CWP Gender Strengthening Funds

About the CWP Gender Strengthening Fund

The CWP Gender Strengthening Funds is a new initiative that will replace the CWP Regional Strengthening Funds. Similar to the CWP Regional Strengthening, the new CWP Gender Strengthening Funds are annual grants made available to all 180 CPA Branches and 9 Regions to advance the CWP’s mission to ‘promote the representation of women in CPA Branches and women's full and equal participation in political and parliamentary leadership at all levels.'

A total of £90,000 GBP is available for 2026. Unlike, the CWP Regional Strengthening Funds, funding is no longer capped at £10,000. Rather, Branches and/or Region can bid for any sum within the total amount allocated to the Fund to provide assistance in their efforts to undertake projects and events which align with the CWP's mission.

Benefits of the new Fund

• Open to Branches and/or Regions of the CPA to bid for which can be aimed at regional, national, or subnational beneficiaries
• The Fund is no longer capped at £10,000 per project/activity, instead any sum can be bid within the total amount allocated to the Fund.
• Funds can be allocated to any CPA Region and CPA Branches within the same Region within a single financial year. However, when allocating funds, geographic spread will be borne in mind. Additionally, where Regions have an active CPA funded programme of gender strengthening work as part of a CPA Benchmark, MOU or successful multi-year bid, Branches may not be eligible to receive funding.
• Multi-year bids can now be submitted (with guaranteed funds allocated for a maximum of three years). 

Who can apply?

• CWP International Steering Committee Members on behalf of their respective Regions
• CPA Branches

Key dates to note

• Call for Funds: Tuesday 1 July 2025
• Deadline for submissions: Friday 31 October 2025
• Deadline for CWP Subcommittee to review and approve fund allocations: Monday 1 December 2025 (successful applicants will receive official communication by Friday 19 December 2025) 
• Utilisation of the 2026 Funds: from 1 January 2026
• Deadline for expenditure of the 2026 Funds: 31 December 2026

How to apply

Branches and Regions will have until Friday 31 October 2025 to submit proposals on the project or activity the it intends to deliver using the below application form.

To commence the process of applying for the 2026 CWP Gender Strengthening Funds, please download and complete the 2026 Gender Strengthening Funds Application form and upload using the below submission portal.

Should you have any questions regarding the the 2026 CWP Gender Strengthening Funds, or issues uploading the completed application form, please kindly contact programmes@cpahq.org. 

Download the form

CWP Gender Strengthening Funds Idea's Repository

To showcase some of the best example of how the previous CWP Regional Strengthening Fund has been utilised in the past, the CPA have created an Idea's Repository. To find out more, follow this link.