Commitment title:

Commitment to ending gender-based violence through support for women's rights and feminist organizations in the Global South

Commitment description:

At the Ford Foundation, we believe that everyone should be able to live a life of dignity. It’s time that our societies end the scourge of violence against women and girls around the world. We believe that women and girls have the power to make change happen and that they should be at the center of our response, they should set their own agenda and develop their own culturally appropriate solutions to the problem of gender-based violence.

Our bold vision aligns with the ICPD25 & Beijing +25 commitments towards ending gender-based violence and harmful practices. We are therefore pledging an amount of U.S $78.4 million over the next three years. These resources will be spent holistically across our international program as well as our regional programs in Southern Africa, West Africa, India and Latin America.

Our support is specifically geared toward strengthening women’s rights and feminist institutions to be sustainable for the long term. We hope to leverage more resources for work on gender-based violence and we will work to ensure that these resources are directed towards those women and girls most affected based in the Global South.

We hope to encourage coordination, collaboration and partnerships between different sectors from governments, the private sector, civil society and multilateral institutions because no single organization can solve violence against women and girls by acting alone.

We are, furthermore, committing to channel resources towards preventing violence before it starts and addressing the intersection of race, class, age, disability and sexual orientation in cases of violence against women and girls in order to achieve our goal of a world where women and girls are finally free from all forms of violence.

Mode of engagement:
  • Budgetary and financial
    As a global philanthropic foundation we focus our efforts on providing financial support to civil society in order to achieve systemic change. Importantly, we strive to leverage more resources and to partner with multiple and diverse stakeholders.

    Value: $78.4million

Commitment to be actioned in: global
Submitted from: global
Submitted by
Ford Foundation
Thematic area
Address gender-based violence and the harmful practices of child, early and forced marriages and female genital mutilation
Commitment category

(5) (a) Zero sexual and gender-based violence and harmful practices, including zero child, early and forced marriage, as well as zero female genital mutilation; and (b) Elimination of all forms of discrimination against all women and girls, in order to realize all individuals’ full socio-economic potential.