Issue date
1 December 2021

Minister for Women Jan Tinetti today announced financial support will be allocated to the 160 successful applicants for the COVID-19 Community Fund, to support organisations helping women/wāhine and girls/kōtiro in Aotearoa New Zealand affected by the pandemic.

“COVID-19 has had a disproportionate effect on women around the world including in Aotearoa New Zealand, resulting in job losses, increased caring work, and increased family violence. Supporting New Zealanders through what has been a tough time has been our focus,” Jan Tinetti said.

“We received a high volume of applications from a range of excellent community organisations that support women and girls from across the country and are experiencing an increased demand for their services and reduced resourcing due to COVID-19.

“Successful applicants range from support for mental health services; safe houses for women and children experiencing family violence; support for retraining and upskilling for women who have lost jobs; as well as increased support for volunteers that support women and girls and essential supplies such as food, nappies and sanitary products for marginalised women and girls.

“Many community organisations, and communities, are still feeling the ongoing effects of COVID-19. The most recent lockdowns have put a further strain on already limited resourcing. This funding will enable those organisations to meet increased demand by improving some of the financial strain caused by COVID-19.

“I want to thank all the organisations that submitted applications. There are so many amazing people in our community organisations doing incredible ongoing work,” Jan Tinetti said.  

The $2 million COVID-19 Community Fund was allocated to the Ministry for Women as part of the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund established as part of Budget 2020.

A full list of successful applicants is here.