Women and adolescent girls are Okoro Charity Foundation’s primary impact population. With our partners, we pay particular attention to how our programming, advocacy and partnerships include, enable, and impact the youth.
COVID-19 has exacerbated existing inequalities, underscoring society’s reliance on women on the front lines and at home, while exposing structural inequalities that are setting the youth back.
The secondary impacts of COVID-19 include a shadow pandemic of gender-based violence (GBV), declines in mental health, economic recession, job losses, and hunger and food insecurity. An anti-feminist backlash is occurring globally as extremist governments seek to instrumentalize gender stereotypes and control women’s bodies for their political agendas and roll back the progress of recent decades. Although many donors have identified gender equality as a key factor of development, aid reaching women’s organizations remains negligible.
Gender discrimination also significantly harms people of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. Okoro Charity Foundation recognizes that gender is not binary and has expanded and adapted our work with LGBTIQ+ communities.
