By Anjana Radhakrishnan | Organizational Advancement Intern
Last week, Congress voted on H.R. 83, the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act of 2015—dubbed the “cromnibus”. President Obama soon signed the bill, keeping the government funded for the next nine months.
So, what does the spending bill do for programs that impact women and girls worldwide? Actually, a lot.
Firstly, funding for the international affairs budget for fiscal year 2015 increased to 49.27 billion for poverty based development assistance. This is an increase of $269 million more than the 2014 budget.
Funding Highlights Include:
Secondly, the bill not only ramps up funding for development assistance, but also focuses heavily on integrating gender into foreign aid and humanitarian programs. New reporting language will require the US government to provide an official report to Congress and the public on how gender funds are being utilized.
Overall, 2015 looks to be a better year for gender-focused program funding. But this is just the beginning.
Women Thrive will be working hard to ensure U.S. foreign policy does all it can to empower women and girls. Adequately funding programs is just the start. With your help, we are able to engage and educate lawmakers on the importance of gender in foreign aid assistance. Thank you for your continued support as we fight gender-based violence every day in every forum possible.
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