Project profile — Women’s Voice and Leadership - Caribbean Region

• West Indies, regional (100.00%)

• Government And Civil Society, General: Women's rights organisations and movements, and government institutions (15170) (100.00%)

• Youth Issues (significant objective)
• Climate change mitigation (not targeted)
• Disaster Risk Reduction(DRR) (not targeted)
• Urban issues (not targeted)
• Disability (not targeted)
• Climate Change Adaptation (not targeted)
• ICT as a tool for development (significant objective)
• Trade development (not targeted)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (not targeted)
• Biodiversity (not targeted)
• Desertification (not targeted)
• Indigenous Issues (not targeted)
• Participatory development and good governance (not targeted)
• Gender equality (principal objective)
• Nutrition (not targeted)
• Children's issues (not targeted)

This project is part of Canada’s Women’s Voice and Leadership Program, which supports local and regional women’s organisations and networks that are working to promote women’s rights, and advance women’s empowerment and gender equality in developing countries. This is done by supporting activities, building institutional capacity, and promoting network and alliance-building as women’s rights and feminist organizations are critical agents of change. The Program also responds to the globally recognized, significant gap in funding and support to women’s rights organizations and movements around the world. This project is being implemented by the Equality Fund (formerly MATCH International Centre) in partnership with the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice. Twenty to thirty selected grantee organisations from eligible countries in the Caribbean region benefit from multi-year funding to support core programming, as well as responsive short-term funding for new ideas, innovations and emerging opportunities.

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) improved management and sustainability of local women’s rights organizations in the Caribbean, particularly those representing vulnerable and marginalized women and girls; (2) enhanced delivery of programming and advocacy by women’s rights organizations to advance gender equality in the Caribbean; and (3) increased effectiveness of national and sub-national women’s rights platforms, networks and alliances to affect gender-sensitive policy change and policy implementation in the Caribbean.

Results achieved as of May 2022 include: (1) made significant progress in the management and sustainability of local women’s rights organizations in the Caribbean. From inception to the current period, 75% of women’s rights grantees reported using at least one good management practice, and an overall increase of 49% of grantees reported increased funding diversity; (2) enhanced delivery of programming and advocacy by 2.2%. The slight increase, which grantees reported, was due to the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions and limitations on movements and in-person activities; and (3) showed a 13.7% increase in joint advocacy partnerships despite Covid-19 restrictions, which made it difficult for grantees to work with other advocates and networks.

• Proactive disclosure