The BRIDGE Gender Grants aim to address barriers to gender equality and women’s empowerment in transboundary water governance. The grants support practical actions to strengthen inclusive institutions and promote women-led solutions for managing and restoring freshwater ecosystems. Two types of small grants are distributed during this phase, targeting shared basins in Africa, Asia, and South America where BRIDGE is active.

Explore the work of our grantees, by clicking on the hotspots below

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Gender Mainstreaming Grants

Objective: to enable and support River Basin Organizations (RBOs) and other transboundary water institutions to mainstream gender equality in their operations, governance frameworks, activities, and strategic plans. These grants will support:

  • Gender assessments, strategies, or action plans.
  • Direct stakeholder engagement activities targeting women’s participation.
  • Capacity-building initiatives to strengthen women’s leadership within institutions.
  • Implementation of priority gender actions under existing institutional strategies.

Expected Outcome: Strengthened institutions and agreements that embed gender inclusion and actively promote women’s participation and leadership in decision-making processes.

Woman Leadership Grants

Objective: To support women-led or women-focused initiatives that strengthen women’s leadership in freshwater governance, ecosystem management, and restoration, with a clear link to transboundary water cooperation. These grants will support:

  • Women’s groups or community-based organisations advancing local solutions for shared waters.
  • Civil society organisations and NGOs working directly with women to build their leadership capacity in water resource management.
  • Initiatives that demonstrate innovative, women-led approaches to conserving and restoring freshwater ecosystems that contribute to regional water security and cooperation.

Expected Outcome: Enhanced capacity of women and their organisations to influence, lead and implement actions that benefit shared basins, contributing directly to improved governance and resilient freshwater ecosystems.

Implementing partners

Launched in 2011, the Building River Dialogue and Governance (BRIDGE) initiative aims to build water governance capacities through learning, demonstration, leadership, and consensus-building, in transboundary river basins. BRIDGE is made possible through the Water Diplomacy Programme of the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC).