The Alliance for Gender Equality in Europe
brings together for the first time local and pan-European civil society actors with diverse funders to support progress in the areas of gender equality and women’s rights in Europe
It is a two-part initiative comprising both a pooled fund and a knowledge platform.
ABOUT
The alliance
CONTEXT
While gender inequality is often viewed as a larger problem outside of Europe than within, the situation is nevertheless disconcerting. Some troubling statistics include:
Women on the average earn
16%
less than their male counterparts
The gap between pensions for men and women is nearly
40%
Only 6%
of large European companies are headed by women
1 in 3
One in three women has experienced physical or sexual violence.
Founding Members
As seed funding, the Alliance is currently funded for an initial period of 3 years by la Fondation Chanel, le Fonds l’Oréal pour les Femmes, and the King Baudouin Foundation. Other organizations have committed to joining the Alliance.
HISTORY
In 2019, the Fondation CHANEL engaged in a broad stakeholder consultation to assess and analyse the lack of funding for gender equality issues across Europe. The aim was to explore how to successfully build up philanthropy to support women and girls within the region.
Underfunding of the sector is due to a variety of factors, including the limited allocation of resources from national governments impacted by austerity; a focus on allocating EU funds for gender equality to the global south; the relatively weak philanthropic culture in the field; and a lack of individual donor engagement.
HISTORY
In 2019, the Fondation CHANEL engaged in a broad stakeholder consultation to assess and analyse the lack of funding for gender equality issues across Europe. The aim was to explore how to successfully build up philanthropy to support women and girls within the region.
Underfunding of the sector is due to a variety of factors, including the limited allocation of resources from national governments impacted by austerity; a focus on allocating EU funds for gender equality to the global south; the relatively weak philanthropic culture in the field; and a lack of individual donor engagement.
APPLY
FOR FUNDING
Call for proposal 1 : « 2021 Fund for Covid Solidarity » – Open call for proposals
TIMELINE
GRANTMAKING PRIORITIES
Our objective is to provide support to organisations in the closest contact possible with people on the ground. While we anticipate primarily funding small, frontline organisations, the Fund will also consider specific project proposals from larger organisations innovating or experimenting in an area where there is demonstrable need.
This fund aims to distribute resources equitably across the European Union. Therefore, we aspire to create a geographic balance of grantees.
In this first year of funding, our call for proposals intentionally encompasses a broad range of thematic areas in order to find the most creative, effective and impactful initiatives. To that end, we invite applications for either general operating support or for specific projects. We aim to support a thematically diverse slate of proposals.
Priority thematic areas are:
* Access to economic resources, entrepreneurship, digital divide.
* Access to education and training: promoting opportunities for education and vocational training, including communications and information technologies.
* Violence Against Women/health and social protection: combatting gender-based violence, securing access to healthcare and social protection.
* Climate change and gender.
* Technology development and innovation.
Proposals in other areas will be considered.
ORGANISATION
AND GOVERNANCE
ACTIVITIES
A POOLED FUND
A NETWORK & LEARNING PLATFORM
Gouvernance
A steering commitee
comprised of donors to the pooled fund makes final granting decisions.An advisory council
made up of representatives from women’s organisations, networks, women’s funds, the business world and others will ensure robust stakeholder participation.The network & learning platform
welcomes a broad cross section of engaged actors.OPERATIONS
The Alliance is established under the auspices of the Brussels-based Network of European Foundations (NEF).FOUNDING
Members
