About $25m will be made available by Google through its Global Impact Challenge (GIC) for women and girls.
According to the tech brand, this forms part of activities marking this year’s International Women’s Day.
Applicants are to apply for the grants which will provide $25 million in overall cash grants to nonprofits and social enterprises creating pathways to prosperity for women and girls.
Google further said the latest move follows initiatives like the 2019 Africa launch of Women Will, Google’s initiative to create opportunities for women, and Google’s #IamRemarkable workshop series, which works to counteract conditioning that women should not celebrate their achievements.
It added that the initiative reinforces its commitment to the empowerment of women and girls on the African continent.
“Empowering women and girls in Africa to reach their full economic potential, and to thrive, is more critical now than ever before as they bear the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Country Director, Google Nigeria, Juliet Ehimuan, quoting the Foresight Africa report 2021.
“It confirms that the coronavirus has exacerbated alreadyexisting gender inequalities, laying bare serious fault lines in safety, physical and mental health, education, domestic responsibilities, and employment opportunities,” she added.
“Despite decades of work aimed at achieving gender equality, the disparity between men and women not only remains.
It is growing alarmingly, largely thanks to the global pandemic.
The report warns The (GIC) for Women and Girls is focused on changing the status quo, with Ehimuan stressing that job cuts, income losses, and lack of education aren’t simply side-effects of the pandemic, but will negatively impact the economic strides made by women and girls for many years to come.
Ehimuan said that as economies and societies rebuild, there is a need for bold new ideas that would propel the world forward.
“Organisations have until Friday, 2 April at 11:59 pm GMT to submit their applications. An all-female panel of expert Google executives and world/business leaders, including Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of UN Women; Victoria Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, Senior Special Assistant to the President of Nigeria on SDGs; Graça Machel, Founder, Graça Machel Trust; and Juliana Rotich, Kenyan information technology entrepreneur, will preside over the application review and selection process once applications close,” she explained.
According to Google, grantees, who would be announced later this year, are eligible to receive funding ranging from $300,000 to $2 million.
Selected organisations will also receive capacity-building support and mentoring from Googlers.
Google said it has given over $55 million in cash grants to non-profit organisations that support gender equity and access to opportunities for women and girls around the world.
Building on its previous work in gender equity—with grantees like the National Domestic Workers Alliance, Laboratoria, and GiveDirectly—Google is seeking applications from organisations in Africa and around the world.
“We have a collective responsibility to ensure that generations of women and girls from all walks of life no matter their race, sexual orientation, religion, or socio economic status live in a world where they are treated equally and can realise their full potential.
“When women and girls have the tools, resources, and opportunities to turn their potential into power, it not only changes the trajectory of their individual lives but also strengthens entire communities. If we lift women and girls, the rest of the world will rise, too,” Ehimuan said.
