Invest in Women. Accelerate Action. End Hunger.
Women are the backbone of resilient and thriving communities, yet they continue to face disproportionate barriers to education, healthcare, and financial resources. This discrimination fuels a cycle of poverty, hunger and gender inequality.
It’s time to accelerate action and dismantle the systemic barriers that keep women under-resourced and over-burdened. Investing in women is not just a moral imperative—it’s the key to transforming communities, driving economic growth, and breaking the cycle of hunger.
When women have a voice in decisions that shape their families and economies, they drive lasting change. Many studies have shown that when women have a choice in how to spend their time and resources, they routine choose to invest in the health and well-being of their families and communities. In our latest impact study, 4 in 5 partners reported that, since engaging with us, household and financial decision-making is now either equally shared or led by women. As a likely outcome of that shared-decision making and investments, 96% of those surveyed reported experiencing improvements in their quality of life.
Real change happens when we invest in women.
%
of partners say women now have an equal or greater role in household and financial decisions
How We Accelerate Action for Women
Fostering thriving communities begins with the first pillar of our programs—Start With Women. Our emphasis on women stems from the core belief that empowered women are change agents in their families and communities. Our work elevates and supports women globally to thrive in the following areas:
“Earlier, I was a housewife and did not go out of the house. Now I go to meetings and talk to people. After joining THP, I learned to listen to the problems of the community and I also started earning money.” – Female, India
Strengthening Leadership
Across all our programs, we work with women to elevate themselves as leaders in their communities. In India, specifically, we invest in building and strengthening leadership skills and capacities of elected women and encouraging active citizenship amongst adolescent girls.
To understand the impact of these initiatives, take our Adolescent Girls Program in the Jhadol Block of Rajasthan as an example. In this area, The Hunger Project-India has engaged over 900 girls across 30 villages. We work with them to build life skills in self-awareness, communication, leadership, and advocacy. Through community dialogues, the girls have gained confidence in speaking up against child marriage, demanding safe environments, and asserting their right to education and reproductive health services.
Our efforts have encouraged the girls and their families to prevent 22 early marriages, re-enroll 22 girls in school, and support access to government programs for 220 girls. By investing in adolescent girls, we are not only shaping their futures but also fostering a new generation of empowered women leaders who can drive systemic change in their communities.
Elevating Women-Owned Business
To create a world without hunger, we are committed to strengthening community-level entrepreneurship, cooperatives and purpose-driven partnerships with local, regional, national and international private sector actors.
In Burkina Faso, 15 community banks across the country’s epicenters are providing women loans for income-generating activities. Additionally, our partners are leading training in financial literacy and business management skills, enabling women to take charge of their lives and unlock their capacity for change.
In Malawi, The Hunger Project is bridging the digital divide by connecting rural communities with providers of internet access and developing digital tools to support meaningful connectivity. Through this work, women entrepreneurs are gaining digital literacy skills to expand their businesses, access financial resources, and connect with broader markets. This initiative is not only accelerating economic empowerment but also fostering greater resilience and innovation among women-led enterprises.
In Uganda, women leaders are forming savings groups to fund innovative projects and creating an economic ecosystem for women to support one another. Read Aisha’s story to learn more about how savings groups are elevating women-own businesses.
Investing in Maternal and Child Nutrition
Proper nutrition plays a critical role in building healthier communities that can step into their full potential. Across Africa, South Asia and Latin America, we train community leaders in strategies to combat maternal and child malnutrition through cooking workshops, education and support groups and supplemention with micronutrients when necessary.
The Right2Grow program aims to reduce malnutrition in children under the age of 5. In 40 Union Parishads in Bangladesh (reaching more than 165,000 people), we organize maternal health meetings where animators monitor the weight and growth of young children. They use this data to draft growth curve graphs. That visual translation supports conversations with mothers about the importance of healthy nutrition. At the community level, this data supports mothers and their fellow community members to successfully pressure their local government to increase budgets for WASH and nutrition. To date, annual budgets of 21 Union Parishads have increased by 2.6% resulting in improved access to WASH and nutrition and better mother and child care.
Additionally, we tap into Indigenous knowledge of food systems to improve nutrition. Our work in Mexico actively engages with local leaders, preserving Indigenous knowledge and promoting nutrient-rich local crops and traditional recipes. By celebrating cultural heritage and food traditions, we echo the global imperative of investing in maternal and child nutrition, paving the way for healthier, vibrant communities worldwide.
Achieving Self-Reliance
Across our programs in Africa, our Epicenter Strategy supports empowered communities to take the reins of their own development. Through integrated and holistic approaches, we achieve synergy among programs in gender equality, health, education, water and sanitation, adult literacy, nutrition, improved farming, food security and microfinance. These gains form the basis of long-term and sustainable development led by community leaders, often women, who are aware of the needs and dreams of their neighbors.
How You Can Invest In Women
The fight for gender equality requires bold, urgent action. We must increase investment in gender-inclusive solutions, push for legal and policy changes and ensure that women have a seat at every table where decisions about their futures are made. Without these systemic shifts, the gender gap will continue to widen—leaving women, their families and entire communities vulnerable in the face of global crises.
Follow our social channels to learn more about our work with incredible women around the world. Use the hashtag #IWD2025 to share your commitment to gender equality.
Image Credit: Mexico, 2023 and Mozambique, 2023 © The Hunger Project