Funding is a major sticking point for most efforts on gender equality. The government has adopted gender budgeting but it is spread over so many different areas that it is not nearly enough to bring about the needed changes. That said, different types of financing, from philanthropy to market-based capital and even grants, can be used to promote gender equality. But there are challenges that need overcoming. These issues were discussed recently at a panel on Philanthropic Opportunity: Designing the Capital Stack for Gender and Youth Empowerment, in New Delhi. Sudarsana Kundu, founder and director of GenderSphere who addressed the panel, says, “The challenge is not only mobilising more capital for gender equality; it is making capital fit the change we are trying to create.”
Often, grants and other resources are piecemeal and not enough to create the infrastructure and systems designed for long-term, gender-transformative changes. Most funders do not want to commit to long-term financing. At the discussion, this was a concern raised by philanthropists, funders and women’s rights organisations.
Bain and Dasra’s India Philanthropy Report 2024 shows that philanthropic collaboratives established annually have increased nearly fivefold over the past three years, reflecting a growing interest among funders in working collectively to address complex social challenges.
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Yamini Atmavilas, founder, The Southern Centre for Philanthropy and Impact, says, “In India, gender equality has historically accounted for less than 2% of CSR expenditure. At the same time, India’s private philanthropy has grown to approximately ₹1.43 lakh crore in FY25, with family philanthropy contributing roughly 42% of that total. Private philanthropy directed toward development has reached a meaningful scale, yet only 8% is identified as gender-specific. India is uniquely placed to help shape this agenda. We have growing domestic wealth, increasingly influential family philanthropy, a dynamic social-enterprise ecosystem, powerful women’s funds and movements, and a generation of young leaders who are redefining both wealth and responsibility. The opportunity is not to import a model of gender philanthropy; it is to build one that is locally rooted, globally relevant and commensurate with the ambition of gender equality.”
The lack of data makes pooling resources and partnerships difficult. Gender equality, the challenges of which vary between states, communities, classes, and even individuals, can’t be addressed by just allocating a chunk of money to the problem. There are several examples which can be shared for the greater common good, many areas where funders and schemes can work together and build a sturdy ecosystem which can last. Of course, at all times, it is important to be in sync with government schemes and policies if for nothing but to avoid duplication of efforts. Targeted funding will yield much better results than scattershot efforts.
{{/usCountry}}The lack of data makes pooling resources and partnerships difficult. Gender equality, the challenges of which vary between states, communities, classes, and even individuals, can’t be addressed by just allocating a chunk of money to the problem. There are several examples which can be shared for the greater common good, many areas where funders and schemes can work together and build a sturdy ecosystem which can last. Of course, at all times, it is important to be in sync with government schemes and policies if for nothing but to avoid duplication of efforts. Targeted funding will yield much better results than scattershot efforts.
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Lack of data and information is not a uniquely Indian problem, though. In The Lords of Poverty, author Graham Hancock, once a UN employee, speaks of how misguided funding and aid, though well-intentioned, deliver little to no benefit to the end user. He illustrates this with an extreme example: A huge consignment of slimming pills going to war-torn Somalia where starvation was rampant at that time and refrigerators going to Sudan to areas which did not have electricity.
In many cases, one criticism has been that funding is given without taking into account the needs of the target women users. Their voices have to be heard to channel resources and money in an effective manner. The funding and resources should be flexible and change as circumstances do.
The views expressed are personal