Women Weavers of Hope Award

By Kielce Gussie

What was the inspiration for creating the Women Weavers of Hope Award?

The Women Weavers of Hope Award was partly inspired by the Jubilee Year, Pilgrims of Hope, and we wanted to reflect on how women build hope across the world in families, communities and in society. And we also recognize that with all of the ongoing barriers that women continue to face, one needs to be strategic about women’s empowerment and you also need to invest in it, because without a strategy and without appropriate resources, it’s very difficult to actually achieve anything. And so we wanted to provide something which can help, on the one hand, to kickstart new projects, but on the other hand also to sustain projects which are ongoing already.

And why specifically this year? Was it because of the Jubilee? Was that the main reason, or what made Caritas decide to launch it this year?

So partly the Jubilee Year. We were also inspired by the theme of Pilgrims of Hope, but also because last year we launched this booklet, this resource called Equality, Encounter, Renewal. And in there are lots of stories and good practices about the work that Caritas is doing all over the world at the grassroots to empower women. And so this year, while we were planning this year’s strategy, we sort of thought, how can we contribute to that? And we wanted really to go from something which was sort of a resource and a bit theoretical really down to the practical, and we wanted to focus on that action at the grassroots.

How, specifically, would the award, lead to concrete action on the grassroots level for women and girls around the world? How does giving an award achieve that?

It’s partly to celebrate what’s already going on. But it’s also to look to the future and to keep planning and keep acting as well on the ground. And we hope that this award, while it is only a one-year grant scheme, sometimes, you just need a small injection of funding or resources that can really kickstart something. And so we hope that this award will inspire a lot of organizations to apply for it, but also to see that it’s possible to do this work. And that’s why we wanted to showcase what’s already going on. This is no new thing. This is just something where we want to hopefully make a concrete contribution. Not only to Caritas. Of course, we want Caritas to apply, but in today’s world, in today’s political climate, we understand that really only by working together and supporting other organizations who are also doing the same work as us and having shared goals — only then will we really achieve change for women.

The interview has been lightly edited for clarity,