Dear Colleagues,
According to the U.N. Security Council, the number of people who need humanitarian aid increased by 25% over the past year, with 614 million women and girls living in conflict-affected countries.
The terrible fact is that history shows us that women, children, and LGBT+ people face a particularly high threat of violence during armed conflicts, where violence against women, including sexual violence, increases exponentially. Women in armed conflict zones are also less able to flee, as they are more likely to care for children or the elderly and usually have fewer financial resources.
It’s critical to get emergency humanitarian aid as well as long-term rebuilding efforts into communities by funding groups that center women and girls in each region’s recovery. We know it is this gender-intentional approach that leads to lasting change.
We ask you not to look away and not to give into hopelessness. In speaking with our colleagues working in, and with, women in war zones, we’ve heard that even relatively small individual donations make a difference because they show that they haven’t been forgotten–and that’s as sustaining as the money itself.
That’s why, this Giving Season, we’re asking you to give to organizations supporting women, girls, and gender non-binary people in war zones. Feminist-led groups are critical partners and act as bridges in times of crisis because they work with and within the communities that they serve, and, as a result, deploy money faster to local solutions that truly impact everyone. To join the global movement to support their collective efforts, learn more at ProsperaINWF and at Women’s Funding Network.
In solidarity,
Elizabeth Barajas-Román
Women’s Funding Network
President & CEO