Six new programs that support safe childbirth, re-entry assistance for imprisoned women, microfinance and business training, nutrition and help for grandmothers raising orphaned children have been selected for funding in the second half of 2014.

Dining for Women is pleased to announce its grant program for the last half of 2014, which will provide more than $321,000 to grassroots programs from Afghanistan to Africa. The programs will directly benefit nearly 45,166 women and girls, and countless more indirectly.

The programs work toward improved health, increased educational opportunities, training of healthcare workers to return to rural villages and medical care.

Dining for Women provides funding each month to a featured program that aligns with our mission to empower women and girls living in extreme poverty in the developing world by fostering good health, education, and economic self-sufficiency. The money is raised by educating and inspiring our member/donors to make a positive difference through collective giving. Since our inception in 2003, more than $3.34 million has been donated to support programs.

“Dining for Women invests in women and girls. The programs we support are working to provide education, skills- and leadership-training and critical health care so that women and girls can live safe productive lives, support their families and be part of sustainable communities,” explains Executive Director Jamye Cooper. “We focus on programs that provide a hand up – not a hand out.”

The featured programs were carefully vetted and selected from a pool of more than 110 applicants that met our criteria for consideration.

They are:

RAIN, a Niger-based program that works with at-risk girls in rural and nomadic desert communities. The program provides education, mentoring and training to help girls develop life, leadership and business skills.

Bond Street Theatre in Afghanistan promotes peace and understanding through the arts. Its Creative Arts Prison Program (CAPP) introduces theatre-based programming into rehabilitation for incarcerated women in Afghanistan. The program encourages self-expression, builds self-esteem and provides skills to ease their re-entry into society.

Nyaka AIDS Orphans Project works with orphans in rural Uganda. The Grandmother Training of Trainers Program will equip 273 grandmothers raising orphaned children with skills to improve their ability to cope with the challenges of raising small children and to secure microloans to improve their economic stability.

The Bumi Sehat Foundation’s Gentle Safe Free Childbirth program in Bali is designed to promote safe, kind, hygienic, naturally and culturally appropriate reproductive healthcare. The DFW grant will provide salaries for 11 midwives for one year, as well as medicine and supplies.

Gardens for Health International works to build environmentally sustainable projects to prevent chronic childhood malnutrition. At the Bumbogo Health Center and Community Outreach Support program, mothers of malnutritioned children will gain knowledge, resources and support to feed their families. The program will offer health education, targeted agricultural support, such as planting seeds.

Women’s Microfinance Initiative in Uganda establishes village loan hubs administered by local women to provide capital, training and support for impoverished village women. The DFW grant will expand a successful program in Buyobo to surrounding villages. The program helps women get training and gain a credit history with the goal of eventually obtaining traditional financing for income-generating businesses.

In addition to the six featured programs, Dining for Women has also selected four programs for sustained, multi-year funding. They are: INMED’s Healthy Babies program which improves maternal and child health in Peru; Thirteen Threads’ Fair Trade and Women’s Cultural Center, an enterprise that trains Mayan women and helps them start sustainable businesses in Guatemala; Rubia’s Threads of Change program that teaches practical skills and provides education to more than 500 Afghan women and children; Lotus Outreach, which provides trauma counseling and reintegration assistance to victims of human trafficking, rape and domestic violence in Cambodia.

Download the July-December 2014 Program Flyer