Simon Blackburn is a Distinguished Research Professor of philosophy at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill and a professor of philosophy at the University of Cambridge. He is a humanist philosopher and the vice president of the British Humanist Association.

Helen Beebee is a humanist philosopher and the Samuel Hall Professor of Philosophy at the University of Manchester.

The United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) is dedicated to advancing women’s rights and gender equality. It works on implementing international commitments at national levels. Media contact is Oisika Chakrabarti.

Opportunity International is a microfinance ministry based in suburban Chicago working on expanding economic opportunities in developing countries. It includes a Women’s Opportunity Network. Mark Lutz, senior vice president, global philanthropy, is author of the 2010 book Unpoverty: Rich Lessons from the Working Poor. Media contact is Robert Meloche.

Kiva is a microfinance network that connects individual lenders to individual entrepreneurs in developing countries. The majority of Kiva borrowers are women. Kiva blends the microfinance, small loan model with Internet technology to create relationships between lenders and those who get loans. Many lenders and teams of lenders are associated with local religious congregations.

The International Center for Research on Women works on a wide variety of issues of importance to women in Asia and East Africa. Press contact is Jeannie Bunton, vice president of external relations.

InterAction is an alliance of U.S.-based NGOs working in the world’s developing countries; many member groups are faith-based. Gender equality is one of its issues of concern; it is one of the conveners of the Women, Faith and Development Alliance. Burt Edwards is director of communications.

The All Party Parliamentary Humanist Group is a cross-party group of Members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords of all three main parties, as well as members from the Crossbenches in the Lords.

The Grameen Foundation helps the world’s poorest people access financial services and technology, especially women. Director emeritus Muhammad Yunus founded Grameen Bank and was the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize laureate for his work with Grameen. P