Women RISE

Twenty-three research teams across 17 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East generated new evidence on how the COVID-19 pandemic transformed women’s health, working conditions and wellbeing.

Women RISE (2022–2025) was an IDRC-led initiative funded in collaboration with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). It supported action-oriented, gender-transformative implementation research at the intersection of women’s health and women’s work in the Global South, producing evidence to inform equitable recovery efforts and strengthen resilience to future health crises.

Aligned with global efforts to ensure an evidence-informed and equitable recovery from COVID-19, Women RISE generated evidence addressing priority 3.5 of the United Nations Research Roadmap for COVID-19 Recovery — how recent economic changes disproportionately impacted women and how recovery strategies can be inclusive and gender-transformative.

Why Women RISE matters

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed long-standing weaknesses in health systems, labour regulations, social protection and care structures that leave many women without adequate support.

Women RISE provided evidence to inform how governments, researchers and communities understand and address these impacts on women’s health and work.

Key findings from Women RISE

Women experienced the most severe impacts during the pandemic. They made up the majority of frontline workers and faced burnout, violence, disrupted services and income loss.
Unpaid and paid care work challenges intensified everywhere. School closures and lockdowns increased women’s care workload at home and in the essential care sector, with clear impacts on physical and mental health.
Economic shocks directly affected women’s health, livelihoods and safety. Informal workers — including domestic workers, recyclers and street vendors — lost income and employment without social protections.
Community-led solutions proved most resilient. Women and communities developed mutual aid networks, cooperative reforms and innovative health outreach models.
Participatory research strengthened policy influence. Projects engaged women, youth, workers and communities in co-designing interventions and saw strong ownership and policy uptake.

Women RISE findings have informed policy and program changes across several countries and demonstrated how community-led, participatory approaches can drive meaningful and lasting change beyond the life of the initiative.

By involving community members, especially women — as active participants […] the project fostered local ownership, trust, and collective accountability. It demonstrated that sustainable recovery and development solutions are more likely to emerge when communities are not merely consulted but empowered as co-creators.

– Susan Babirye, principal investigator, COVID-19 Slum Study, Uganda.

Drawing on findings from across 23 projects, Women RISE developed five impact briefs that distill key lessons and findings for policy and practice.

Impact briefs

These five briefs synthesize evidence and highlight practical, policy-relevant insights:

What the research shows

Women RISE research highlights several pathways to improving women’s health, work and resilience during crises:

Health and wellbeing: Major disruptions to sexual and reproductive health services, maternal care, mental health and other essential services were addressed through mobile clinics, community outreach, counselling and tailored support.
Economic resilience: Cash transfers, savings groups, vocational training and safer workplace conditions helped women cope with financial shocks and reduce reliance on precarious work.
Care workload: Findings underscored the urgent need for stronger protections, training and wellbeing support for paid and unpaid care workers.
Policy influence: Participatory approaches strengthened the uptake of evidence by governments and community leaders — informing reforms in Kenya, Peru, Sri Lanka and Nigeria, among other countries.

How Women RISE was implemented

Women RISE supported a collaborative research model in which each project was led by a principal investigator based in a low- or middle-income country, working alongside a Canadian co-investigator and at least one decision-maker. This structure enabled teams to conceptualize and co-design the research projects and interventions with the people most affected, ensuring solutions were grounded in lived realities.

The African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) coordinated knowledge mobilization, capacity strengthening and cross-country learning to amplify the use of evidence in policy and program decisions.

Project examples

A woman member of the Loitokitok Dairy Cooperative participates in a workshop focused on strengthening policies that support women in agricultural cooperatives in Kenya.

Advancing health and equity in Kenyan agricultural cooperatives (WINRACK)

WINRACK worked with agricultural cooperatives to adopt gender-responsive policies.

63% increase in women’s cooperative memberships
Nine cooperatives adopted gender-responsive policies
Improved access to health kits and group health insurance for rural communities

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Women recyclers mobilizing to protect health, livelihoods, and the environment for future generations.

Addressing the health needs of women recyclers in Ecuador (RUMBOS)

The RUMBOS project worked with recyclers to assess and improve working and health conditions.

Increased access to medical, dental and gynecological care, as well as medications and vaccinations
Formation of new cooperatives and associations to strengthen collective action
Co-developed safer tools and processes, with greater recognition of women recyclers in the waste-management system

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Happy peer mentors from central Uganda equipped with kits ready for community outreach

Improving health and livelihoods for adolescent girls in Ghana and Uganda

Integrated health outreach with economic empowerment and vocational training.

Young women accessed sexual and reproductive health (SRH) clinics for contraception, sexually transmitted infection testing, and counselling
Adolescent girls and young women received skills training strengthening economic opportunities
Peer mentors delivered community-based SRH education and advocacy

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Shazana Agha, a co-principal investigator of the RE-CARE project, speaking at the launch of a policy brief titled "Building a cradle-to-grave care economy" in Malaysia.

Supporting community-led solutions for migrant women in Malaysia and Thailand

This project worked with migrant domestic workers to document barriers to health care, safety and social protection, and to support community-led responses.

Peer support groups strengthened community ties and emotional wellbeing
Dialogue with key stakeholders advanced more inclusive social protection measures
Research highlighted barriers to health care access and workplace safety

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