The Avon Foundation for Women presented a $500,000 grant to the U.S. Department of State Secretary’s Fund for Global Women’s Leadership to accelerate the global movement to end violence against women.
The U.S. Department of State will use the grant to fund innovative and breakthrough programs developed by international non-government organizations for the purpose of ending violence against women.
These new efforts underscore Avon’s ongoing commitment to ending violence against women, which includes the Speak Out Against Domestic Violence program launched by Avon and the Avon Foundation for Women in 2004. These efforts have expanded to 45 countries including award-winning programs in Mexico and the Czech Republic. To date, Avon global philanthropy has committed more than $16 million to end violence against women.
To facilitate the Global Partnership, Avon and the Avon Foundation for Women donated $1.2 million to Vital Voices to bring together 15 country delegations consisting of leaders from diverse sectors – business, government, law enforcement, the nongovernmental organization (NGO) community, academia and others – in a global forum to share insights, forge collaborations, and seek ways to overcome challenging cultural realities that have been barriers to progress.
The Global Partnership will support regional events in India and Argentina in the fall of 2010. Additionally, the Global Partnership will create a violence against women campaign Toolkit that will provide information and strategies to develop effective advocacy, awareness and education campaigns and programs that NGOs can use to reduce violence against women in any country.