Global Development and Population Program

  • Citizens in Lucknow, India review school accounts to check how much government money the school has received and how that money has been used.

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    Photo Credit: Dana Schmidt

  • The Foundation supports Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, including its Teen Success program, which helps teen mothers complete school and avoid a second teen pregnancy.

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    Photo courtesy of Planned Parenthood Mar Monte

  • Women gathered at a health center with a Marie Stopes mobile clinic in Senegal.

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    Photo Credit: Nathalie Scholl

  • A woman escorts her children to school in Bamako, Mali.

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    Photo Credit: Dana Schmidt

  • Well Told Story artist Daniel Muli explains the processes of Shujaaz comic strip production.

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    Photo Credit: Dana Schmidt

  • Inside the mobile recording studio “MiniBuzz”, these Tanzanians debate issues of government responsiveness during their daily commute in Dar es Salaam.

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    Photo Credit: Dana Schmidt

  • Think Tank Initiative (TTI) members at the 2012 TTI Exchange, designed to share lessons and experiences across participating think tanks.

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    Photo Credit: Felix Seuffert Photography & Film, Cape Town

  • Students doing groupwork during recess in Tamil Nadu, India.

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    Photo Credit: Dana Schmidt

  • Students practice their writing during a reading lesson in a classroom support by ARED outside Dakar, Senegal.

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    Photo Credit: Dana Schmidt

“Development” is about more than economic growth or reducing poverty. Development means helping individuals and groups reach their full human potential and control their destiny. That is the goal of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation’s Global Development and Population Program: to help people around the world develop their capabilities as individuals, citizens, workers, and parents.

This ambitious aim is expressed in two ways. First, we make grants to expand women’s choices about whether to have children, how to raise their family, and how they earn a living. A nation must empower women to achieve equitable social and economic development, so we support organizations that work to expand women’s choices. This support builds on the Foundation’s long-standing commitment to women’s reproductive health and rights, and it includes a new strategy to improve economic opportunities for women in the developing world.

Second, we work to amplify the voices of people calling for government officials to deliver better results, so citizens are more likely to get a quality education, receive adequate health care, obtain needed services, and earn a decent living. Yet it is not enough simply to amplify citizens’ voices. We want to make sure that governments respond to people’s needs, particularly in providing essential public services. To that end, we make grants to help citizen groups get information about what their governments do, helping them take action to improve the quality of schools, health clinics, and other services in their communities. We support organizations that shine a light on how governments are financed and how they spend their money. Our grantees monitor the quality of government-financed services, such as health and education.