Empowering Women and Girls in the Commonwealth Project: Annual Report 2025

Achieving gender equality and advancing women’s and girls’ empowerment are central to the Commonwealth of Learning’s (COL’s) mission. The Empowering Women and Girls in the Commonwealth (EWG) project plays a key role in furthering these commitments by supporting women and girls to enable them to access education, develop labour market-relevant skills and participate more fully in economic and social life. With funding from Global Affairs Canada (GAC) under Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP), which places women and girls at the centre of international development, COL is implementing the EWG initiative in collaboration with seven local partner organisations across Bangladesh, Malawi, Mozambique, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Now in its third year of implementation, the EWG project has contributed to meaningful shifts at the village, community and national levels. The changes are most visible across the project’s three interconnected pathways of change: improving women’s and girls’ empowerment, enhancing education and skills development and livelihood opportunities, and strengthening women’s and girls’ economic participation.