Now celebrating 25 years since its founding, Vital Voices Global Partnership has directly invested in more than 20,000 changemakers across 184 countries and territories since its inception in 1997. Driven by the universal truth that women are the key to progress in their communities and nations cannot move forward without women in leadership positions, Vital Voices has provided early support for leaders who went on to become Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, U.S. Youth Poet Laureates, Prime Ministers, award-winning innovators, pioneering human rights defenders, and breakthrough social entrepreneurs, including Amanda Gorman, Malala Yousafzai, and more. In an effort to advance and expand this work, in 2022 Vital Voices opened the doors to the world’s first global embassy for women, the Vital Voices Global Headquarters for Women’s Leadership —a first-of-its-kind space that allows for convening, innovation, planning, and action — all in the pursuit of tackling the world’s greatest challenges.
Serving as a “venture catalyst,” Vital Voices identifies leaders with a daring vision for change and partners with them to make that vision a reality. It provides connections, increased capacity, a peer network, financial support, skills training, and increased visibility for their work, which ranges from gender-based violence and climate justice to economic inequities and political disempowerment, and more.
We invest in leaders because they take on the responsibility to improve their communities, their countries, and their societies. By exhibiting visionary thinking and taking risks to innovate, they strengthen laws, create jobs, change cultures and defend freedoms, making change that ripples out into the global community.
We partner with women who practice leadership that unites and inspires people. Each leader in our global network believes in mentoring the rising generation and shares her knowledge, experience, and influence with others. Our investment in one leader has an impact on thousands more.
We know that one intervention is not enough to support women leaders who are on the frontlines of change in their communities. Making long-term investments in the women leaders who have the vision and commitment to make a lasting change means offering continued support. We work with women leaders over many years, providing them with the technical skills, visibility and partnerships they need to continue to push for progress.
