and empowerment globally. Since its launch in 2009, the Fund has invested USD 43 million in multi-year grants to 55 programmes in 40 countries. In El Salvador in March 2011, advocates helped pass a national gender equity law. In China, women of three rural provinces are demanding a place at the table and training female candidates to take a greater role in government decision-making. In Sri Lanka, a broad-based multimedia effort is training women of ethnic and religious minorities to run for office.
These projects meet the Fund’s aim of political empowerment that strengthens women’s leadership — particularly of young women, indigenous women, refugee women and HIV-positive women — increasing their participation and influence in decision-making in all areas of life. In Rwanda, 15,000 women are being helped to register to inherit and own land and property — rights only recently granted by law. In India, an effort to equip Dalit women to lobby and take advantage of new government programmes resulted in 7,200 women’s obtaining work. In Morocco, women living in 13 oasis communities are gaining both independence and income through vibrant cooperatives. These projects meet the Fund’s goal of increasing women’s economic empowerment, increasing women’s access to and control over goods, income, and land.
The Fund works on local, national and international levels. It supports the gender equality laws and policies of individual nations. It also helps the world make progress in attaining gender equality goals enshrined in international agreements, such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), among others. For instructions on how to apply, please consult the Application Guidelines.
If you have questions, please review the Frequently Asked Questions . You can also contact the Fund for Gender Equality Secretariat or c/o Ana Maria Enriquez, Chief, UN WOMEN Fund for Gender Equality at fund.genderequality[at]unwomen.org.
