Apply for Grants to Achieve Economic Empowerment and Gender Equality

FREE is envisioned as a pooled funding mechanism designed to support the needs of adolescent girls and young women. With foundational investment from Standard Chartered, FREE will accelerate progress towards SDG 5 and SDG 8 by increasing the economic opportunities available to girls and women.

Grant Parameters

FREE will fund proposals that prioritize the long-term economic resilience of adolescent girls and young women. In particular, it is envisioned that FREE will aim to support adolescent girls and young women to:

• Regain Employment: Regain employment and be re-trained for new opportunities.
• Setup Small Business: Set up/evolve micro and small businesses, including seed funding, training, or the adaptation of existing businesses to focus on new products or services.
• Develop Skills: Develop skills that will allow girls and women to earn a living and put these to use in the job market or through entrepreneurship, including boosting engagement with STEM subjects.
• Enhance Financial Literacy and Engagement: Ensure adolescent girls and young women can access financial information, products and services that cater to their specific needs.
• Address Unpaid Work: Address the disproportionate burden of unpaid work on girls and women, ensuring that they can attend school or other training opportunities, take part in paid work and participate in social and community-building activities.
• Ensure Freedom from Violence: Ensure adolescent girls and young women have the right to live free from violence. This includes domestic violence, sexual and physical abuse, infanticide, early & forced marriage, female genital mutilation, and sexual exploitation and assault.
• Expand Influence: Expand young women’s and girls’ representation, voice, and decision-making influence in their communities or at the workplace.
• Access Health: Increase access to girl-friendly information and services about sexual and reproductive health and rights, including proper nutrition, family planning and mental health.
• Create Role Models and Networks: Create role models and give adolescent girls and young women a support network.
• Tackle the lack of freedom of Movement: Ensure that adolescent girls and young women have the agency and independence to move freely and safely.

Funding Information

• Individual women (18+) can apply for:
  • Up to $2,500
  • Up to $5,000
• Registered youth-led, women-led, and other community-based organisations and Women’s Funds can apply for:
  • Up to $10,000
  • Up to $25,000
  • Up to $50,000

Geographic Areas

In the first round of funding, FREE will fund projects in the following seven countries:

Eligibility Criteria

• Free Fund aims to provide direct Grants to:
  • Youth-led, women-led and other community-based organisations.
  • Women’s Funds whose focus includes adolescent girls and young women at a grassroots level.
  • Individual women (18+) with a proposal to increase economic opportunities for themselves or other adolescent girls and young women in their community.
• FREE will invest in organisations and groups that are directly supporting and targeting the following participants:
  • All cis, trans, non-binary and all other underrepresented groups and communities such as black, indigenous, people of colour, LGBTIQ+, refugees, and migrant adolescent girls and women with or without disabilities, sex workers, aged between 12 to 35 years.
  • They anticipate a high number of applications to FREE, therefore they may decide to prioritise applications for funding. Therefore, priority will be given to underrepresented and traditionally excluded groups.
• Either Individual Women or organizations can apply:
  • If Individuals meet all of the following criteria, they can apply for a grant:
    • You must align with the mission and vision of FREE
    • Your project proposal must include and align with two of the Grant Parameters of FREE
    • You must have a demonstrable understanding of the challenges and barriers that adolescent girls and women face in your community
    • You must be able to connect virtually with the FREE team
    • You must provide the name of a host organization
  • If Organizations meet all of the following criteria, they can apply for a grant:
    • Your organisation or group must align with the mission and vision of FREE
    • Your project proposal must include and align with two of the Grant Parameters of FREE
    • Your organisation or group must have at least 60% of women in leadership positions. Priority will be given to women-led organisations.
    • Your annual organisational income for 2020 must be within the following range: $20,000 to a maximum of $250,000. Priority will be given to grassroots organisations.
    • Your organisation or group can only apply for a grant that is 50% or less than your annual organisational income (e.g. if your organisation’s annual income for 2020 was $20,000, then you are only eligible to apply for $10,000).
    • Your organisation or group must have experience working directly with adolescent girls and women, and can demonstrate a track record.