On October 12, this year’s International Day of the Girl Child,Women Deliver, the global advocacy organisation, launched Catapult – the first and only online funding platform dedicated to advancing the lives of girls and women in developing countries and worldwide, through a unique  crowd funding platform.

Since Catapult’s debut, the world has been agog. Maz Kessler, Catapult Founder, designer and developer, has also been talking. Kessler  first worked as a musician, songwriter and synthesist in New York’s downtown music scene.

In 2002, she helped to found “Keep  a Child Alive, an HIV/AIDS Foundation in 2002, focusing on families and children, then joined Advocacy International as Creative Director.

In this interview with Sola Ogundipe, Kessler speaks on the goals, principles and objectives of Catapult. Excerpts:

What is Catapult?

Catapult is the first and only crowdfunding platform dedicated to fund raising for girls and women. We are the first site dedicated to driving funds to projects and organisations that improve the lives of girls and women around the world. Catapult  connects people to projectsfor the sake of girls and women. Catapult is the way to engage the public in ending gender inequality.

Engagement for solutions

Catapult is only about solutions. It is about engagement. There are people and organisations in Nigeria that can solve problem. Catapult will give them access to online funding. We have a digital donation platform, so if you think of it in donation perspective for girls and women, we are to connect with people working for girls and women.

*Maz Kessler

Why Catapult?

Economic  empowerment is one of our involvements. The goal is gender equality. Girls and women organisations are underfunded, and Catapult is about enabling effective action to financing these organisations.

It is about combining financial power and affirmative action to help tackle the global problem of gender inequality. We are aiming to end inequality for girls.

What is crowdfunding?

Crowdfunding in this case is about getting donors to fund projects for women. It is transforming how people give and take action.  It is about harnessing the power of social networks, and driving donations to organisations working to improve the lives of girls and women.

The platform is designed to channel donations sourced from it directly to the registered projects. Identify a need to help improve the lives of girls and women in your community, apply with the details and Catapult connects people to your project.

Programmes and projects

We have no programmes. Catapult is not the expert; it is the organisations that are the experts and they are solving the problems. Projects are available by relevance, region, issue,  lifestage, etc, and  donors can use their networks to share information and to drive donations and engagement.

There are experts in behaviour change communication and financial empowerment in grassroots organisation for maternal health among other projects.

Each project includes a detailed description including a budget and all the information is coming straight from the partner organisations on ground.

There are many organisations  doing incredible work for girls and women, and they are ready and willing to do more, but accessing funds is a great challenge. Catapult’s job is about connecting people seeking opportunities to help girls and women with other organisations to share, teach and learn from their work experiences.

Criteria

We set the stage. The details are up to  partner organisations who are the experts. The partners have to go through a  screening process and obtain  accreditation. It is required that any project should be one that works around  around changing attitudes – behaviour change communication, early marriage, etc. It includes helping boys too on reproductive health issues.

Who can apply

Anybody who raises funds can buy into the initiative. We partner with trusted organisations and connect them with the online audience. There are so many issues that impact on girls and women. issues.

Other priorities

Health is one. Others are access to family planning, education, economic empowerment – all these come together to impact and prevent girls from achieving their potential, we are trying to identify and eliminate these barriers. That is why we are seeking innovative solutions.

Role for Nigerian women

For instance, in Nigeria, there are organisations working on health of girls and women. If you look, you’ll see people working on trafficking, economic empowerment, violence, education, child marriage, etc. even at the grassroots, they are working on their own programmes and in their own communities, bringing out their own solutions and solving their problems in the way that is right for them. Catapult is merely there to assist.

Expectations

Our greatest expectation is to become the leverage for social mobilization and empowerment.  We intend to become a long term funding infrastructure for people who are working on projects they feel most passionate about and encourage donors to fund them.