Back in 2001, labor rights activist Zehra Khan began informally organizing a group of home-based women garment workers, in the Sindh province of Pakistan. Mama Cash—the world’s first international women’s fund—supported this grassroots movement from its early days, through and beyond the legal registration of the Home-Based Women Workers Federation (HBWWF) in 2009.  In 2013, HBWWF introduced a draft law—the culmination of years of incremental advocacy work—that would give home-based workers access to the same …

Puja Marwaha of CRY (Child Rights and You) was announced as the 5th winner of the Olga Alexeeva Memorial Prize at the WINGS International Meeting for Funders in Barcelona, 26–27 March. Also nominated for the prize this year include: Frederick Mulder, The Funding Network Florencia Roitstein, Ellas: Women & Philanthropy Henry Timms & Asha Curran, 92Y #GivingTuesday Priya Naik, Samhita Smita Ramakrishna, Rang De All finalists were invited to attend the conference and participated in …

About Smita Ramakrishna Rang De is India’s first online micro-lending website. Its premise is that poverty can be overcome by helping people become economically self-reliant. Working with partners, Rang De identifies people, primarily women, who will benefit from small loans that can transform their lives. The organization also aims for complete transparency throughout the process. Everyone involved knows the interest being charged and where it goes, and investors, too, are kept in close touch with …

About Puja Marwaha Over the last 38 years, CRY has been a pioneer in the area of public philanthropy in India, introducing the retail model of giving to the country through what were at the time innovative means such as selling greeting cards, direct mailing and the country’s first face-to-face marketing channel of giving. By these means, it has encouraged over 1,800,000 modest, individual donors to see that they could, by their contributions, support an …