Strategy
Financial inclusion for women; future of work programs; investing in job creation
Summary
Alfanar Venture Philanthropy funds, supports and scales high-impact social enterprises in the Arab world. Their mission is to build a thriving impact economy in the Arab world – where locally-led social enterprises drive inclusive growth, resilience and long-term systemic change. This is a general support grant to Alfanar for their work across the region.
Who
Alfanar was created to fund and support social enterprises that are too mission-driven for commercial capital, too growth-oriented for traditional grants and too early-stage for institutional investors. These organisations sit in the ‘missing middle’—where innovation risks stagnation without the right kind of intervention. Alfanar’s grantmaking helps social enterprises move along the investment continuum—with (1) funding, (2) capacity building, (3) access to networks and (4) impact measurement rigor. They have two funding mechanisms: (1) SEED and (2) SUSTAIN.
What
Alfanar works across four themes: Learning, Earning, Climate and Heritage; and have supported more than 220 social enterprises across Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine. Women are central to the portfolio as both founders and beneficiaries. In 2025, 50% of supported enterprises were women-led and 54% delivered programs directly to women through income generation, employment, entrepreneurship, education and skills.
Since inception, Alfanar’s portfolio of enterprises have delivered the following:
Strategy
Access to Education
Summary
This is a multi-year, general support grant to build organization capacity for nafda as they scale. It includes program delivery across schools, training of educators and expanding youth-led community projects with stronger inclusion of girls.
Who
nafda is a national grassroots movement reimagining schools as drivers of social change in Lebanon. Through values-based citizenship education, leadership development and school community partnerships, they empower principals, teachers and students to take collective action and rebuild the social fabric across the country.
Founded in 2021 in response to Lebanon’s deepening social and economic collapse, nafda equips students, educators and principals with the agency, leadership skills and values needed to drive change within their schools and communities.
What
In three years, nafda has: built a nationwide network of 117 schools, engaged more than 2,000 educators and reached over 37,000 students across Lebanon’s diverse regions. They’ve strengthened school leadership and governance, with 85% of participating schools reporting significant overall improvements in school life and community engagement. nafda has deepened values-driven education, with 92% of schools demonstrating stronger integration of justice-oriented citizenship, empathy and shared responsibility in their classrooms.
Strategy
Women focused health initiatives & facilities; Knowledge and awareness-building initiatives; Capacity building initiatives of healthcare systems
Summary
This grant is to establish the region’s first FemTech Hub – a regional platform advancing women’s health through science, technology, education, and innovation – at the Women’s Pavilion, Expo City Dubai.
Who
The Women’s Pavilion, within Expo City Dubai, is a purpose-driven platform for women’s leadership, wellbeing, and impact. The Women’s Pavilion has run many women-focused programs including the FemTech Hackathon, and Return-to-Work Programme (in partnership with HSBC).
What
The FemTech Hub is envisioned as the region’s first platform advancing women’s health through innovation, education, research translation, and entrepreneurship, where Meem Foundation will act as an Impact Partner, PeriCare as Technical Partner, and American Hospital as Healthcare Partner.
The Hub’s purpose is to
- Advance women’s health innovation by supporting startups and researchers developing evidence-based solutions for female-specific health needs.
- Empower women and communities through culturally relevant, bilingual, science-backed health education.
- Translate research into impact by bridging academia, healthcare systems, and the private sector to bring solutions from lab to market.
In addition, this grant supports digital awareness on under-addressed women’s health topics in both English and Arabic, enabling sustained audience reach and long-term engagement with priority communities.
