Gender Equity and Equality Action Fund

The Gender Equity and Equality Action (GEEA) Fund advances economic security for women and girls by increasing their access to resources, services, and leadership opportunities and by addressing the barriers that limit their ability to participate fully in the economy. GEEA Fund activities invest in partners around the world, including in areas affected by conflict and crisis, which have disproportionate impacts on women and girls.

In alignment with the U.S. National Strategy on Gender Equity and Equality and the U.S. Strategy on Global Women’s Economic Security, the GEEA Fund advances the following priorities:

• Priority 1: Promote Economic Competitiveness through Well-Paying, Quality Jobs by ensuring women have the skills and training to participate in the economy; access to decent jobs in the formal economy; labor and social protections; and other support needed to compete and safely work.
• Priority 2: Expand Care Infrastructure and Value Domestic Work by incentivizing government and private sector investment to expand access to care in the care economy, including child, elder, and health care, and universal early childhood education; and by strengthening protections for care workers in the informal and formal economy.
• Priority 3: Secure Women’s Economic Future through Green Jobs and Building Resilience to Climate Change by facilitating women’s training for and access to quality green jobs, entrepreneurship opportunities in climate smart natural resource management, and leadership in climate finance.
• Priority 4: Promote Entrepreneurship, and Financial and Digital Inclusion, including through Trade and Investment by investing in businesses that prioritize women’s contributions as leaders, employees, entrepreneurs, and consumers; advancing trade and investment opportunities for women-owned, -led, and -managed businesses; and closing gender gaps in the digital economy and in access to banking and financial services.
• Priority 5: Dismantle Systemic Gender Barriers by addressing discriminatory social norms, laws and regulations, employer policies and practices, and gender-based violence, which limit the economic security of women and their equal access to and control over assets needed to fully participate in the economy, such as land, property, and natural resources. 

Guiding principles for GEEA Fund programming include:

• Gender analysis: draw on evidence, data, and consultation to inform and improve the ways in which programming addresses power imbalances and gender inequality.
• Protection of sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA): work to ensure partners and program participants have safe access to GEEA-funded services and activities and that allegations of sexual misconduct– including harassment, exploitation, or abuse of any kind among staff or implementing partners – are reported and addressed as appropriate.
• Partnerships: catalyze investments by the private sector, foundations, bilateral and multilateral donors, and other partners.
• Localization: emphasize direct engagement with, implementation through, funding of, and support for local organizations, particularly those led by women and girls and dedicated to promoting gender equality. 
• Transformation of systemic and structural inequalities: address discriminatory laws and practices as well as harmful gender norms, and enable an inclusive approach, including through the engagement of men and boys and attention to marginalized and underserved populations.
• An intersectional approach: identify – and strategically address – the ways in which multiple and overlapping forms of discrimination limit certain people’s access to, participation in, and benefit from services, resources, and opportunities.
• Consultation: seek input on GEEA programming priorities and implementation from a range of partners, including from the public and private sectors and civil society, such as women’s groups, labor and worker organizations, academia, and faith-based groups.

The GEEA Fund is managed by USAID’s Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Hub (GenDev) and implemented by USAID and the Department of State. The GEEA Fund’s priorities are guided by a U.S. Government-wide Steering Committee whose membership includes the USAID Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment and the U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues, with the Executive Office of the President in an observer role.

In addition to USAID, the State Department also implements GEEA Fund activities. Additional information on the State Department’s GEEA Fund activities can be found here.

USAID’s GEEA Fund activities complement the Agency’s broader investments in women’s economic security globally, with hundreds of activities in partnership with governments, the private sector, and civil society.