EVENT: Transforming Corporate Philanthropy: A New Model for Investing in Women’s Health, Safety and Resilience
Since 2021, the Resilience Fund for Women in Global Value Chains has awarded $3.3 million to 61 direct and indirect grantee-partners primarily in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, and Vietnam to support women's health, safety and economic resilience. The Fund has blazed a new path for collaborative corporate investment in communities and for real-time learning based on trust and rich dialogue with women leaders and organizations in global value chains.
On June 24, 2024, we celebrated the Fund’s third anniversary with a hybrid convening and dynamic discussion with Fund partners on lessons to date and a preview of the next phase of the Fund model. Watch the recording here:
SPEAKERS:
Anisha Chugh, Women’s Fund Asia
Anisha has been with Women's Fund Asia (WFA) for over 10 years and assumed the position of Executive Director of the organization in 2022. She previously worked at different levels within WFA, including Deputy Executive Director, Director of Programmes, and Programme Officer. Prior to joining WFA, Anisha worked with a human rights funder in India called the Dalit Foundation. Anisha has been part of several grant-making advisories. She currently serves on the Advisory Committee of the Fenomenal Funds, the Women's Funds Collaborative Initiative, and the Steering Committee of Human Rights Funders Network (HRFN). She has also served as Treasurer on the board of FRIDA, the Young Feminist Fund (2015-2020). Anisha has a Master’s in History from St. Stephen’s College at the University of Delhi as well as a Master’s in Governance in Development from the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex.
Alex Garita, Prospera International Network of Women’s Funds
Alexandra Garita serves as executive director of Prospera International Network of Women’s Funds, which is committed to resourcing women, girls, and trans people’s organizations, activists, movements, and their communities around the world. Alex is a feminist activist committed to advancing women’s and LBT persons’ human’s rights. She has protested, written, and advocated for bodily autonomy, sexual and reproductive health and rights, climate justice and gender equality throughout her life. At Prospera, she is focused on influencing funding flows to become more democratic and just. Prior to joining Prospera, Alex served in senior leadership in various Mexican feminist organizations. She was also the founder and first executive coordinator of Realizing Sexual and Reproductive Justice (RESURJ) for five years. She is a member of the Editorial Board of Reproductive Health Matters and holds a B.A. in international relations from Boston University and an M.A. in the theory and practice of human rights from Essex University.
Komala Ramachandra, GAP Foundation
Komala Ramachandra is the Director for Social, Labor & Human Rights at Gap Inc. In this role, she focuses on protecting workers’ rights and wellbeing in facilities that manufacture Gap Inc. branded apparel around the world. She designs and implements Gap Inc.’s strategies on stakeholder engagement, fair wages, and human rights due diligence. Komala has been a human rights advocate for over 15 years, seeking to hold companies and financial institutions accountable for human rights and environmental impacts globally. Prior to joining Gap Inc., she was a social and environmental compliance specialist at the World Bank Group. She has worked at Human Rights Watch, investigating predatory corporate practices and spearheading research on economic inequality and human rights. Komala has a BA in economics and political science from Northwestern University and a JD from Harvard Law School.
Gloria Schoch, VF Foundation
Gloria Schoch is executive director of The VF Foundation and director of global impact at VF Corporation, a global leader in apparel and footwear. Some of VF’s iconic brands include The North Face, VANS, Timberland, Smartwool, and Dickies. Gloria oversees The VF Foundation’s strategic vision to advance the company’s philanthropic commitment to environmental justice, conservation, and education and workforce development, with an inclusion, equity, and diversity lens for the betterment of people and planet. Active in the community, Gloria is board chair of the Latino Community Foundation of Colorado. Gloria holds a B.S. in anthropology and business from the University of Colorado at Boulder and an M.S. in public administration management from the University of Colorado at Denver.
Tina Sciabica, Amazon, Advisory Board Co-Chair
Tina serves as the Global Gender Equity Lead on Amazon’s Social Responsibility team that works to ensure that the people, workers, and communities across Amazon’s entire value chain are treated with dignity and respect. Tina is developing a multi-year strategy to advance gender equity across Amazon’s supply chain and operations in partnership with ICRW Advisors and The Mara Partners and leads Amazon’s work as a founding member of the Climate Resolute Coalition, a group of companies committed to elevating women’s leadership in designing and launching climate solutions. Tina is a firm believer in the power of local, women-led organizations. Before joining Amazon, she spent over a decade as the Executive Director of READ Global (Rural Education and Development), an international nonprofit organization that partners with rural communities in Bhutan, India and Nepal to drive rural prosperity.
Dilly Severin, Universal Access Project (UAP)
Dilly Severin is a dynamic leader and strategic communications and advocacy expert with more than 15 years of experience in the fields of international development, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and gender equality. Before coming to UAP, she served as Senior Director of Advocacy and Communications for Data2X, a civil society organization working to improve the use of gender data to drive gender equality and the Sustainable Development Goals. As Senior Director for Global Initiatives at FP2020, Dilly oversaw the Global Initiatives team and managed the Reference Group. Dilly also served as the Director of Communications at PAI and worked at the Consortium on Race, Gender, and Ethnicity and at the International Youth Foundation. Dilly holds a Master’s of Public Policy in International Development from the University of Maryland and a Master’s of Communication from American University.
Kalyani Subramanyam, Maitrayana Foundation, Advisory Board Co-Chair
Kalyani Subramanyam is the CEO at the Maitrayana Charity Foundation. With a Master’s Degree in Social Work and a Post Graduate Diploma in Personnel Management, she has 25 years of experience of working on issues of HIV and Sexuality. In her role at Maitrayana, Kalyani focuses on women’s empowerment by leveraging the power of sport to create ecosystems that advance gender equality. Having worked with several grassroot organizations, she has built tremendous experience of program design, implementation, strategy development for scale and ensuring high-quality interventions. Kalyani is a champion of child protection & safeguarding and serves as a member of UNICEF’s International Safeguarding Children in Sport Advisory Board.
Marissa Wesely, Women Win
Marissa Wesely is the co-founder of Win-Win Strategies (WWS), which was founded to connect the deep assets of women’s funds and local women’s organizations with the power of business to catalyze a transformative approach to women’s economic empowerment. She is an advisor to Women Win, the leading global women’s fund focused on empowering adolescent girls and young women through sport, into which WWS merged in 2019. Prior to the merger, Marissa served as chief executive officer of WWS. Marissa is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and speaks and writes regularly on issues of women’s empowerment and rights. A longstanding advocate for women and girls, Marissa has received many awards recognizing this work, including the American Bar Association’s Margaret Brent Award. Marissa received her J.D. from Harvard Law School and her B.A. from Williams College.
