Urgent Action Fund to Protect, Sustain & Strengthen Women Around the World

Grant requests can be made anytime

Established in 1997, Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights is a global women’s fund that protects, strengthens and sustains women and transgender human rights defenders at critical moments.

The Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights is a global women’s fund that aims to protect, sustain, and strengthen women and transgender human rights. Requests from women’s human rights defenders are welcome. The organization provides grant and welcomes the application throughout the year.

Eligible Countries

Urgent Action Fund has three Sister Funds that cover all countries throughout the world.

1. If you are applying for funds in Africa, apply to Urgent Action Fund-Africa.
2. If you are applying for funds in Latin America or the Spanish-speaking Caribbean, apply to Urgent Action Fund-Latin America.
3. Urgent Action Fund USA provides funds to all other regions, including the English and French speaking Caribbean, Asia, the Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Europe, the United States and Canada.

Thematic Areas

• Women & Gender
• Human rights defenders
• Disability
• Education
• Environment
• Indigenous Communities
• LGBTQ
• Peace & Conflict Resolution
• Sexual violence
• Economic justice

Urgent Action Fund provides:

• Rapid Response Grantmaking: This grant is awarded to women and transgender human rights defenders in Asia, the Middle East, Central and Eastern Europe, and North America. Applicant may apply for grant of up to $5,000 USD.
• Advocacy and Alliance-Building: The organization provides information as a funder to advocate women and transgender human rights defenders.
• Global Consortium of Urgent Action Fund: Urgent Action Fund in collaboration with Urgent Action Fund-Africa and Urgent Action Fund-America support women and girls’ activism globally.

Eligibility Criteria

• Applicants can be Women’s groups responding to an urgent situation and working towards the overall goal of promoting, advancing, and protecting women’s human rights.
• To receive a Rapid Response Grant, proposal must fall under at least one of these categories:
  1. Potentially precedent-setting legal or legislative actions or actions that aim to protect a precedent that has already been set.
  2. Protection and security of women human rights defenders. Note that Evacuation Grants fall under this category. Evacuation Grants are designed for women’s human rights activists who are in urgent need of relocation funding because of threats, persecution and/or an extreme security situation.
• Within these categories, you may be working on peace-building, environmental justice, land rights, sex worker rights, LGBTQ rights, reproductive rights, or many other issues.
• They have to show how they will protect women’s rights.
• Proposed projects must meet 5 criteria:
  1. Be strategic: your short-term intervention should be written in line with the long-term goal of enhancing women’s rights.
  2. Be time urgent: your project should clearly respond to a situation of emergency.
  3. Be sustainable: your project should state how the proposed project could be followed up or give born to other relevant activities in your community.
  4. Be supported: the applicant should provide evidence of collaboration with other women’s organisations in the same area or region.
  5. Be women’s led: the organisation must be led by women.

How to Apply

• Applicants can fill and submit online application form or download the form and send it via email.
• Application for Rapid Response Fund can be made any time in the year and application can be submitted in any language.
• Applicant will get response within 72 days of submitting the application.

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