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 For over twenty years, the Global Fund for Women has worked to connect innovative women and
their organizations with the resources they need to create a better world. Central to this work is
funding and promoting groups that are using media and technology as tools for advancing
women’s human rights. To date, the Global Fund has awarded nearly $11.5 million in grants to
organizations that are using media and technology to amplify the voices of women and girls striving
for change.
 The Women's Media and Technology Fund was established
in 2002 by media producers Dorothy Abbott and Julie Parker
Benello as a way to bring together the resources of donors and
activists who are passionate about funding international media
work. The fund supports a wide range of activities—community
radio, newspapers and magazines, digital media, websites films
and street theater. Additionally, the fund generates resources
for Global Fund projects educating the public about women’s
rights issues.
Beyond providing crucial financial resources, the Women’s
Media and Technology Fund connects activists, donors and
media professionals from around the world with one another,
creating a space for learning about and leveraging the impact of
women’s media work globally.
Members of the Women's Media and Technology Fund have unique opportunities for education and engagement with media grantees and Global Fund staff, including periodic phone calls, luncheon speakers, and travel opportunities.
Recently film producer Julie Parker Benello visited the Women's Media Centre in Phnom Penh with Kavita Ramdas, President and CEO of the Global Fund for Women, and Mu Sochua, Cambodian advisor to the Fund.
Julie Parker Benello writes:
"We were all on a call-in radio show where the topic was women's human rights. We learned that one of the women we met in Phnom Penh who is now a garment worker had been abused by her husband. She heard one of the Women's Media Centre radio shows and learned about the Women's Rape Crisis Center. As a result, she left her husband, learned vocational sewing skills, and is now a union leader in the garment factory where she works."
The Global Fund for Women provided funding to all of the organizations mentioned in Julie's story. This is a testament to the fact that media can play a vital role in disseminating critical information to women in need around the world.
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