Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World

[2] Scientific research and advancement is important to generate knowledge and products aimed at solving problems faced by society.

The generation of such knowledge is especially important in the developing countries which face numerable problems like poverty, food scarcity, disease, climate change, and many more.

Women make up the majority of agricultural workers too, growing and harvesting food for their families, as well as collecting fresh water for drinking.

[4] On 29 June 2010, at the organisation's Fourth General Assembly in Beijing, China members voted to adopt the name Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD).

The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) has supported OWSD financially since 1998 and provides full funding for the postgraduate fellowship programme.

In 2017, an agreement was signed with Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC) to fully fund a new OWSD fellowship for Early Career Women Scientists.

The fellowship is offered as either a full-time (up to four years) or sandwich option, in which the fellow is a registered PhD student in her home country and undertakes a maximum of 3 research visits at the host institute for minimum 6 up to 20 months.

[6] The Early Career fellowship programme is funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada.

The OWSD-Elsevier Foundation Awards are an annual prize given to reward and encourage women scientists working and living in developing countries who are in the early stages of their careers.

Each winner receives US$5,000 and presents her research during a special awards ceremony at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting.

Over 90% of OWSD members are women living and working in developing countries who have master's or doctorate degrees in scientific subjects.

This fellowship is funded by the Canadian International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and greatly increases the impact of the organization.