Plan International Canada Inc

Published purpose

This project is part of Canada’s Women’s Voice and Leadership Program, which supports local and regional women’s organizations and networks working to promote women’s rights and advance women’s empowerment and gender equality in developing countries. This is done by supporting activities, building institutional capacity, and promoting network and alliance-building, as women’s rights and feminist organizations are critical agents of change. The program also responds to the globally recognized, significant gap in funding and support women’s rights organizations and movements worldwide. This project component aims to reduce the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the rights of the poorest and most marginalized women and girls in Ghana. Project activities include: (1) supporting Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF) and Network for Women’s Rights in Ghana (NETRIGHT) to analyze the gender dimensions of COVID-19; (2) advocating for gender-responsive COVID-19 policies and programs; and (3) strengthening women's rights organizations' knowledge of COVID-19 and providing services for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence during the pandemic and beyond. The additional funding directly supports women’s rights organizations that are responding to COVID-19 across the country. It enables 11 of 21 organizations receiving gender-transformative programming grants to support a range of initiatives to address the gendered impacts of COVID-19, and to meet their short-term funding requirements that have arisen because of the pandemic.