The Vodafone Americas Foundation fosters social change in global and local communities through innovative solutions. Our mission is to connect an ecosystem of partners that use technology to empower women and girls. We believe that by investing in the combination women and technology, we are investing in change and the ability to make a meaningful social impact globally as well as in the local communities where our Vodafone employees live and work.
Through our legacy experience with technology for social impact, we know that by empowering women and girls through technology we can enrich lives beyond the single woman and girl. Supporting technology that opens opportunities for women can create long-term social and economic benefits in every sector. For example, women and girls spend 90% of their earned income on their families.[1] By giving women and girls the opportunity to find financial independence or build their own career, we can directly affect their family members and the world around them.
We invest in programs that create opportunities for women and girls to learn new skills, sustain their interests in technology, and allow them to thrive and excel. We support advocacy and gender work for women in and through technology in order to elevate women’s voices and create positive and sustainable change within their communities around the world.
Our goal is to advance change for women in girls in four key areas – Human Dignity, Strong Voices, Fulfilling Potential, and Economic Vitality:
Human Dignity
We want to empower women to thrive with confidence, integrity and safety. We do this by creating opportunities that provide safe ways to live and work. Together with our partners and grantees, we are dedicated to advancing human dignity through:
- Promoting social justice and equality
- Ensuring healthy lives and well-being
- Ending violence against women
Current supported causes include:
Nomi Networks: Nomi Network strives to create economic opportunities for survivors and women at risk of human trafficking. The organization prevents human trafficking and aims to break generational cycles of slavery, helping these women learn the skills to find independence both financially and personally.
Atma Connect: Atma Connect is a nonprofit technology company that builds resilience in vulnerable communities. The AtmaGo app allows users to share real-time information about local hazards like fire, floods and crime—and gain access to resources to grow their local economy, better educate their children, and support the health of their families.
Strong Voices
By celebrating women’s voices worldwide, we can spur important and valued conversations. We invite individuals everywhere to join us in amplifying women’s voices. Through our grants and programs, we are:
- Sharing knowledge and strategies to lead the way for future generations
- Advocating for tools and technology that provide safe and informed communication
- Providing access to critical information for safety and well-being
Current supported causes include:
World Pulse: World Pulse is an online platform that connects women leaders around the world. It offers support, mentorship, and network connections to women trying to make a difference in their local communities.
Girl Effect: A creative non-profit—experts in media, mobile, brand and international development—working where girls are marginalised and vulnerable. Girl Effect builds youth brands and mobile platforms that millions of girls and boys love and interact with. From apps that build skills, to TV dramas that explore vital issues, to magazines written and distributed by girls.
Waking Women Healing Institute: Restores traditional Matriarchal roles, governance, and Eco Systems of Care that will ensure the health of mind, body, spirit, and emotion for Indigenous women/girls/2spirit, Water, and Mother Earth.
Fulfilling Potential
In order for women to imagine, create and innovate, they need opportunities to learn and grow. It’s our goal to ensure every woman and girl have the opportunity to fulfill their potential by:
- Supporting inclusive education to reduce academic gaps
- Providing necessary training that enables financial success
- Developing more thought leadership to encourage discussion and action
Current supported causes include:
Technovation: Technovation offers girls around the world the opportunity to learn the skills they need to emerge as tech leaders and entrepreneurs.
Girls Leadership: Girls Leadership teaches girls to exercise the power of their voice through programs grounded in social emotional learning. Girls Leadership centers gender and racial equity in our work to address the internal and external barriers to leadership development.
Learning Equality: Learning Equality is committed to enabling every person in the world to realize their right to a quality education, by supporting the creation, adaptation and distribution of open educational resources, and creating supportive tools for innovative pedagogy.
Economic Vitality
The pursuit of true equity and financial independence for women today is critical. We believe that when women are able to thrive equally, the economy will also thrive. Our mission to uncover economic opportunities for women and girls by:
- Allowing women to embrace ambition by supporting platforms to enable women to stand up and take steps towards their goals
- Advancing women in the workplace, nurturing female leaders
- Encouraging entrepreneurship through programs that support women-led businesses
Current supported causes include:
Npower is creating pathways to economic prosperity by launching digital careers for military veterans and young adults from underserved communities.
Fast Forward: Fast Forward’s mission is to accelerate impact, by bridging the tech and nonprofit sectors to build capacity for tech nonprofits, so they can scale solutions to our world’s most urgent problems.
Empower Work: Free, anonymous, immediate support that puts the employee first. Anyone in the U.S. can talk with a trained peer counselor about a difficult work question or problematic work situation via text or web chat.