Webinar: “From Adversity to Advantage: Resourcing Organizational Resilience”
On 20 August, the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women (UN Trust Fund) held the second webinar of its series “Resourcing Ending Violence against Women and Girls Globally”.
The webinar, “From Adversity to Advantage: Resourcing Organizational Resilience”, welcomed over 140 participants from around the globe.
Learnings from the Organizational Resilience Series
Gemma Wood, an independent consultant, shared key findings from the paper “Organizational Resilience: What it Means and its Importance to Civil Society Organizations Working to End Violence against Women and Girls”. She noted, “Organizational resilience is seen as the ability to anticipate, prepare for, respond and adapt to these crises and challenges, but also to learn – this feeling of being able to thrive, to take opportunities, and to innovate.”
Chinyere Eyoh, Executive Director of SOAR Initiative in Nigeria, reflected on the need to invest in organizational resilience, highlighting its crucial role in developing “the visibility, the voice and stronger programming that enable [them] now to have a seat at the table with the government and other partners when it comes to addressing issues of sexual and gender-based violence in northern Nigeria.”
Amidst the war in Ukraine, UN Trust Fund grantee partner NGO “Club Eney” adapted its initiative to keep providing support services to at-risk women and girls and survivors of violence. The director, Vielta Parkhomenko, explained that their “ability to adapt and respond quickly is a testament to the strength and flexibility that comes from being a community-led organization.”
Learnings from the Small Grant Series
Radhika Viswanathan, an independent media consultant, discussed the five-episode “Small & Mighty!” podcast series she produced for the UN Trust Fund in collaboration with small civil society and women’s rights organizations. Recognizing the vital work of small grassroots organizations, she explained that the series was developed to “hear the stories of the organizations in their own voice, how they navigate the [ending violence against women and girls] sector and how they change lives, with meager resources.”
Empowering organizations to end violence against women and girls
Cynthia Eyakuze, Co-Vice President of the Global Program at the Equality Fund, emphasized the roles of feminist funds, such as the UN Trust Fund and the Equality Fund, in providing core, flexible, long-term funding for organizations working to end violence against women and girls, including small organizations and those working in crisis settings calling on donors to “take risks and to be bold.”
Recommendations to donors
Concluding the webinar, panellists shared recommendations to donors on building the resilience and preparedness of organizations:
- provide core, flexible and long-term funding;
- enable the leadership of women’s rights organizations;
- invest in small, grassroots organizations;
- support team-building, and self- and collective care for organizations’ staff;
- learn from civil society and women’s rights organizations to build an environment of trust; and
- take risks, be bold in your vision.
