Pour Les Femmes Foundation, the new non-profit created by actor Robin Wright and designer Karen Fowler to empower women and girls in conflict regions of the world, partnered with the Global Fund for Widows for their panel on June 21, 2022, at the US Capitol for their Make Widows Matter campaign.On Jun 21, 2022, the Global Fund for Widows convened their first International Widows day event in Washington D.C. entitled, “Ending the World’s Silence on Widows: Opportunities for Leadership Around the World”. The event brought together different stakeholders and global experts from around the world including the U.S. Government to discuss opportunities to mainstream widows into social policies, human rights reporting, and business practices. Using the UN Sustainable Development Goals as its framework, the event aimed to provide concrete and actionable recommendations across sectors in order to address the needs of widows suffering human rights violations and discrimination in certain parts of the world.

Karen Fowler, the co-founder of Pour Les Femmes and the new Pour Les Femmes Foundation, spoke on a panel that included Heather Ibrahim-Leathers, Global Fund for Widows, Ms. Katrina Fotovat, Senior Official, Dept. of State Office of Global Women's Issues, H.E. Ambassador Hilda Suka-Mafudze, African Union Ambassador to the United States, High Commissioner Callista Mutharika, Former First Lady of Malawi, The H.E. Ambassador Victoria Sulamani, Deputy Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of Sierra Leone to the U.N., and Mr. Vikas Khanna, Chef, Humanitarian, & Global Goodwill Ambassador for Widows. The event was moderated by CNN anchor Ms. Zain Asher.

"As a social enterprise, Pour Les Femmes is committed to our support of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) that help widows and other women escape poverty,” said Karen Fowler. “Pour Les Femmes’s customers have brought over 3000 days of work to the 200 tailors in our Goma atelier who sew the garments for our Give Work capsule collection,” Fowler added.“With the recent launch of the Pour Les Femmes Foundation, we’ll be able to build on the success we've had with our partners at the GiveWork program to help women in conflict regions around the world,” said co-founder Robin Wright.Heather Ibrahim-Leathers, the founder of Global Fund for Widows said, “Global Fund for Widows was honored to join forces with Pour Les Femmes at the US Congress to shine a critical spotlight on the issue of widows. Together, Global Fund for Widows and Pour Les Femmes are innovating sustainable and permanent solutions for their financial inclusion and changing the landscape in global development.”The Global Fund for Widows is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering widows and female heads of households to overcome poverty through skills-based training, job creation, and micro-finance.Pour Les Femmes Foundation is a registered 501(c)3 public non-profit that was created by actor Robin Wright and designer Karen Fowler to further the corporate social responsibility goals of Pour Les Femmes and with an aim to empower women and girls in conflict regions of the world.

The Global Fund for Widows is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering widows and female heads of households to overcome poverty through skills-based training, job creation, and micro-finance.

Pour Les Femmes Foundation is a registered 501(c)3 public non-profit that was created by actor Robin Wright and designer Karen Fowler to advance the goals of Pour Les Femmes and with an aim to empower women and girls in underserved communities.

Written by Jeff Halstead

Originally published on Pour Les Femmes Blog, Yahoo News Press Release, PRNewswire, Seeking Alpha