The GREAT Inititiative - Gender Right & Equality Trust

What We Do

I founded the GREAT Initiative in 2010, along with Karen Ruimy, Jason McCue and Marc Carter, after years of being frustrated with the lack of collaboration, excitement and innovation in the gender equality space – particularly in an international setting.

There are of course hundreds of organisations and institutions all set up to end gender inequality and they are working hard to that end. But where is the excitement we saw for Make Poverty History and Live Aid. Why aren’t we seeing the excitement for gender equality that we see for food security, eradicating polio and Malaria? All of which, as do all other international development programmes, depend on women being lifted out of their current, desperate situation.

The GREAT Initiative was set up to be the catalyst for change. We want to be a trigger, a movement that pushes forward the gender equality debate. We can’t keep waiting for someone else to fix this problem – no more waiting. The time is running out for millions of women across the globe and so we have to act now.

GREAT very simply does three things: we form collaborations that will create a change in legislation and policy of the British Government, European governments and global institutions, that will ensure that, just as human rights abuses are at the heart of decision making, so too will be women’s rights issues.

Women’s rights are human rights and so should never be separated; yet they appear to be easily ignored in decision-making processes and the distribution of resources.

The second part of our work is the one that keeps me inspired to make a change: giving grass roots women a voice.

Through my many travels, particularly across Africa, I have been privileged to meet inspirational women who achieve extraordinary things. GREAT exists to give these women a voice and to support them as they make a real impact on the lives of their communities.

We have three main areas in which we make these extraordinary women’s voices heard:

1. Women led radio stations

2. Film for change

3. Social entrepreneurs

Radio station

The radio station programme is a core part of our work. Women in rural communities across the developing world have no access to information. Their main source of information is through their husbands and fathers, as many women are denied the right to learn to read, they can’t even read a local newspaper.

Inspired by our current programme in Liberia, with a radio station set up by women, for women, to change opinions and information that dominates the Liberian airwaves.  These women are not only educating other women in their country, but by being exceptional role models, but they are shifting the opinions of men across Liberia too.

We are currently developing a franchise model, along with our Liberian partners, to support other women radio stations and media outlets across the developing world. We are supporting the creation of a network of women’s radio stations that will supper each other and change their countries.

Film for change

When women are trying to change opinions in their communities, it is often very difficult, as they are not given the platform or respect that they need and deserve to be effective. Working through a partner organisation, we are developing a programme, that trains women, who are already running advocacy campaigns in their communities, to use video recording and editing equipment, to create advocacy video’s to change the opinions and actions of their communities.

We are currently working on a project in Kenya, with a women’s organisation that has been advocating for an end to Female Genital Mutilation. The elders in their communities have been resistant to listening and so change has been very slow. These women have now been trained in using video equipment and have created their own advocacy video on the health problems of FGM.

The elders permitted a screening of the video, as they had never seen a video before and were as excited as everyone to watch it. The video was incredibly powerful, as it was filmed by and with community members and so the messages were relevant and effective. Some of the elders who watched the video have asked for FGM to be banned in their communities.

We will be using this model to work on many issues that affect women’s rights to strive and thrive; ranging from land rights, to rape, to economic and political empowerment, across the developing world.

Social Entrepreneurs

We believe in individuals as the drivers of change and have all witnesses the power of an inspiring individual. That is why we are developing a fund that supports social entrepreneurs, who making a positive change on the lives of women and girls across the globe. This will be an open fund that will allow us to be flexible in where and how we fund these inspiring individuals.

The final part of GREAT’s work, brings me to our current campaign.

For far too long feminism and gender equality have been demonized. They have become words that symbolize hatred for men and for women that are viewed as  “feminine”. We intend to reclaim both those words and to show the world the real face of a feminist.

That face will surprise us all. It is the face of a man who loves his wife or daughter, the face of a grandfather who wants his granddaughter to have an equal chance in life. It is the face of that well-turned fasionista, who embraces her femininity. It is the face of a housewife or househusband. It is the face of the company CEO who wants to attract and keep the best talent he can, some of which arrives in the form of a woman. It is my face, it is your face, it is the face of my son, who I want to grow up respecting all human beings, male and female.

We are developing innovative campaigns that will reach out to everyone and show what feminism is really about.

The GREAT Boodles Bangle

Our first campaign is in partnership with the family run British Jeweler Boodles. We have created a beautiful bangle that you can buy for a woman that you value and want to celebrate. It is a bangle that enables us to celebrate the women in our lives, while supporting the women that the world does not value enough, as 100% of the profits from the sale of these bangles, goes to the GREAT Initiative.

I am proud to be one of the founders of an organisation that is creating this change, but we can’t do this without you. We need to be part of this change, to participate, educate and add your voice.

- Mariella Frostrup, Founder and Trustee of The GREAT Initiative