WomenLift Health (WomenLift), a global NGO founded and incubated at our center, aims to expand the power and influence of women leaders to transform health outcomes and catalyze inclusive leadership. This evaluation summarizes findings from WomenLift’s fifth year of implementation, with reference to key findings from all years of implementation, noting how the program has developed, adapted, proven, and scaled its model. Working across India, East Africa, Nigeria, North America, and Southern Africa, WomenLift has reached a total of 660 women (420 Global Fellows and 240 currently enrolled cohort members) through its 12-month Leadership Journey and more than 2,500 participants across other leadership development programs through June 2025.

The evaluation findings to date show strong changes in individual leadership outcomes, with ripple effects at the institutional level (within the organizations where Fellows work), and an emerging body of evidence of the longer-term influence the program is having within the health sector. For instance, CIGH Executive Director Amanda Marr Chung, a WomenLift Leadership Journey fellow, reflects in the report on how the Leadership Journey has helped her to realize her influence and become a more inclusive leader.

“It gave me the confidence and instilled in me the responsibility to … use my voice and speak out, especially being in very privileged position as a decision-maker … [I realized my] responsibility to be equitable … and transparent in my decision-making,” she tells WomenLift. She put these skills into action in her oversight of CIGH’s global health seed grant program, adapting the review criteria to consider how proposals demonstrate equitable research partnerships. Amanda remarked, “[It is] important that you give equal opportunity to [low- and middle-income] research partners in the design, implementation, as well as
the dissemination of the research.”

Read the full report here.