At the Kofi Annan Foundation, inclusion, diversity and gender equality are at the heart of everything we do. Tolerance, intercultural dialogue, and respect for diversity are more essential than ever in a world where people are becoming increasingly closely interconnected.
“Gender equality is more than a goal in itself. It is a precondition for meeting the challenge of reducing poverty, promoting sustainable development and building good governance.”
Kofi Annan
Our approach to Gender Equality
From raising awareness about violence against women to leveraging technology for women’s empowerment and advocating for the elimination of gender discrimination, the Kofi Annan Foundation, together with our committed team and board, contributes to the global movement for equal gender rights.
Breaking down gender barriers
Kofi Annan Foundation Executive Director Corinne Momal-Vanian is part of the International Gender Champions, a network that brings together decision-makers to break down gender barriers. Watch this video, in which she pledges to fight against gender-based violence.
Publications + Media
From Silenced Voices to Powerful Stories: Nabeela’s Journey from Sri Lanka
In post-crisis Sri Lanka, young women from minority communities often grew up in fear, with limited platforms to express themselves. Nabeela Iqbal set out to change that. Through her initiative Write for Justice, Nabeela is amplifying unheard voices – one story at a time. By the time she joined the Kofi Annan Changemakers programme in […]
Big Impact starts with Real Support: Abdul’s Story from Ghana
In 2019, Abdul Gafaru founded SheaMe, a social enterprise supporting women in northern Ghana. By the time he joined the Kofi Annan Changemakers programme in 2021, his network had grown to 53. As of 2025, 125 women across eight communities are part of the initiative. The Kofi Annan Changemakers programme didn’t just provide momentary support, […]
From Knowledge to Influence: Mealli’s Mission to Put Young Women at the Table in Kenya
In Kenya’s Kwale County, budget decisions are often made without the voices of the women most affected by them. With support from the WYDE Accountability Hub seed grant and mentorship, Mbodze Mealii Swazuri launched Young Women At The Table, a grassroots initiative empowering young women to shape public budgets that reflect their realities. “When young […]
Our contributions
Gender, Equality and Inclusion
International Gender Champions – Breaking down gender barriers
Corinne Momal-Vanian, Executive Director of the Kofi Annan Foundation, is a powerful advocate for gender equality and inclusion. Corinne is part of the International Gender Champions (IGC) network.
The IGC stands as a global force for change, uniting prominent decision-makers from international organizations, permanent missions, and civil society. These leaders leverage their positions and influence to break down barriers and champion gender equality across various spheres.
Under Momal-Vanian’s leadership, the Kofi Annan Foundation actively contributes to the network’s mission, leveraging its own experience and influence to advance gender equality on a global scale. Moreover, this collaboration exemplifies the impactful work being done, not just by the IGC, but by dedicated leaders like Momal-Vanian, who translate vision into action.
About International Gender Champions
The International Gender Champions (IGC) is a leadership network uniting decision-makers from international organizations, missions, and civil society. They work together to dismantle barriers to gender equality, championing policies and initiatives that empower women and girls globally. Through collaboration, advocacy, and member-driven action, the IGC network strives for impactful change.
Women in Innovation Fund – Supporting women-led health innovation start-ups
The global health landscape faces a significant challenge: ensuring equitable access to healthcare for all. Disparities persist, and one key area demanding attention is the underrepresentation of women in healthcare leadership.
The Kofi Annan Foundation, in its commitment to gender equality, is proud to contribute to a solution through the Women in Innovation Fund (WiNFUND) to support women-led health innovation start-ups to succeed in democratising access to healthcare. This partnership, established alongside the Health Innovation and Investment Exchange and Reckitt, is wielding the power of technology and using NFTs to generate funds and drive real change in the healthcare sector. WiNFUND’s NFT collections are designed to help unleash the power of community and raise capital to invest in women-powered innovation that improves access to health and leaves no one behind. Through this initiative, the Kofi Annan Foundation directly contributes to a future where healthcare is not just a service, but a fundamental human right available to all.
The fund aims to address two significant areas of inequality, first, the fact that 1 in 2 people, or half the world, lack access to essential healthcare, and secondly, less than 2% of venture capital funding globally goes to women despite evidence their ventures generate stronger returns. WiNFUND will unlock the potential of women entrepreneurs to address both of those gaps. WiNFUND will invest directly in women entrepreneurs already implementing home-grown solutions to some of the continent’s most urgent health challenges.
By investing in companies like these, WiNFUND will directly support women entrepreneurs to scale their enterprises, extending their reach and helping more people than ever access high-quality healthcare. WiNFUND’s ambition is to replicate this model on other continents in the future.
About WiNFUND
Reckitt and the Health Innovation and Investment Exchange co-founded WiNFUND in September 2022 to support innovative, women-led, health companies to improve access to healthcare. Initially launched in Africa, WiNFUND was open to applications from women entrepreneurs from Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda during H2 2022 and received more than 300 applications. WiNFUND provides investment, business support and mentoring for female entrepreneurs developing innovative healthcare solutions. In a unique funding model, WiNFUND will partly raise capital through the sale of NFTs as well as through mission-aligned donors, corporate partners and HNWls. WiNFUND partners include the Kofi Annan Foundation, the Eco Bank Foundation, and Tokenproof. Further information can be found on the WiNFUND website.
Women and Technology
Doris Leuthard, Former President of the Swiss Confederation and a former Kofi Annan Foundation board member, supports the Digital Trust Label initiative, the world’s first seal for trustworthy IT products.
“Digital technologies, like all technologies, should be gender-neutral, however, many of the algorithms on which they are built rely on skewed data and do not represent genders equally…it is important to increase trust through transparency, prevent discrimination in algorithmic systems and engage more women in the development and design of algorithms, systems and software.”
Doris Leuthard
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