Progress Has Been Made
Our Impact
Our Learning Year
This initial grantmaking year will enable the fund to test grantmaking criteria, structures, and processes; shape the year’s agenda in consultation with grantees; plan for evidence generation; and inform evaluation plans.
We identified the six countries for the Learning Year based on their high prevalence and absolute numbers of married children, the capacity for engagement of government and civil society, and their respective legislative, legal, and/or policy environments. We chose countries representing different regions of the world, cultures, religions, and levels of progress toward addressing child marriage so that we could learn as much as possible.
During the Learning Year, we will:
- Begin granting quickly and build a track record
- Further develop and inform our Theory of Change
- Learn from and with grantees
- Test funding methodologies, processes, and tools across a range of countries and contexts
- Plan for evidence generation and external evaluation
- Inform the further development of future RFPs, a multi-year strategy, and a due diligence process for future grants
In the fund’s inaugural year, we hope to learn the answers to the following questions:
- How are grantees preventing and responding to child marriage and early unions?
- How do community-based organizations (CBOs) talk about and work with girls—and how will they validate that change is happening?
- What is working?
- Where are the gaps?
- How are CBOs connected to others?
- Are we able to provide the support that CBOs need and are asking for?
- Are we able to identify what is working?
- Can we support others to respond to the gaps we learn about?
- How do we engage in the larger space and link grantees to broader work to make change happen?
See What’s Happening at the Girls First Fund
