IN STORIES
Discover how civil society and women’s rights organizations supported by the UN Trust Fund are leading transformative change for women and girls around the world.
When we invest in women, we invest in society as whole, we invest in a safer, resilient, better world for all.
This International Women’s Day, 8 March, join the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women (UN Trust Fund) in global solidarity under the theme “Invest in women: Accelerate progress”. This theme is aligned with the priority theme for the upcoming 68th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68), “Accelerating the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls by addressing poverty and strengthening institutions and financing with a gender perspective”.
Our world is marked by escalating conflicts, shrinking civic spaces and backlash against women and girls’ rights. Amidst multiple crises of various nature, women and girls bear a disproportionate burden, facing heightened risks of violence and marginalization.
Despite the gravity of this reality, the resources allocated to promote gender equality, to prevent and end violence against women and girls, remain insufficient. Only 0.13% of total ODA goes to organizations advocating for women’s rights[1], exacerbating the challenges they face.
The urgent need to invest in the rights and empowerment of women and girls has never been more evident. Allocating sufficient resources and offering holistic support to civil society and women's rights organizations—those with robust expertise and decades of experience in addressing all forms of violence against women and girls—is critical and lifesaving. Civil society organizations, especially women’s rights organizations, are holders of key insights on contextually relevant approaches and they are creating pathways for women’s and girls’ empowerment, visibility, shifts in power and the redistribution of resources within the context in which they operate.
The UN Trust Fund is deeply committed to supporting civil society and women’s rights organizations to lead transformative change all around the world. Our grantee partners are empowering women and girl survivors and those most at risk of violence, to develop economic autonomy, security, confidence and resilience.
UN Trust Fund partners across the globe combine social and economic empowerment interventions in order to address root causes of violence against women and girls. Through interventions such as vocational training, job placement support, financial literacy training, seed-funding, cash-based emergency relief and other multifaceted approaches that address gender norms, control over resources, market access and legal barriers alike, , UN Trust Fund grantee partners have demonstrated the critical role of women’s social and economic empowerment in reclaiming their right to a life free from violence.
[1] AWID (2022), “Where is the money for feminist organizing? Data snapshots And a Call to Action”
Discover how civil society and women’s rights organizations supported by the UN Trust Fund are leading transformative change for women and girls around the world.
Celebrate International Women’s Day 2024 with us! Join us online in standing up against violence against women and girls and celebrating the critical work of civil society and women’s rights organizations leading life-saving initiatives for the most marginalized women and girls.
On March 12
On March 13
On March 14
On March 18
On March 20