Non-Profit

Women’s Edge Coalition

Founded

1998

Website

www.womensedge.com

Name

Seema Jalan, 26, Senior Policy Manager, International Development & Legislative Affairs Program

Hometown

Parsippany, New Jersey

Current residence

Washington, D.C.

Education

Columbia University, Master of International Affairs, 2005 (concentration: Economic and Political Development); New York University, B.A. Mathematics, 2001

Work experience

Consultant, International Institute of Rural Reconstruction, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Intern, Women for Afghan Women
Intern, United Methodist Women
Intern, United Nations
District Representative, Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney
Investment Banking Analyst, Lehman Brothers

Ethnicity

Indian

About the Non-profit

The Women’s Edge Coalition is the leading non-partisan organization shaping U.S. policy to benefit poor women worldwide. We advocate for international economic policies and human rights that support women worldwide in their actions to end poverty in their lives, communities and nations. We represent over 40 organizations and 15,000 individuals committed to lasting policy change to empower poor women.

Most notable achievements

I’m proud and excited to say that Global Opportunities and Resources for Women to Thrive Act (GROWTH Act 2006, H.R. 5858) was introduced into the House of Representatives in late July. Seven congressional cosponsors joined Representative Nita Lowey (D-NY) and Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) in sponsoring the bipartisan bill, which was researched and developed by the Women’s Edge Coalition over two years. More than twenty organizations working with poor women in the developing world, based both in the U.S. and overseas, helped shape this innovative legislation.

The GROWTH Act is groundbreaking legislation that proposes important change to U.S. international assistance and trade programs to prioritize the economic opportunities of women living in poverty worldwide. Investing in women is one of the surest routes to end poverty in the developing world. The innovative provisions of the GROWTH Act remove a range of barriers that prevent women from participating actively in their countries’ economies. If passed, it would make U.S. policy a driver of positive change for women around the world.

In the past couple of years, Edge has also been instrumental in boosting U.S. international assistance to indigenous women’s groups in tsunami-affected regions and women’s groups in Afghanistan. Targeting resources and capacity building opportunities directly to local women’s groups all over the world so that they can continue to push forward with their amazing work is a core value of our organization. Edge also contributed to the successful effort to double United States’ support for the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and helped to push the U.S. government to make its first ever contribution to the UNIFEM Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence Against Women.

What's the niche?

Decades of research and experience have shown that investing in poor women is the key to tackling poverty. When women have an income, they reinvest in their children’s health, education and nutrition, creating a multiplier effect that strengthens families and communities over time. Expanding economic opportunity for women also decreases women’s vulnerability to HIV/AIDS and gender-based violence. However, there is a lack of concerted focus beyond micro-enterprise on helping women contribute fully in their economies in order to end poverty for themselves and their families.

Women’s Edge Coalition fills a much needed gap in the women’s movement by focusing on the invaluable economic role that women play in developing countries and by promoting safe, gainful economic opportunity for women by influencing U.S. international assistance policy. We do all of this in consultation with our partner women’s groups all over the world and our many member organizations that bring a wide range of development and human rights expertise.

What's the biggest challenge?

The biggest challenge we face is ensuring that U.S. international assistance policy and development programming take into account women’s ideas, needs, resources, roles and responsibilities in varying cultural contexts and how they may differ from that of men.

It is because of many social and economic inequalities that women are especially vulnerable to poverty and experience it differently than men. Taking into account such information ensures that both women and men are built into development strategies up front so that programs target their resources and meet their needs effectively. Failure to incorporate women’s views and to consider their unique constraints has been one of the central causes of unproductive international assistance in the past.

We want U.S. international assistance – funded by U.S. taxpayer dollars – to be used as efficiently as possible and truly benefit both the women and men it is intended to reach by making sure this analysis happens.

What's in store for the future?

We recently launched a campaign on eliminating violence against women through U.S. leadership in partnership with Amnesty International USA and the Family Violence Prevention Fund.

A major activity of this campaign is to develop an International Violence Against Women Act, the purpose of which is to significantly increase U.S. activities to end gender-based violence globally and to integrate policies that help prevent and reduce gender-based violence into U.S. poverty reduction, health, economic development and security policies. Please stay tuned!

What other organizations does the Women’s Edge Coalition work with?

We have a membership base of 43 organizations including CARE, the Academy for Educational Development, International Center for Research on Women, Equality Now, Heifer International, Global Fund for Women, Amnesty International USA and The Hunger Project. We also work extensively with women’s groups in many developing countries.

What makes your organization Unique?

Our mission and our people – I have felt really privileged to work with truly dynamic, passionate and fun-spirited people. We measure our success by results – not by how hard we work to get there (which is really hard!).

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