About WomenStrong
The realization of gender equality, human rights, and shared prosperity worldwide hinges on our ability to listen to local women leaders. Why? Because local women know what they, their families, and their communities need in order to thrive. Women-led grassroots organizations have the expertise the world can rely on to improve girls’ education and reproductive health care, advance economic security, and prevent gender-based violence – all essential components of achieving equality.
Mission and Vision
Our Mission
To advance gender equality by partnering with grassroots women-led organizations to achieve lasting change for the girls and women they serve. Through capacity strengthening and trust-based funding, we collaborate with our partners to implement gender-responsive initiatives tailored to their communities. Partners gain new insights, test innovative solutions, strengthen their systems and programs, share lessons learned, and heighten their visibility. Join us in creating a world where all women and girls can thrive.
Our Vision
We envision a world in which all women and girls are free to prosper and to live their lives in dignity and peace.
Our History
WomenStrong International grew out of the Millennium Cities Initiative, a project of Columbia University’s Earth Institute designed to help 11 sub-Saharan cities achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.
Over a dozen years, we saw women in these communities rely on their own creativity, perseverance, and grit to provide for their families; these women became our go-to source of knowledge of what works, to earn a decent living and build a just and more prosperous world.
WomenStrong expanded the geographic and sociocultural focus of this urban development agenda to include our founding partner organizations in India, Kenya, Ghana, Haiti, and the United States.
Today, WomenStrong’s community of partners has grown to include 18 organizations across 15 countries. These women-driven organizations come together in the WomenStrong Learning Lab to develop, test, sharpen, and amplify their solutions in four areas: girls’ education, women’s health, violence prevention, and economic security and opportunity.