International Women's Health Coalition

IWHC’s vision is a just and sustainable world where all people, regardless of gender, enjoy their human rights and health, and have power over their lives. In order to achieve gender justice, IWHC advances the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and adolescent girls through concrete organizational goals:

Goal 1: Feminist movements are resourced, intersectional, and powerful; have leadership that is diverse and inclusive; and work in cross-movement coalitions

Goal 2: The development of norms, laws, policies, and discourses that advance abortion as a human right

Goal 3: The development of norms, laws, policies, and discourses that advance the right of women, girls, and marginalized people to celebrate and make decisions about their sexuality and reproduction

Goal 4: Ensure IWHC has the profile, agility, coordination, and values alignment to lead the fight for gender justice worldwide

IWHC conducts its work through three main approaches. First, the organization provides grants, technical assistance, and mentorship to women leaders and women’s rights organizations in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East that are working to advance women’s and girls’ health and rights at local and regional levels. Second, at the international level, IWHC brings pioneering ideas, evidence, and expertise to the forefront of multilateral negotiations on women’s rights and health, playing an active role in New York City at the United Nations headquarters, and in Washington, DC. Third, IWHC amplifies the voices of its partners and documents lessons from its work, and from across the women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights movement. By working closely with women’s organizations around the world, IWHC gains the perspectives of women on the ground and helps make their voices heard in the halls of power at global-level policy negotiations.

IWHC’s model of feminist organizing, financial and technical support, and direct advocacy are well suited to respond to the challenges that women and girls face today in achieving gender equality. Autocrats around the world have accelerated their crackdown on civil society groups, and the closing space spells disaster for women and girls globally. In this context, IWHC brings:

A flexible funding model and commitment to trust-based grantmaking, which allows the organization to strengthen women-led movements, and fund in countries where civil society repression is widespread.

A long track record in advocacy that informs a belief in the triumph of movements under threat. IWHC’s history and expertise in the women’s movement—including its role at ICPD and the Fourth World Conference on Women, as well as during the recent negotiations of the SDGs—reinforce its understanding of the importance and value of hard-won international norms and standards. IWHC has access to influential leaders who seek out the organization for its advice and counsel, and is able to directly impact the positions taken by countries in global negotiation spaces.

Legitimacy as an advocate, both in the US and at the UN, because of its grantmaking experiences, including decades-long grantmaking and relationships with partners in key countries such as Brazil and Nigeria, and because of its research and learnings from the global movement. IWHC learns from its partners that have long operated in repressive and authoritarian countries, and this experience informs its outlook and work.

A commitment to feminist knowledge generation and research on critical and emergent SRHR themes, such as the Global Gag Rule, and provider refusals to provide abortion services. This research is grounded in its grantees’ expertise and experiences, and serves to inform the field and drive advocacy. IWHC creates spaces where activists across the SRHR movement can safely explore ideas, test their knowledge, and shape new frameworks and strategies for advocacy.

The ability to make and support connections between activists and policy makers in global spaces. This helps combat “closing spaces,” and protects civil society organizations and individual activists.

An understanding of SRHR through the lens of interconnected struggles across the globe. IWHC’s global reach and intersectional approach are powerful, and prioritize historically marginalized communities. IWHC plays a key role in bridging and connecting movements through knowledge building and convening opportunities and by connecting activists facing similar challenges.

For over 35 years, IWHC has sustained and strengthened women’s movements—specifically the movement for SRHR, a dynamic part of global feminist organizing. To fully achieve their human rights, women and girls must be able to exercise their right to control their bodies, fertility, and sexuality. IWHC has:

• Provided $35 million in funding to 220 local women’s organizations and 630 feminist activists across Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East.
• Trained more than 250 young women across 54 countries since 2007 through its Advocacy in Practice program.
• Played a key role in negotiating the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals, ensuring a focus on gender equality throughout the goals.

Given the need for investment in global women’s rights organizations, and the importance of policy advocacy toward advancing gender equality, IWHC aspires to increase significantly its support to the women’s movement in the global South, as well as grow its own advocacy for sexual and reproductive health and rights over the coming five years.