Project Origins
Bloomberg Philanthropies convened a Summit with a group of stakeholders investing and working in Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and Burundi—funders, NGOs, and government officials.
The purpose was to create comprehensive, collaborative plans to ensure women’s economic and political citizenship. After two days, it became clear that a comprehensive solution was elusive. The primary feedback was, “we need data, and it’s hard to find.”
Summit participants wanted answers to three primary questions:
- Where is funding going?
- Who is investing in these countries?
- What approaches work for women and their families and communities?
In 2014, Bloomberg Philanthropies and the King Baudouin Foundation partnered with Foundation Center to create Equal Footing, a freely accessible web portal for information-sharing and collaboration among those who invest and work in Rwanda, DRC, and Burundi. Equal Footing includes data about philanthropic funding across all issues in these three countries and, in this demonstration, highlights approaches focused on economic development through a focus on women.
