The Womanity Foundation

The Womanity Foundation, or Womanity, is a non-governmental organization headquartered in Switzerland, with programs across the developing world. It was founded by Yann Borgstedt and seeks to empower women and girls worldwide to enable them to participate fully in society, economically, socially and politically. It aims to achieve this through collaboration with partners including social entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial organizations.

Vision and Mission

The Womanity Foundation’s vision is of a world where all women and men enjoy equal and full social, economic, and political participation. The Foundation undertakes to empower girls and women to shape their future and accelerate progress within their communities.^[1]

Priorities

Womanity’s key areas of action are inspired by the United Nations’ Global Goals for Sustainable Development.

Support girls and women’s access to quality education and vocational training.

Create employment, revenue generation, and professional career opportunities for women.

Promote avenues that give women a voice in society, politics and governance institutions.

Protect women and girls’ physical and psychological integrity.

History

The Womanity Foundation was established in 2005 by Yann Borgstedt, a Swiss businessman educated in the United States. Borgstedt believes sustainable growth is built through collaboration between the business and social sectors and that women’s equal participation in society is key to accelerating socio-economic progress.

Originally called The Smiling Children Foundation, the organization’s first programs focused on the problem of domestic child labor in Morocco, helping domestic servants as young as six to return to their families and access education.

In 2007, work started in Afghanistan at the Al-Fatah school for girls in Kabul, having identified that barriers existed to girls accessing education in the country, even after the end of the Taliban’s ban on female learning. There, the organization launched its School in a Box program, which has been successfully replicated in over 12 schools across Afghanistan.

In 2010, Antonella Notari Vischer was appointed Executive Director of The Womanity Foundation. Vischer has worked with the International Committee of the Red Cross for over 18 years and also served on the Board of Directors of Genève Roule and Giving Women.

Also in 2010, the actor Rosanna Arquette was appointed Womanity’s first goodwill ambassador. Arquette said: "During my travels around the world, I often had the opportunity to meet girls and women living in deprived conditions. Each time, I was deeply impressed by their generosity, dedication, and determination, even in the face of the greatest of difficulties. These meetings convinced me that the poorest women can be powerful agents of change if we believe in them and encourage them in their efforts."^[2]

The change of name to "The Womanity Foundation" was announced at a gala held by the Foundation on 3 February 2012. Founder Yann Borgstedt explained the change: "We have chosen a name that expresses clearly what we believe in. It symbolizes the empowerment of women for the greater good of all of humanity."^[3]

In 2013 the Arabic radio fiction series Be 100 Ragl (‘Worth 100 Men’) was produced for broadcast in 2014 by 10 radio stations in 9 countries across the Middle East and North Africa region.

In 2014 the pioneering Womanity Award for the Prevention of Violence Against Women was launched, the world’s first award for innovation in the field of preventing gender-based violence.

In 2015, Womanity was listed among the Top 500 NGO, and reached 187 in 2016.

Programs

Womanity runs four strategic programs across the world: education and vocational training, giving voice to women in society, ensuring the safety and wellbeing of women and girls, and economic empowerment. The Womanity WomenChangeMakers program harnesses social entrepreneurs who work across all four strategic areas.

Safety and wellbeing

Womanity Award for the Prevention of Violence Against Women

The UN estimates that 1 in 3 women has experienced physical or sexual violence,^[4] and about 120 million girls have been forced into sexual acts at some point in their lives.^[5]

The Womanity Award for the Prevention of Violence Against Women, launched in 2014, is given every two years to two partner organizations who will collaborate to replicate and scale up an innovative and effective solution to prevent gender-based violence.

2014 Womanity Award winners Promundo, an NGO based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for Progam H, which uses group activities and community campaigns to educate young men about respectful and fair behaviour towards women.

Abaad, a non-profit, non-religious, non-politically affiliated organization based in Lebanon dedicated to the advancement, participation and empowerment of women in Lebanon and in the Middle East and North Africa, and through this aim to increase social and economic development.

