On Thursday, 30 October 2025, Giving Women hosted an online panel conversation on “Gender Based Violence; Identification, Prevention and Healing”. The conversation was honest, clear, authentic and instructive. The urgency of the situation was palpable as was the concern around the lack of funding, as stated in a paper by UN Women ”At risk and underfunded: How funding cuts are threatening efforts to end violence against women and girls”

The panel, expertly moderated by Julie Broome, director of the Issues Affecting Women Programme at Oak Foundation, was made up with women with lived experience, practitioners who work with survivors on the ground and a researcher. We are sograteful for the amazing insights and knowledge they shared with us:

➢ Jane Anyango - Founder of Polycom Girls in Nairobi, Kenya
➢ Trizah Gawka - Program Manager at Be That Girl
➢ Alessandra Guedes - Gender & Development Research Manager at UNICEF Innocenti
➢ Daniela Valdivia - President at Huellas & Futuro NGO
➢ Queentah Wambulwa - CEO at Girls For Africa Mental Health Foundation

Most interesting was how the speakers with very varied entry points to the issue were so aligned on the understanding of the issue and the ways forward.The magic of collaboration and knowledge sharing was actively happening throughout the 90 minutes
Here are some key take aways:
• Social norms normalise GBV 
• Stigma and shaming often prevent survivors of GBV from reporting
• Survivors need safe spaces to report
• To change social norms there has to be buy in by all stake holders
• Adolescent a girls are particularly vulnerable to GBV for a variety of reasons intimate partner violence due to misogyny and toxic masculinity, traditional practices such as early marriage and  FGM
• Police need to be sensitised to Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TFGBV) so survivors of TFGBV  can report - legal reforms, technological solutions, and support systems for victims need to be urgently put in place
• Lack of accountability is a barrier to justice for survivors of GBV
• Children in households where they witness domestic violence and are themselves victims of abuse create a cycle of violence 
• Parenting support needed to help mothers and fathers to bring up their children in a calm non violent environment
• Education is essential so that young children learn non violent conflict resolution, gender equality and to end toxic masculinity
• Healing through survivor-centred approaches, including trauma-informed care, online support spaces, and literacy training.

On the 10th April, Giving Women hosted the second panel to address the impact and opportunities arising from the recent funding cuts, including the shutdown of USAID and global reductions in development aid, with a particular focus on the effects on the livelihoods of women in the most underserved communities. With brilliant moderation from Khani Bonnet, a diverse team of panelists explored how we can shift dependency away from foreign aid and work towards a world where solutions are found within communities and countries themselves.

With voices from the frontline of the crisis, we explored the implications of these cuts on livelihood creation and discussed what measures are in place and need to be implemented to mitigate the impact and ensure strong, positive outcomes.

Key take-aways:

➤ We need to make national governments take responsibility and end the cycle of dependency. - Danny Gotto, I4Dev, Uganda

➤ Development projects need to find way to be financially sustainable and move away from philanthropic giving. - Prapti Bahsin, Aavishkaar, India

➤ Compassion needs to inform decisions for a better world. - Yasmina Zaidan, Acumen

➤ Training and and knowledge transfer is not enough to make and enterprise work. Access to investment is essential. - Pauline Koelbl, ShEquity

➤ We need to recognise the economic potential of working with the 50% of the population which is often excluded. - Mary Ellen Iskenderian, Women’s World Banking

➤ We need to leverage the 100billion USD of remittances to Africa which far outnumbers the Official Development Assistance (ODA) of 42billion USD. - Khani Bonnet, Bitesize Capital

(Unfortunately, 3 of our speakers had connectivity issues and had to leave their cameras off at times)

Timestamps:

0:00:00 Welcome by Founder, Atalanti Moquette

0:01:01 Introduction, Elianna Moquette

0:04:10 Panel topic background by Panel Moderator, Khani Bonnet

0:07:06 Question to Danny Gotto: “Describe how you and your organization have historically worked with USAID and or other aid agencies. What, in your view, worked well? What could have been more effective or added value? What are the implications for livelihoods?”

0:20:32 Question to Prapti Bhasin: “Why have you chosen to center STEM learning and teacher education as a means for community development? Describe how your service model, with emphasis on how it has allowed for programmatic autonomy and the sustainability of their work.”

0:30:22 Question to Yasmina Zaidan: “Explain the importance of both workforce development and the role it plays in local ecosystems, and how these things may also contribute to livelihoods. How can we better use private and patient capital to catalyze social entrepreneurs locally? What would you say has been the greatest impact of your work to equip leaders to be change agents in their communities?”

0:40:51 Question to Pauline Koelbl: “Describe specifically how you’re closing gaps in access to capital. What tools, policies, and investment mechanisms have helped to de-risk deals in the African context? And what opportunities or barriers persist to venture exits? What role do diasporic communities play in catalyzing some of these investments?”

