Program 1

Women Climate Defenders

Our actions to confront climate change today will decide the futures of our planet and of generations to come. You can join the women leading the way.

Climate change is a global threat, and poor, rural and Indigenous women are hardest hit. They are impacted first and worst by the food shortages, droughts, floods and diseases linked to this growing danger. But they are more than victims. They are sources of solutions, inventing innovative, locally-rooted responses.

Through our Women Climate Defenders initiative, MADRE’s grassroots partners enable their communities to adapt to climate change. They build clean water systems to guard against drought and seed banks to preserve future harvests. And we bring grassroots women's voices to influence national and international climate policy discussions. Through this initiative, we:

> Partner with women to confront immediate climate threats, like flooding and drought, in their communities.
> Give women seeds and tools to plant tree nurseries that protect local water sources and raise organic crops.
> Create spaces for women to exchange their knowledge and strategies to confront climate change, like rain water harvesting and food storage.
> Shine a spotlight on women’s exclusion from policymaking.
> Provide childcare, stipends, translation and more for grassroots women entering policymaking spaces.
> Train and equip our partners to present their demands to policymakers at the local, national, regional and international levels.
> Partner with local activists to make sure their leaders implement policy victories.

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Program 2

Ending Rape as a Weapon of War

We can end rape as a weapon of war in our lifetime. Momentum is already building towards this goal: world leaders have finally recognized what women’s human rights activists have said for decades. Rape is not incidental to warfare: it is a weapon. It is deliberately used to traumatize women and terrorize their entire communities.

We see this across our work. In Iraq, armed militants have kidnapped, raped and sold women in the towns they have seized. In Colombia, young girls recruited as child soldiers have been turned into sex slaves. When asked why they fled their homes, Syrian women refugees said that fear of rape was a number one reason. And women in Guatemala are still rebuilding their lives after being targeted with rape in the genocide of the 1980s.

Through our Ending Rape as a Weapon of War initiative, MADRE partners with grassroots women's organizations to set up emergency shelters, hotlines and escape routes for women and girls fleeing sexual violence, with a focus on preventing this abuse. And we bring women's voices to policy-making spaces to hold governments accountable to their commitments to end wartime rape. Through this initiative, we:

> Collaborate with brave, on-the-ground activists to set up emergency shelters, hotlines and escape routes to rescue women in danger of sexual enslavement and other extremist violence.
> Create refuges for young women and girls to recover from sexual violence and their experiences of war.
> Partner with women peace activists, who organize to demand a seat at the table in peace negotiations, so that rape as a weapon of war cannot be ignored.
> Hold leaders accountable to the commitments they have made to end wartime rape.

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Program 3

LGBTIQ Rights

We stand for every human’s right to be safe and free in our bodies and in our identities. In communities worldwide, norms of gender and sexuality are policed with violence and discrimination. Women and girls face abuse at home and in public. Gender non-conforming and LGBTIQ people are targeted with violence.

MADRE and our partners are joining together against attacks on our gender and sexuality.

Through our LGBTIQ Rights initiative, we support the grassroots organizing of local women and LGBTIQ activists, creating safe spaces in dangerous places to share strategies, create campaigns and build power together. We advance these demands in the international arena, upholding the right to exercise and express sexuality and gender identity, and to be protected from violence and discrimination.

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Program 4

Emergency and Disaster Relief

Our partners need us most when a disaster hits or when war breaks out. That's why MADRE launched an Emergency and Disaster Relief Fund. The Fund lets us act immediately and effectively. We bring crucial resources–like food, water, medical care and shelter– directly to the women and families most in need.

Women are often hardest hit. That's because they have fewer resources to start with and often have no safety net. Women are also responsible for those made most vulnerable–children, the elderly and people who are ill or disabled.

But women need more than aid. Women at the community level must be allowed to lead in relief efforts. When community women distribute emergency aid, it has the best chance of reaching those most in need. ​That's why MADRE's support strengthens community women's efforts in times of crisis. By partnering directly with local women's groups, we're able to mobilize resources quickly and efficiently. We can carry out relief efforts in ways that respond to the priorities and perspectives of local communities.

Through out Women-Centered Disaster Relief, we sustain and empower our sisters worldwide, and help rebuild communities on a stronger foundation.

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