One Woman Initiative Grants for Women-led Projects

The One Woman Initiative is a fund established for the empowerment of women in countries which have a majority of Muslim population. The Fund is supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United States Department of State and it is managed by CAFAmerica, an international organization based in the United States. The Fund was recently launched on 12 May 2008. However, grantmaking was not initiated till its first year got completed as sufficient funds had to be raised for this program. In June 2009, it announced grants of up to US $500,000 made to five NGOs in five different countries. These countries include Pakistan, Egypt, Azerbaijan, India and the Philippines.

The focus of the One Woman Initiative is to empower women through information, training, micro-lending, technology and advocacy. The targeted Muslim-majority countries have women that are denied basic rights for different reasons and henceforth, the need to empower them arises through a transformational process leading to peace and prosperity.

The One Woman Initiative is open to receive grant applications from NGOs in targeted countries during any part of the year. However, only concepts need to be proposed initially, following which the detailed proposals would requested from the applicants. Grants have to be requested from CAFAmerica, which is managing the grantmaking process on behalf of the One Woman Initiative. All applications will be screened under the USA Patriot Act to ensure that the money is used only for the said purposes. Application forms can be downloaded from the Fund’s website and completed and mailed to CAFAmerica. It is also possible to submit the applications online. For more information about this grant opportunity, visit this link.

How to write a proposal and submit it to One Woman Initiative