“Collective Action for Women Refugee-Led Organizations” will collaborate with women refugee leaders, who are driving solutions despite limited access to critical resources.
NEW YORK CITY, September 23, 2026—Church World Service (CWS) today announced a new movement in partnership with Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) to amplify women leadership in responding to the largest displacement crisis in history, “Collective Action for Women Refugee-Led Organizations.” As a global humanitarian organization with 80 years of experience, CWS is a faith-rooted and justice-driven partner to communities as they shape their own futures and respond to disaster, displacement, hunger, and poverty.
The Commitment to Action (CTA) is an opportunity to demonstrate how targeted investments in refugee women leaders and their work can drive both immediate community impact and long-term systems change. This initiative will create a more inclusive, effective, and equitable humanitarian response—one led by refugee women amid the largest global refugee crisis in recorded history.
In support of the Initiative, Rick Santos, President and CEO of CWS, said:
Women are the backbone of refugee-led organizations, leading with resolve, compassion, and innovation. Within their communities, they are trusted voices, transforming hope into action through practical solutions and leadership. Refugee women foster trust and make good on the promise of a brighter future—to both the welcomed and the welcomer
We are in the middle of the largest refugee crisis in history. Refugee women are already at the forefront of addressing it; it is long past time that their leadership is recognized, trusted, and resourced. With our partners, CWS will accelerate their impact, equipping a new generation of refugee women leaders with expanded opportunities, resources, and increased network access. Working together, CGI and CWS will put elevating women-led refugee organizations on a fast-track, providing a new generation of leaders with the tools, the knowledge, and the support they deserve.
The Commitment to Action will amplify the voices of refugee women leaders—through advocacy, two-way resource sharing, and leadership tools—while driving equitable systems and funding practices. By partnering with the Asia Pacific Network of Refugees (APNOR), the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network (APRRN), and other women refugee-led organizations, CWS will advance mutual learning and dialogue, elevate refugee women’s leadership, build trust and community, and promote more equitable, locally and refugee-led funding and partnership practices.
Refugee women leaders are not only experts in their own contexts and communities, but they are often better able to identify protection risks, reach marginalized women and girls, design culturally relevant interventions, and foster sustainable community-led solutions. The Commitment to Action will support opportunities for them to shape priorities, strengthen networks and ecosystems, and share their knowledge and leadership with peers, donors, and partners. Through these engagements, participating leaders will help shape policies, influence funding and decision-making, and elevate understanding of the expertise and leadership of women leaders with lived experience.
CWS is proud to partner with CGI in this critical effort. CGI’s cross-sector convening allows CWS to engage with a wide range of stakeholders, from private investors to institutional donors, to scale innovative solutions such as this Commitment. CWS is appreciative of the opportunity to partner with key stakeholders and community and refugee-led entities transforming communities around the globe through just and sustainable responses to disaster, displacement, hunger, and poverty at CGI and around the world.
For more information, photos of the event, or to interview CWS leadership, contact media@cwsglobal.org.
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CWS was born in the wake of the devastation of World War II. Seventeen Christian denominations came together “to do in partnership what none of us could hope to do as well alone,” mobilizing more than 11 million pounds of food, clothing and medical supplies for war-torn Europe and Asia. In the United States, CWS began welcoming refugees who were looking to start new lives in safety—resettling more than 100,000 refugees in our first 10 years. Over the decades, the specifics of our programs have evolved to address emerging global and community needs, yet our foundation of collaboration and welcome has remained unshakable.
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