2016 Womanity Award winners Take Back the Tech!, a campaign in Mexico, led by the Association for Progressive Communications (South Africa) and Luchadoras, La SandíaDigital (Mexico). The campaign addresses the widespread problem of online violence against women, enables women to proactively respond to online abuse, claim virtual space and creatively influence policies and practices. The ultimate goal is to build an internet free of violence.

WomenChangeMakers: realizing women’s rights through art: Brazil

Panmela Castro is a Brazilian graffiti artist and founder of Rede Nami, a female urban artist collective who use public art, workshops and seminars to raise awareness of issues surrounding gender inequality and domestic violence towards women.

The WomenChangeMakers fellowship will help Rede Nami become a financially sustainable organization that has a positive impact in the prevention of gender-based violence.

WomenChangeMakers: humanizing birth for women and children: Brazil

Anke Riedel is the founder of Casa Angela in São Paulo, Brazil, a centre giving poor women pre-natal, natal and post-natal care and guidance. Anke also participates actively in local and regional networks promoting humanized birth through dialogue, sharing experience and advocating for appropriate policies and practices.

WomenChangeMakers: building sound housing and living environments for poor women: India

Bijal Brahmbhatt is Executive Director of Mahila Housing SEWA Trust (MHT), an autonomous organization based in Ahmedabad, India, which is part of the Self-Employed Women’s Association. MHT helps women to access government subsidies set aside for slum development, while providing technical services, urban planning, legal expertise, and securing land tenure for slum residents.

WomenChangeMakers: Breaking the shackles of sexual slavery: India

Ruchira Gupta is the founder and President of Apne Aap Women Worldwide, a grassroots organization in India working to end sex trafficking by helping trafficked and vulnerable girls to exercise their rights, and by campaigning to deter the buying of sex, which fuels trafficking.

Education and vocational training

The School in a Box: Afghanistan

Although many girls are now enrolling in Afghan schools following the fall of the Taliban regime, schools in the region suffer from a lack of resources and inadequate infrastructure. Womanity has run its School in a Box program^[6] in the Al-Fatah school in Kabul since 2007, aiming to improve the infrastructure, resources and teaching, while also addressing specific cultural barriers to girls attending school, such as early marriage, and the impact of a lack of qualified female teaching staff as role models.

WomenChangeMakers: realising girls’ right to education: India

Safeena Husain is the founder and Chief Executive of Educate Girls, a non-profit organization devoted to tackling gender inequality in India’s education system and to creating a sustainable model for the education of girls. The project has so far helped 80,000 girls enrol into school.^[7]

Giving women a voice

Radio Nisaa and Nisaa Network: Palestinian Territories

In 2009, Womanity, in partnership with the Radio Nisaa Broadcasting Company, established Radio Nisaa FM. The station, managed by women, aims to represent women’s concerns and issues in a culture where the media is heavily male-dominated.

Content includes news, discussion, music, and investigative reports, all inviting contributions from listeners. Radio Nisaa grew its audience share from 2% in 2010 just after launch, to 17% in 2015, according to an evaluation by Arab World for Research and Development, and aims to expand its output across the Arab world by partnering with 10 more media outlets by 2018.

Building on the success of Radio Nisaa FM, Womanity created the Nisaa Network, which collaborates with media outlets and other women’s organizations to create multimedia content in Arabic and English. These blogs, animations, news, films and publications are intended to raise further awareness of women’s rights, and challenge stereotypes inside and outside the Arab world.

‘Worth 100 Men’: Middle East and North Africa

The first edition of the Arabic radio drama Be 100 Ragl (‘Worth 100 Men’), about a young female radio journalist who challenges prejudice, was aired in March 2014 throughout the Arab world. The lead role is played by Mona Zaki and the theme tune to the first series was performed by Nancy Ajram.

Themes such as divorce, domestic violence, sexual harassment, women’s access to education and employment, and the status of single women are portrayed in order to generate discussion on sensitive topics that affect women in the region. Broadcasts are followed by radio debates on the subjects raised and 10 public debates have been organized by Womanity in conjunction with SMPL Media.

