Women-led organisations (WLOs) are indispensable humanitarian actors whose proximity, trust and gendered analysis enable them to reach people and fulfil priorities that other actors simply cannot. While they share many strengths with other local and national actors, they also have particular strengths rooted in their leadership as women, girls and gender-diverse people who face marginalisation around the world. 

The objective of this project is to provide insights and recommendations to help achieve a pluralistic, symbiotic and mutually beneficial ecosystem of humanitarian funding. Not unlike the humanitarian reset, meaningful change for WLOs must be at the same time both incremental and transformational, recognising the complex pressures, constraints and incentive structures facing all actors in this space. Our goal is not to centre any one funding modality or mechanism, but rather to provide concrete pathways towards a more inclusive, accessible and efficient funding ecosystem that works for the diversity of WLOs and funders working on humanitarian response – and ultimately for crisis-affected people.

Report by the Overseas Development Institute