GIF’s flexible model is designed to support innovation for both immediate development challenges and longer term social change, and this flexibility has allowed us to pivot to address the realities of the pandemic. Another important part of the model is accountability and learning, and now that we are five years into our journey to support innovation, we have released our latest impact report.
Our portfolio added six new innovations in 2019 tackling systemic challenges that touch many different aspects of people’s lives such as plastics waste, gender-based violence, access to clean drinking water, and crime prevention. By 2030, we expect our portfolio of evidence-based grants and risk capital investments to benefit 89 million people each year.
In 2019, GIF made our first investments through ADVANCE, our corporate partnership first with Unilever now joined by Anglo American, that will help unlock the private sector investment needed to scale up new business models and achieve impact at scale.
We also made our first gender-transformative investment in 2019 through the Innovating for Gender Equality sub-fund, our partnership with Global Affairs Canada. Enhancing the agency of women and girls sits at the very heart of GIF’s mission, and we are delighted to be supporting StrongMinds, a non-profit based in Uganda, to address depression among low-income African women by delivering facilitator-led and peer-led courses of group interpersonal therapy.
None of our progress would have been achieved without our donors, whose steadfast support and guidance make our past, present, and future achievements possible. I am proud of the work our team has done, and excited about the partnerships we have fostered, both of which have positioned us well to meet the demands that the pandemic has imposed.
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