Charities that empower girls/women

[TakeMeUpTheNorthMountain]

Can anyone recommend some? I'd like to donate money, I give time to our women's shelter, homeless services and mentor for a disability charity but I don't know how to reach those women in other countries who are subjected to fgm, forced marriage etc
Has anyone information? You read such stories about charities where the money doest reach its intended person

I follow Nimko Ali on Twitter. She's a cofounder of a charity that campaigns for fgm. I don't know if you can donate to her charity but I'm sure that if you got in touch they'd be able to advise you where best to go.

The charity is called Daughters of Eve. You might find the site blog useful.

Femme International is a Canadian (I think) NGO that provides education on female health/hygiene to girls & women in developing countries & provides packs including menstrual cups to women with no access to sanpro.

I heard on women's hour recently about a charity that was supporting women escaping Isis and keep meaning to look that up, does anyone know about that?

This charity run women's self help groups in Ethiopia . They provide loans for women to set up their own business

www.tearfund.org/en/about_us/what_we_do_and_where/countries/east_and_central_africa/ethiopia/

Plan international?
plan-international.org/girls/plans-goals.php?lang=en

VSO

Although their projects are not exclusively in relation to women - many are.

This is my professional area.

Womankind International are good; Marie Stopes International provide access to reproductive health services. There's an interesting Dutch organisation called Mama Cash that provides 'flash' funds to women human rights defenders worldwide.

Of the big NGOs, Plan and ActionAid I would say are the most feminist in their approach, although you probably wouldn't get that from a cursory look at their marketing materials. I would avoid the evangelical charities (like Tearfund) if you are interested in equality issues.

If you are looking at organisations who provide things like SanPro, the most effective type of model is one where these are developed in-country (I don't know anything about Femme International, above). This has the dual effect of supporting local industry and traders as well as helping women access essential products. There are some interesting social businesses in this area afripads.com are one example. There are some awful examples of charities shipping goods out to communities that are not wanted, and undermining local business in the process.

On 'reaching the intended person'- aid spending should have an impact at lots of levels- but most especially at policy level, if you're looking for a shift in action on women's rights issues. The endgame should be that governments uphold their legal responsibilities to women by correctly resourcing legal services, medical, education, social protection etc. That might mean your money is more effectively spent on local campaigners and community mobilisers rather than 'stuff'. Most good charities work in partnership with local civil society organisations anyway, so you should get funds channeled to local experts.

Oh and also- they don't take donations but www.girlsnotbrides.org is also an interesting organisation working in this area and pushing for policy change.