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By donating to the Women's Empowerment Program, you are helping to support women across Asia.
Given the disproportionate impact of the coronavirus on women and girls in Asia, we established a Covid-19 Lotus Rapid Response Fund to address the immediate gendered impacts of Covid-19. With The Asia Foundations network of 18 permanent country offices across Asia and our longstanding relationships with local partners, we've been able to identify urgent needs and mobilize quickly in response to what we're seeing on the ground and to get resources where they're most needed." -- Jane Sloane, Director, Women's Empowerment and Gender Equality Program
Here are some examples of the impact Lotus funds have had during this unprecedented time.
$500 provided immediate relief to 50 migrant families in Indias Bihar province whose livelihoods had been devastated by the COVID-19 epidemic. Each relief kit served a family of four with basic food stuffs, soap, and masks.
$850 allowed a female university student in Cambodia to continue her studies virtually as universities closed to in-person schooling during the pandemic, including obtaining her own personal computer.
$3,500 supported an aspiring female lawyer to pursue a two-year program of professional legal training, internship, and supervised practice at a law firm, which are required to become a lawyer in Laos. Currently there are only 317 lawyers in the country, and only 72 of them are female.
$5,000 funded a 24-hour counseling hotline for Mongolian women entrepreneurs that gave advice on how to pivot their businesses while providing psychosocial support to those in need. 385 calls were fielded over seven months - more than double the usual volume.
$10,000 allowed a dynamic NGO in Laos serving vulnerable women to build dedicated weaving and dyeing sheds and equip them with materials so that the women can generate income by producing and selling beautiful, dyed textiles for local and international markets.
Click here to learn more about the Covid-19 Lotus Rapid Response Fund.