Gender violence, including physical and sexual abuse, is widely used to intimidate, oppress, silence and subjugate girls, women, disabled and LGBTIQ people across the globe. It devastates those who are targeted and destroys the social fabric of families, communities and societies.
In short, gender violence is one of the most significant barriers to women, girls and LGBTIQ people accessing their human rights.
Together with our partners, we help people to heal from gender violence and become powerful advocates to end it. We build clinics and counseling centers. We equip women with tools to prevent abuse in war and disaster. And every day, we affirm that gender violence doesn’t have to be a fact of life.
How We Work
Grantmaking
We invest in the experience and leadership of women, girls and LGBTIQ people. We fund work that provides immediate protection and care and that shifts mindsets around gender violence.
Organizational Strengthening
We provide our partners and allies with training, tools and infrastructure to mobilize at the local and international levels and to take concrete steps to end gender violence.
Legal Advocacy
We facilitate our partners' efforts to document gender violence, and we enable them to present their demands before relevant decision-makers and change laws and policies.
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Our partners' work has transformed harmful social norms, attitudes and cultural practices.
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Our partners have access to policy spaces from the local to global levels and leverage with decision-makers to change policies.
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There is increased recognition of women's solutions to end gender violence and understanding that gender violence can be prevented.
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Violence, stigma and discrimination are reduced.
Highlights of Our Work
MADRE is leading global and grassroots efforts to end gender-based violence, and our work is gaining momentum in local communities and is being taken up by centers of power, including by the International Criminal Court and members of the UN Security Council. Learn more about how our focus on the crime of gender persecution can help strengthen justice for gender-based violence.
In communities rebuilding from war and ISIS occupation, the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq confronts sexual violence head-on. They reach out to survivors and their families with aid and counseling, seek to change laws that discriminate against women and LGBTIQ people, offer safe passage to people under threat, and operate an underground network of shelters.
Taller de Vida, a community-based organization, provides care and mentorship to young women and girls who were recruited as child soldiers during Colombia's war. Many were sexually exploited and need support to heal. Taller de Vida offers workshops rooted in music, dance, theater and more to break through silence and stigma. Young survivors come to know that they are not alone, and they gain the confidence to speak out against the abuses they’ve experienced.
Your Support in Action
Care in Crisis for Women and Girls
project
Protecting Children of War
project
Women's Weaving Collective
project
Shelter Without Walls
project
Freedom for All
project
The Underground Railroad for Iraqi Women
project
Wangki Tangni
Partner
Wangki Tangni is a community development organization run by and for Indigenous women on Nicaragua's North Atlantic coast. They work to demand an end to violence and promote women's rights.
MUIXIL
Partner
MUIXIL is a Guatemalan grassroots women's group that promotes the political, economic, and cultural rights of Ixil Mayan and other Indigenous women.
Legal Reform in Iraq, Anti-Domestic Violence Law and Shelter Policy
