Investing in women making a change while embracing tradition – Kavita Ramdas

Investing in women can unlock infinite potential around the globe. But how can women walk the line between Western-style empowerment and traditional culture? Kavita Ramdas of the Global Fund for Women talks about three encounters with powerful women who fight to make the world better — while preserving the traditions that sustain them.

Kavita Ramdas is president and CEO of the Global Fund for Women, a publicly supported grantmaking foundation that advances human rights by investing in women-led organizations worldwide. Over the past 22 years, the Global Fund has provided more than 7,000 grants, reaching more than 3,000 groups. Since Ramdas took the reins, the fund’s assets have more than tripled — and so has the number of countries the group works in, now at 170.

The Global Fund for Women contributes to groups that improve women’s economic security, work to end gender-based violence, increase access to education at all stages of life, provide critical health services and encourage women to take leadership roles in the public sector. In interviews, Ramdas has said that grantmakers can learn as much from applicants as applicants do from them. This is a philosophy she employs at Global Fund, where grants are often given with as few strings attached as possible, and proposals are accepted in any language. Her vision stands to change the game, not only in women’s rights but in philanthropy as a whole.

“Being a philanthropist doesn’t mean necessarily writing a huge check. It can mean mobilizing your community to start asking questions.”
-Kavita Ramdas