HUMANITARIAN ADVOCACY
Women Deliver champions gender equality and the health and rights of girls and women everywhere, including those in crisis settings. We elevate the voices of women, and the organizations they lead, to help ensure they have a seat at the decision-making table. At the same time, we help guide the humanitarian sector to deliver the strongest response for girls and women.
HUMANITARIAN ADVOCATES PROGRAM
The Women Deliver Humanitarian Advocates Program provides direct support to women-focused civil society organizations, as women are often overlooked leaders during emergencies and in their aftermath. We strengthen their voices through training and speaking opportunities, connecting them to the global and national conversations that affect their work and lives.
MEET THE HUMANITARIAN ADVOCATES IN LEBANONADVOCACY AT A GLANCE
Women Deliver urges the international humanitarian community to support local women-focused CSOS in the aftermath of the Beirut explosions, and all humanitarian crises. Read our policy recommendations for how to apply a gender lens to this crisis and all humanitarian action.
Read the recommendations
This new advocacy toolkit highlights key actions representatives of international organizations and INGOs can take – regardless of their role within their institutions – to shift more power, funding, and support to women-focused CSOs.
A new op-ed by Marcy Hersh — Women Deliver’s Senior Manager of Humanitarian Advocacy — and Olfat Mahmoud of the Palestinian Women’s Humanitarian Organization calls on world leaders to uphold the health, rights, and leadership of refugee girls and women to end COVID-19.
In partnership with the Overseas Development Institute, Women Deliver co-edited a special edition of the Humanitarian Exchange Magazine on “Making Humanitarian Action Work for Girls & Women.” The magazine features articles co-authored by international organizations and women-focused CSOs on best practices for meeting the needs of girls and women in humanitarian emergencies.
In a powerful op-ed, Lubna Alkanawati, a Women Deliver Humanitarian Advocate and Country Director for Women Now for Development, advocates for greater support for women-focused civil society organizations in humanitarian settings.
With support from the Women Deliver Humanitarian Advocates Program, Olfat Mahmoud of the Palestinian Women’s Humanitarian Organization joins Her Royal Highness Princess Sarah Zeid of Jordan in a new Q&A that calls for more funding and decision-making power for women-focused civil society organizations.
On Wednesday, March 13 at 9:00 a.m. EST, Women Deliver hosted “Does Humanitarian Aid Need a Feminist Facelift?”, which brought together the international humanitarian community including women-focused civil society organizations to share guidance, best practices, and solutions for creating a humanitarian system that places girls and women at the center.
Women Deliver joins over 30 organizations worldwide in calling on the international community to rally together to uphold the rights and agency of girls and women in humanitarian settings.
Women Deliver announces five women-focused civil society organizations in Lebanon that have been selected to participate in the organization’s new Humanitarian Advocates Program. They are: the Lebanon Family Planning Association, Marsa Sexual Health Center, the Palestinian Women’s Humanitarian Organization, the Lebanese Women Democratic Gathering, and Women Now for Development.
Women Deliver’s President/CEO Katja Iversen visited Lebanon to listen and learn from refugee girls and women about their needs, capacities, and hopes for the future. In a new video, we share their stories and highlight the need for gender-sensitive humanitarian action.
ADVOCACY IN ACTION
Girls and women make up half of any forcibly displaced population, so meeting their needs should never be an afterthought.
We’re collaborating with international and regional organizations to put women’s rights – especially their sexual and reproductive health – front and center in humanitarian action. Taking our experience in global development, we help humanitarian organizations apply a gender lens to their humanitarian programs, policies, and investments, so they can better meet the needs of girls and women.
Partner Spotlight: WORLD FOOD PROGRAM
"Wherever we work – saving lives, changing lives – we must tackle the inequalities that oppress and discriminate against women and girls for equity and the empowerment of all." Jacqueline Paul, World Food Program
Partner Spotlight: THE NEAR NETWORK
NEAR is a movement of civil society organizations from the Global South that partners with Women Deliver to strengthen their collective advocacy for gender-sensitive humanitarian action.
Partner Spotlight: CRISIS ACTION
“After an emergency strikes, it is the local communities – including girls and women – who are the first responders on the ground. From Yemen to South Sudan to Syria, women enable action, they build coalitions, and they catalyze change, so it is critical that we invest in them.” Andrew Hudson, Executive Director, Crisis Action
