Across the Arab world, women are working for change—a change that affects the whole community, and ultimately the whole society. Women are having new and exciting ideas, developing creative and innovative projects, and taking risks to do something that really makes a difference. Now, The Arab Women’s Fund is providing an opportunity for donors committed to social change to back the biggest untapped resource in the region. Investment in women is investment for all.
“Invest in women and you invest in the family, community and society. Women know. We have to trust them. Our job is to respond, encourage and support their efforts. Women have a unique perspective on how to make a difference in their communities. This fund is driven by their ideas, their determination and their know-how.”
— Ms. Hibaaq Osman, founder of Karama and The Arab Women's Fund
Advocating for women’s rights from within the Arab World, we support women’s agendas for social change and justice, raising women’s visibility in the press, politics, and culture, and promoting our priorities and concerns in local, regional, and global arenas.
The Arab Women’s Fund believes that women know best. We believe that dignity is politics. Women should have the space to speak for themselves and not be spoken for. Women should have the power to decide what priorities need support and not have those decisions made for them. We therefore respect women’s dignity, knowledge and priorities.
The driving force behind the Fund is women in the region. We build relationships with donors based on a model of full partnership, keeping in constant focus the needs expressed by the women themselves. Women’s input is urgently needed to set priorities for financing in the region. Women’s absence results in the neglect of issues that affect their daily lives. The consequences destroy the wellbeing of society.
The Fund operates in social and political realms advancing visionary women and leadership in economics, politics, law, media, health, education, art and culture. We support new, creative and even risky ideas, but also the underappreciated long-term work of strengthening the everyday efforts of grassroots women’s organizations.
Both activism and funding for social change are most effective, sustainable, and far-reaching when led by the communities they affect. The priorities of the community thus direct our work, thereby supporting self-determination and leadership from within the communities’ social fabric is a necessity.
