Women in the Digital Economy Fund

The Women in the Digital Economy Fund (WiDEF) is a joint effort between USAID and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to accelerate progress on closing the gender digital divide. WiDEF is also powered by global anchor partners Microsoft and the Reliance Foundation, along with a growing pool of strategic partners that have committed more than $83M in total funding. WiDEF identifies, directly funds, and advances investment in proven solutions to close the gender digital divide, improving women’s livelihoods, economic security, and resilience. WiDEF is managed by CARE, the Global Digital Inclusion Partnership, and the GSMA Foundation as a consortium. Learn more at widef.global.

With an emphasis on localization, WiDEF creates opportunities for organizations and businesses at the forefront of equitable digital inclusion to receive financial, technical, and operational support to advance their work.  The consortium ensures that WiDEF advances evidence-based, effective, and replicable approaches to transform digital ecosystems globally. In 2024, the consortium launched the first three of seven Request for Applications (RFA) rounds: Round 1 in March 2024 for local organizations, Round 2 in July 2024 for large private sector enterprises, and November 2024 for local Indian organizations. For more information, visit widef.global/funding. 

WiDEF aligns itself with the Women in the Digital Economy Initiative, which facilitates partnerships with diverse stakeholders, shares insights through the Women in the Digital Economy Community of Practice, and incorporates a substantial policy and advocacy component to inform and influence action at every level of the development system, ultimately seeking to reshape the digital ecosystem.

WiDEF supports programs that advance digital access and affordability; develop relevant products and tools; provide digital literacy and skills training; promote online safety and security; and invest in sex-disaggregated data and research. It aims to support, wherever possible, women-led solutions, products, and tools. 

WiDEF aims to achieve the following core results:

1. Access and Affordability. Get more internet access and internet- enabled devices into the hands of women and make sure that devices, digitally-enabled services including digital finance, and data are affordable, reliable, secure, and accessible, including for users with disabilities.
2. Relevant Products and Tools. Design, develop, and provide access to relevant products and tools (interfaces, voice technologies, applications, digitally-enabled services) that meet women’s needs and facilitate women’s demand for and use of mobile devices, particularly smartphones, internet, and other technologies, especially for income-generation purposes.
3. Literacy and Skills. Strengthen women’s digital skills and literacy, including media literacy, so that they can fully and safely access digital services and participate in digital spaces, including the digital economy.
4. Safety and Security. Address technology-facilitated gender-based violence and online harassment and strengthen safeguards for digital user protection, including on consumer financial protection, data protection, cyber security, fraud, and risk mitigation.
5. Data and Insights. Expand collection and responsible use of required sex-disaggregated data (and where possible, disaggregated by age and disability), research, and gender analysis (a) to better understand and address social norms and systems that influence gender disparities in technology adoption; (b) as a precursor to inform gender-equitable design of activities related to digital policies, protocols, platforms, products, and services; and (c) to track and benchmark change.   

WiDEF Winners

Round 1

WiDEF has selected ten local organizations, spanning eight countries across East Africa, West Africa, South Asia, and Latin America, to implement innovative solutions that tackle the gender digital divide.

The Round 1 Awardees are:

• CITAD (Nigeria): CITAD is tackling the gender digital divide in northern Nigeria by enhancing young people’s digital skills, expanding their access to the internet, and advocating for policies and practices that promote gender equality and inclusive civic engagement.  
• DEMO (Pakistan): DEMO is addressing Pakistan’s gender digital divide by providing digital entrepreneurial training to 10,000 female university students in remote and underserved regions, aiming to empower women and ensure financial independence.  
• DOT Kenya (Kenya, Ethiopia, Rwanda): Digital Opportunity Trust (DOT), Kenya’s “Digital Skills at Scale” initiative, aims to empower 10,000 young women in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Rwanda with digital and entrepreneurial skills, addressing socioeconomic barriers and safety concerns, as well as fostering leadership through “Digital Champions” to drive community change. 
• Ensibuuko (Tanzania and Ghana): Ensibuuko will digitize Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) in Tanzania, and Ghana by creating 5,000 digital savings groups led by young women with aspirations to empower 125,000 members with improved financial management and opportunities through digital innovation. 
• KICTANet (Kenya): KICTANet’s “Empowering Kenya Rural Women Through Digital Literacy” program aims to boost digital inclusion for marginalized women in 21 rural counties by providing digital literacy training, affordable loans for devices, and comprehensive support. 
• New Sun Road (Guatemala): The Digital Community Centers project seeks to double its current network by adding 30 new self-sustaining centers in remote indigenous communities. These centers provide solar-powered electricity, internet access, and digital tools to empower Mayan women through digital literacy, leadership, and entrepreneurship. The project will directly benefit 5,000 additional women and positively impact over 50,000 people globally. As part of this initiative, New Sun Road Guatemala has invited N50 and Funsepa to collaborate, enhancing the reach and impact of the project.
• MESH (Kenya): Player First Limited/MESH’s Bridging the Gender Digital Divide (BGDD) program seeks to empower female-led informal micro-businesses in Kenya by providing an online community platform for marketing, financial management, and customer engagement for young entrepreneurs. 
• Smart Regional Consultants (Kenya): Smart Regional Consultants (SRC) aims to bridge Northern Kenya’s digital gender divide by enhancing economic opportunities for rural women through digital literacy programs, leveraging five existing incubation centers, and influencing policy for a more inclusive digital economy. 
• Tech Her (Nigeria): Tech Project Women, a feminist organization in Nigeria, seeks to enhance the personal and societal development of women and girls in peri-urban communities by improving digital skills, financial inclusion, and employability, while also addressing online harassment and gender-based violence. 
• El Proyecto Hambre (The Hunger Project) (Mexico, Malawi, Ghana): El Proyecto Hambre’s program “Empowering the Digitally Underserved” (EDU) program works to bridge the digital divide for indigenous persons, women, and people with disabilities in Mexico, Malawi and Ghana. The program focuses on increasing internet access and promoting participation in the digital economy.  

How to Get Involved 

Building on the success of the Women in the Digital Economy Fund, and in response to the historic commitment in the New Delhi G20 Leaders’ Declaration to halve the gender digital divide by 2030, USAID launched the Women in the Digital Economy Initiative in September 2023.  The Initiative brings together governments, private sector companies, foundations, civil society, and multinational organizations to accelerate progress towards the closure of the gender digital divide  to improve women’s livelihoods, economic security, and resilience.  

The Women in the Digital Economy Community of Practice, launched during the 2024 Commission on the Status of Women and implemented by EQUALS, brings together WiDEF funders, members of the Women in the Digital Economy Initiative, and key stakeholders from across the globe  working to bridge the gender digital divide. The Community of Practice aims to support and grow partnerships to foster knowledge-sharing as well as greater collaboration and coordination among stakeholders working to close the gender digital divide.

For any questions about the Women in the Digital Economy Community of Practice please contact: womenindigital@itu.int

For information on the WiDEF consortium and funding rounds, please visit: widef.global

For information on how to partner with us, please contact genderdigital@usaid.gov.