Investing in Women at the Frontlines of Development

Ms Colleen LaFontaine, MScCo-Founder Present Purpose

Network

The Case

Pakistan legislation against honor violence•2004 Pakistan enacted a law that made honor killings punishable by 7 years in prison or death sentence•2010 GBV tried under Anti-Terrorism act•2011 943 incidents of honor killings reported by Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, up from 791 in 2010

The Policy

•Khalida Brohi•Founder Sughar Empowerment Society •Fighting the cultural foundations of honor killings and honor violence in her community

The Frontlines

Increase donor investment directly to the women led organizations on the frontlines of

development as a compliment to policy initiatives.

Objectives

“Increasing women’s individual and collective agency leads to better outcomes, institutions, and policy choices”

-World Development Report 2012

For every $1 a woman earns

She invests $0.80 in her family.

Men invest $0.30

-Half the Sky Movementhttp://www.halftheskymovement.org/

issues/economic-empowerment

The Case

• Educate a girl and she will be:– 3 times less likely to have HIV– Marry 3 years later– Earn 10% more income– Educate her own daughter– Have fewer and healthier children

– Sources: UN Women, Save the Children, OECD

The Case

• World Development Report 2012 – Productivity gains – up to 25%– Improved outcomes for next generation– More representative decision making for

countries• World Bank – 1999– Increasing the share of women with secondary

education by 1% boosts annual per capita income growth by 0.3 percentage points

The Case

• 2012 World Bank made $29 billion in grants and loans that were “gender informed”

• 2012 USAID directly funded $30 million for women’s leadership programmes

• DfiD committed £25 million between 2013-18 to tackle GBV

• World Bank estimates between $40-60 billion a year was spent towards achieving the MDGs

Financial Investments

• 1995 World Conference on Women – 189 countries

• CEDAW – ratified by 187 countries • ICPD 1994 – Cairo – 179 governments• MDGs• Universal primary education • Increasing minimum age of marriage for

girls

Policy Interventions

Women 15 to 45 are more likely to be maimed or die from violence than from

cancer, malaria, traffic accidents and war. Combined.

The Reality

2.6 billion women live in countries where rape within marriage is not a crime.

The Reality

Over 135 million girls have undergone FGM. 2 million are at risk each year.

The Reality

An estimated 10 million girls are married before their 18th birthday every year. 25,000

girls a day end their childhood by forced marriage.

• Sources: UNICEF, Half the Sky, Girls Not Brides

The Reality

• Formal vs Informal Institutions• Government vs Culture• Opportunity vs Agency • Short term vs Sustainable• External vs Internal

Policy is not Enough

• Sexual violence and exploitation against girls • Ex: Malawi • 2010 landmark legislation against child labor,

child trafficking and harmful cultural practices – Yet

• 30,000 cases of sexual abuse reported a year• More than 50% of girls are married before 18• Teen pregnancy responsible for ¼ of maternal

mortality

Policy is not Enough

• Even in countries with mandatory education enrollment for girls is often too low

• Ex: Liberia +40% of girls ages 10-14 have never attended school

– Why?• “why water another man’s garden”• Child marriage, son preference • Fees – direct and indirect• Opportunity costs

Policy is not Enough

• Our mission is to help young women fulfill their purpose by working as a virtual network of women funders – learning, collaborating and investing

• We support fellow women leaders working in the community with the women and girls most impacted by poverty, violence and inequality.

• We fund the women on the frontlines of development

Present Purpose Network

• Grassroots and Community based organizations– Local

• Arise from shared experiences• Shared interest in a community

– People• Created by the people who benefit• Created by the people in the community

– Civil society non-profits• Strengthen communities• Build civil society skills

What are the frontlines?

• When you support a grassroots woman leader you:– Reinforce the power of women to affect change– Create a role model for women and girls– Change norms and roles in the local culture– Directly fund solutions, not bureaucracy– Fund an expert in the community with real

local knowledge– Make change accessible to everyone

Why only women?

• Kenya – Women at the table– 2010 Constitution 1/3 of parliament to be women– In 2013 about 20% of parliament were women – Akili Dada – create the next generation of women

leaders

• Vietnam – human trafficking– 1994 constitution, agreements in 2005-2010 with

border countries– Adapt Counter trafficking project increasing access

to education, shelter and economic opportunities for girls

Our grantees

• Metrics and Evaluations– Difficult to have universal measures– Lack of staff for tracking and reporting– Open to more qualitative – Example: Global Fund for Children 7 Core Metrics– https://www.globalfundforchildren.org/wp-content/

uploads/2012/01/Metrics-Issue-Brief-January-2011.pdf

– Example: IDEX Partnership Model• Grantees measure the grantor • http://www.idex.org/wp-content/uploads/

2013/06/2012_IDEX_ELSummary.pdf

Challenges

• Defining (or redefining) success– Depth vs breadth– Success in failure

• Communications• Managing capacity/absorption • Potential for additional costs or ratios

Challenges

• Unrestricted funding to empower women leaders

• Building relationships and partners• Not (necessarily) about scale• Support growth through professional

development grants – not growth through outside “experts” or consultants

Goals and Actions

• Networking– Let your network know the areas and issues you want to fund– Be open to introductions– Look to your peers

• Require current partners to partner with the grassroots

• Work with “global partnerships” for introductions to frontline organizations– Girls Not Brides– Women Deliver

• Fund the funders of the grassroots– Present Purpose Network – Vital Voices

Finding the Right Organizations

Fund women on the frontlines of development.

•Compliment policy and other investments•Address cultural and informal institutional barriers to development•Create role models and women civic leaders•Accelerate change on the ground

Take Action

Fund women on the frontlines of development.

Give women and girls the resources to utilize their rights, impact their communities

and realize their purpose.

Take Action

Thank you!Colleen@presentpurpose.org

@ColleenInLondonwww.presentpurpose.org