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ABOUT FAIR
FUND
FAIR Fund is an international organization that supports
and engages young women in civic activism to better their lives and
communities. Program initiatives are conceptualized and managed by
the very women the initiatives intend to benefit. Through
cross-cultural collaboration, education, funding, and training, FAIR
Fund advocates the active and successful participation of young
women and girls in the development of civil society. The direct
services we provide not only support women’s rights, but are also
aimed at successfully integrating young women into civil society by
addressing key issues related to gender violence, child and youth
trafficking, and girl’s empowerment to become active agents of
social change both locally and globally.
During the past three years, FAIR Fund has worked directly with
young women advisors and community-based organizations to determine
needed programs. To date, the majority of FAIR Fund’s work as
centered on preventing gender violence, in particular human
trafficking, though community outreach, alternative life-skills
development, and peer education. FAIR Fund also
offers a comprehensive program, FemVote, to empower young women with
concrete skills in organizing campaigns and workshops to effectively
become more involved in their national and regional civil
society. Our programs have reached over 10,000 young people in
two years and have provided technical and programmatic support to
over 40 social service organizations in 11 countries through out the
United States, the Balkans, the former Soviet Union, Central Asia,
and now eastern Africa. Our partners receive capacity-building,
programmatic collaboration, and financial support to develop
sustainable solutions in two primary program areas 1) reducing
gender violence in youth, including human trafficking and 2)
increasing girls leadership and civic empowerment.
Why start with Eastern
Europe and Central Asia?
In regions of Eastern
Europe, new democratic processes are beginning to empower women in
asserting their rights as equal citizens. Post-war trauma, domestic
violence, and trafficking prevention are just a few of the
challenges women face in these regions recovering from conflict.
Although there may be laws protecting the freedoms and rights of
women, they are not always enforced, thus maintaining the status of
women as a voiceless, under-privileged group.
Local
Partnerships
Local women's and youth organizations
provide a window that reflects the background and culture behind the
needs of the local community. Women's experiences are as diverse as
women themselves. While many of the needs and concerns of
women can be universalized, solutions must reflect the individual
needs of each young woman. Questions to consider when
targeting specific issues of concern are varied. Do they live in an
area with high ethnic or political tensions? What is their level of
education? What is the socio-economic situation of their region?
Local organizations are best able to address these issues because of
their constant and direct contact to the women they support. By
providing project support and seed funding, FAIR Fund enables
existing local organizations to serve greater numbers of women and
girls in their regions. In this way, FAIR Fund creates
programs that will be sustainable long after a grant or project is
finished.
Rural
Isolation
Women in rural areas are often overlooked
because of the communication and technology divide that isolates
them from international networking. FAIR Fund addresses this serious
issue by requesting women's groups in urban areas to identify
organizations in rural areas interested in a partnership with FAIR
Fund. FAIR Fund’s International Young Women’s Advisory Council,
comprised of local young women leaders, researches and connects our
programs to women and youth in many of the more isolated regions.
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