Ending gender-based violence - the power of partnership across borders
2025-09-16 18:30 - 20:00 UTC | Medair, Schoffelgasse 7, Zurich, 8001, Switzerland
Three women. Three perspectives. One shared mission: to transform systems and behaviour through female empowerment.
This conversation brings together voices from Giving Women, Ashoka, and Huellas y Futuro. Working across continents and contexts, from grassroots to strategy – to explore how we build community, shift power, and support women-led change around the world.

Daniela Valdivia from Huellas y Futuro, will share her work addressing gender-based violence (GBV) and how her women’s empowerment work has made a tangible impact in Bolivia.
Charlie Page from Giving Women and founder of Power4Teens, will spotlight her work on girl empowerment. Through her work with Giving Women, she will amplify the powerful Kenyan female voices.
Perrine de le Court, from Ashoka, will share how her work supporting social entrepreneurs across the world has shown that when women are equipped with the confidence, tools, and networks to lead change they don’t just transform their own lives, they transform entire ecosystems.

This is more than a conversation. It is an invitation to pause, reflect, and ask: what does it mean to be empowered, how would female empowerment reduce GBV and what role can you play in this collective transformation?
Access to recording:
The recording will be shared after the event on Giving Women’s Youtube channel

Gender Based Violence - prevention, identification & healing
2025-10-30 12:30 - 14:00 (Europe/Helsinki) | https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84255526926
Gender-based violence affects everyone. However, in underserved communities, where it is often normalised women and girls often lack safe spaces to speak out, find support, and begin to heal. How can we work together to combat GBV?
Join Giving Women, on Thursday 30 October, online at 12:15, for an important conversation on “Gender Based Violence: Prevention, Identification, Healing.” Our panel will feature speakers with lived experience, practitioners who work with survivors on the ground, and will be moderated by a representative of an organisation that provides funding for these programmes.
Our moderator will be Julie Broome, Director of Issues Affecting Women at Oak Foundation. She will be joined by:

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

Access to materials
Recordings and all workshop resources are shared after the event with members, active projects, and ticket holders.

From Capacity to Capital - Fuelling women’s financial inclusion in emerging markets
2025-11-24 18:00 - 21:00 (Europe/Helsinki) | responsAbility Investment AG, Zollstrasse 17, Zurich, 8005, Switzerland
We warmly invite you to join the Giving Women Zurich Chapter and our host partner, responsAbility, for an evening of insight and inspiration on how financial and non-financial support can empower women to build more resilient futures in emerging markets.
True financial inclusion is about more than access to capital: it’s about creating the conditions for women to grow their capabilities, strengthen their livelihoods, and lead change in their communities. This discussion will explore how mentoring, capacity building, investment, and climate-conscious initiatives work together to drive lasting empowerment.
Bringing perspectives from grassroots action to global investment, our panel brings together leaders who are advancing women’s empowerment, financial inclusion, and climate resilience in complementary ways.
Panelists:

Martin Heimes – Head of Private Debt at responsAbility
Amanda Turner Ege – Executive Director at elea Foundation
Rebecca Berlinger – Co-funder & COO at The Rocket Foundation
Nejira Nalic McCarrick – Financial Inclusion Expert and Project Circle Coordinator at Giving Women

Moderator: Nadir Franca, Co-Lead of the Giving Women Zurich Chapter.

Join us for an engaging evening of conversation, connection, and concrete action, followed by an apéro generously hosted by responsAbility.

Unlocking youth livelihoods through digital skills
2025-12-04 12:15 - 13:30 (Europe/Helsinki) | https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86431094190
As Africa’s “youth quake” approaches — with the population aged 15–24 expected to grow by 42% by 2030 — finding employment is becoming an urgent challenge. Is digital training the answer? Can global job opportunities open up for these young people?
Join us online to explore how digital skills programmes are already creating pathways to employment for youth in underserved communities. Hear directly from practitioners working on the ground, as well as a researcher who will share best practices, success stories, and the challenges we must address to ensure these initiatives are effective, ethical, and scalable.
Our moderator

Kirsten Schuettler – Economist

Our panelists

Maeghan Ahumuza – Operations Lead, Era92
Valerie Okumu – Development Officer, Konexio Africa
Dr Funda Ustek Spilda – Senior Lecturer and SE Asia Programmes Lead at the Department of Digital Humanities, King’s College London
Brizan Were – Co-founder and Managing Director, Lions Strength

How can the Social Enterprise model help close the funding gap?
2026-02-19 12:15 - 13:30 (Europe/Paris) | https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86981622639
Context

At a time when funding is increasingly difficult to secure while needs continue to rise, many organisations are under intense pressure. Migrant populations are at record levels due to conflict and climate crises, girls’ completion of primary and secondary education is declining, and access to healthcare remains a struggle. The challenges are overwhelming.
What we will explore
Thursday 19 February, 12.15pm CET (online) : Join us for an online conversation moderated by Zoya Siddiqui from Acumen, an organisation that recognised early on the potential of the social enterprise model. Together, we will explore how this approach can help organisations build more resilient, financially sustainable models.
We will highlight and hear from three grassroots organisations applying this model in the field: Aavishkaar Centre (India), Project Maji (Africa), and Womengro Initiative (Uganda). We will also be joined by the Elea Foundation for Ethics in Globalisation, which supports social entrepreneurs through its philanthropic giving, to share the funder perspective on what helps these models thrive.
Panelists
Moderator:
Zoya Siddiqui, Development and Partnerships Manager at Acumen Europe
Expert perspective:
Lisa Jean-Mairet, Executive Director, Elea Foundation for Ethics in Globalisation
Voices from the field (highlighted organisations):
– Prapti Bhasin, CEO, Aavishkaar Centre, India
– Sunil Lalvani, Founder, Project Maji, Africa
– Lilian Nakigozi, Founder, Womengro Initiative Uganda