The second series of Be 100 Ragl is an animation, to be aired in 2016 on Shahid.net and Kharabeesh YouTube channel, two of the most-watched platforms in the region. The ten episodes follow its principal character from season one, Noha, as she moves to Dubai to pursue her career as a radio journalist and presenter.

In addition, the Womanity Foundation is partnering with a range of grassroots organizations to put on a Be 100 Ragl tour at a series of events across the Middle East and North Africa in 2016. Through a mix of online and community-based debate, Womanity is looking to challenge audiences to develop creative solutions to the issues that plague their societies.

Economic empowerment

WomenChangeMakers: improving livelihoods for women: Brazil and India

Maria Beatriz ‘Bia’ Kern is founder and Director of Mulher em Construção, an organization that trains Brazilian women to work in civil construction and advocates for women’s rights. This allows women to access employment and economic security, and at the same time helps to meet Brazil’s increasing demand for skilled construction labour.

Alice Freitas is founder and CEO of Asta, Brazil’s first direct sales network giving marginalized producers (93% of whom are women)^[8] direct access to consumers, encouraging economic inclusion for women in Brazil and beyond.

Neelam Chibber is co-founder and Managing Director of Industree Crafts Private Ltd, a business supporting Indian rural crafts producers and agricultural workers in natural fiber by improving market access through its Mother Earth retail brand. Profits generated are invested back into the training of artisans through The Industree Foundation. The fellowship will enable Industree to create training systems and develop a sustainable funding model.

Chandra Shekhar Ghosh is founder and Chief Executive of Bandhan, whose non-profit arm Bandhan Konnegar aims to give financial stability to women by helping marginalised female entrepreneurs, who could not otherwise access credit, obtain financial assistance or microcredit to help build their business.

WomenChangeMakers: new fellows innovating to improve livelihoods for women: Brazil and India

Lilian do Prado co-founded Acreditar – Capital Humano e Transformação Social, which supports fledgling enterprises in Brazil, providing financial education, technical advice and productive microcredit, to young people and women who set out to create their own businesses.

Ajaita Shah is founder of Frontier Markets, an organization that provides affordable solar energy products in rural India and trains local women to deliver after-sales care, thus creating economic independence for them while addressing the lack of access to reliable electricity.

Partners

The following lists are a selection of the many partners and donors who supported the work of the Womanity Foundation in 2015.

Main operational partners

• Abaad • Acreditar – Capital Humano e Transformação Social • Apne Aap • Arab World Research and Development • Ashoka • Bandhan Konnagar • Casa Angela • Educate Girls • Frontier Markets • Grey New York • Industree Foundation • Institution Nationale de Solidarité avec les Femmes en Détresse (INSAF) • Mahila Housing SEWA Trust • Mulher em Construção • Nisaa Broadcasting Company • Oxfam Novib • Promundo • Rede Asta • Rede Nami • RPR Beirut • Women’s Studies Centre (WSC) • London School of Economics • Hogan Lovells

Strategic funding partners

• Divesa Foundation (A Foundation of the Assura Group) • Gertrude Hirzel Foundation • Jylag Foundation • Linda Norgrove Foundation • Philip Morris International • Trafigura Foundation • UBS Optimus Foundation • Vitol Foundation

Main professional partners

• Accenture and Accenture Development Partnerships • APCO Worldwide • BM2B • BrazilFoundation • Carpenter & Genesca Consultoria • Demarest Advogados - Lex Mundi Pro Bono • Egon Zehnder International • Ernst and Young • Folha de S.Paulo • Francesca Versace • ILA • JP Morgan • Lapis Communication • Mercuri Urval • Peocit Technologies • Small World Stories • Strategy (part of the PriceWaterhouseCoopers group, formerly Booz and Co., India) • The International Exchange • Thomson Reuters Foundation • Trust Law • University of St Gallen • Women Online • Zigla Consultores

References