Radha Friedman – Founder of Radha Friedman Global Philanthropy; Henry M. Jackson Foundation Leadership Fellow

Radha Friedman is a gender equality champion who has spent 20 years working to address issues of access and equity. As a philanthropic advisor, she encourages greater investment in women and girls globally as the single most powerful strategy to reach the SDGs.

Radha’s work has helped a start-up microfinance organization grow to rank as the #1 MFI in the world, and helped organizations earn global awards for their work including the Hilton Humanitarian Prize and Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship.

Before founding her philanthropy advising firm, Radha served as a consultant to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s gender equality team, where she helped the foundation use their voice to advance women’s economic empowerment. Before this, Radha led grantmakingat the World Justice Project, where she encouraged investments in underrepresented voices on issues of justice and the rule of law and oversaw a portfolio of nearly 100 grants in 60+ countries. Prior to this, Radha was a co-founder of Landesa’s Center for Women’s Land Rightswhere she helped raise the issue of women’s property rights and helped secure investments that tripled the size of the organization.

Radha’s work is grounded by an MA in International Development Studies/ MS in Public Service Administration, a BA in South Asian Studies, and a post-grad certificate in Cross-Sector Partnerships from the University of Cambridge.Radha also serves on the board of She Matters, supporting women refugees entering Europe, 360ImpactData, a platform to help close the gender data gap, and Rangzen, supporting human rights in Tibet. Radha was named a Next-Gen Fellow by the American Express Foundation, a United Nations Alliance of Civilizations Emerging Leader, and a “Global Leader for Justice” by the Global Women’s Leadership Network.