0:52:44 Question to Mary Eleen Iskenderian: “What is the business case for financial inclusion? Why should the unbanked and micro-entrepreneurs formally participate in the financial sector? What considerations should go into the design of financial products and services for low-income women, as well as their impact?”

1:05:20 Khani Bonnet to all panelists: “How can new actors tap into that you’re doing? What forums should we create? How should we connect so that we’re not letting this crisis go to waste? How can we repivot our skills? How can we leverage our connections and opportunities to reimagine what development looks like? What happens next? How can we put into place the ideas heard on the call?”

1:06:08 Yasmina Zaidan response

1:07:54 Danny Gotto response

1:10:41 Pauline Koelbl response

1:12:47 Atalanti Moquette: a call to action

1:14:51 Closing remarks by Moderator, Khani Bonnet

On 13 March, Giving Women with a courageous and informed panel exposed the immediate and profound impacts of the US funding freeze on some of the most vulnerable populations around the world. We learnt about the historical issues of overseas development aid and began to explore how to build back better. The discussion included the perspectives of grass roots organisations, social business, ex-USAID administrator, donors, academic, and visionaries. The spirit of the panel was: these are the realities today, there are urgent actions that needs to be taken to save lives NOW. However, the silver lining is through solidarity we can reimagine international aid and development. We learnt that some African countries see this as an opportunity, “We can finally take responsibility for our lives”.

There were many key take aways but here are a few that stood out:

➤ The lack of due process for the USAID funding review meant that the waivers for life saving programmes were impossible to administer.
➤ 5’800 USAID contracts have been cut
➤ Aid is not going to the most in need – Ukraine received as much as 59% of all of Africa
➤ The cycle of dependency created by international aid needs to be cut and we all need to support the repatriation of responsibilities to each country, and help to grow their economies so that international aid will no longer be needed.
➤ Working together at every level, civil society, governments, philanthropists, INGOs NGOs, CBOs to end the be more efficient and stop duplicating efforts and resources; and
➤ We need to mobilise NOW to ensure that food, medication and treatments are accessible to those who need them. To do this, The Foreign Aid Bridge Fund and The change fund bridge funding window have been created to support frontline organistaions. Please visit their site and donate. Every little helps.

Timestamped sections by panelist:

0:00:00 Welcome and introduction by the moderator, Elianna Sabbag Moquette

0:08:09 Question to Heba Aly: "Please explain to our listeners the history of bilateral AID and development. How was it built to fail?"

0:14:15 Question to Nidhi Bouri: "You worked for the USAID as the Deputy Assistant Administrator. Can you explain what your role was and why you left USAID when you did. What is normal and what is surprising in this federal review?"

0:22:20 Question to Felix Brooks-Church: "Please share with the audience what you do and why you do it? How has the funding freeze affected your work? What are you seeing in the field?"

0:26:58 Question to Mercy Anapoorani: "Tell us about Blossom Trust – who is it that you serve and how has the foreign aid freeze affected your organisation? Tell us about your immediate problems?

0:35:48 Question to Prof. Mojgan Sami: "Can you talk to importance of academic research for global public health today? How do you fit into the humanitarian and development landscape? How have the decisions coming out of Washington affected your work?

Elianna Sabbag: "It is not all doom and gloom – we have learnt a lot over the years. We have been talking about the problems with international aid for a long time – many have been trying to move the dial on solutions to the systemic problems of dependence and colonial approaches. There is also an opportunity now".

0:42:40 Question to Phyllis Costanza: "Tell me what you believe are the historical problems with the development system - (e.g. spent the money for SDGs but haven’t achieve it – why? INGOs, UN orgs, national agendas, not enough localisations and collaborations) – what is it that you have been working on? What are the systemic solutions? How are you responding directly to the current problems? Short term solutions?

0:52:45 Question to Nidhi Bouri: "So, we talked previously about wavers as one opportunity, but the situation has since solidified. I would like to hear more about your thoughts and reflections about some of the solutions going forward now and also how you see the re-imagining of a new system"

1:02:25 Elianna Sabbag as Director of if Foundation sharing what some foundations are doing now by way of providing short-term innovative solutions to assist organisations on the ground.

1:04:45 Question to Heba Aly: "Could you please elaborate more on what are you working on? What is your vision for a post-aid world? and how can this moment of crisis and opportunity to build back better?"

1:11:05 Question to Felix Brooks-Church: "Where do you think the solutions lie? How are you navigating the complexity and uncertainty? What can we learn from this experience to build back better?"

1:14:40: Question to Mercy Anapoorani: "Do you have any advice you want to give the local / grassroots organisations? What would you say to them today to bring hope? What solutions?

1:18:00 Question to Mo Sami: "What solutions can you bring at this point. What is you vision?"

1:20:30 Closing remarks by moderator and each of the panelists