Why Rockflower?

A Message from Tine Ward, CEO & Founder

Rockflower exists to get more money into the hands of women and girls globally.

Why is that necessary? Quite simply because the current global economic, financial, and social systems do not serve the vast majority of humanity, let alone those living on the margins, most of whom are women and girls.  

When I first had the idea for Rockflower almost thirteen years ago, I was focused on delivering immediate lifesaving aid to the devastating humanitarian crisis of Darfur. As Founder of The Darfur Project, I recognized that bringing emergency medicine and food essentials to those in desperate need was an act of love and hope.  

What struck me then, and still does today, was how women in refugee camps and broken communities always found a way to gather together to heal and find a path forward. It became clear that a more long-term solution to solving some of the world's most pressing problems was to find a way to effectively invest in women and girls.

I have spent a decade listening and learning, talking to experts in the fields of social investment, economic empowerment, disaster relief, governance, education and health. I wanted to know how to play a part in producing real and lasting impact to address some of the root causes of failure facing development and aid. Those reasons are varied and complex but one solution kept appearing time and again and that is to figure out how to get more money directly into the hands of those women who have real life solutions to their own problems and simply need the funding and opportunity to invest in themselves. 

Over the last few decades during my travels to war zones and natural disasters, I have seen women overcoming the most impossible odds to find the grit and inner resolve needed to get things done. Often, this is because as mothers and providers, they discover innovative solutions to protect, educate and care for their children. 

We need a new economic paradigm, one based on the Logic of Mothering. You do not necessarily need to be a woman or a mother to appreciate the basic tenets of this: to nurture and respect, to share abundantly with compassion and empathy and perhaps most importantly to take a nuanced approach to risk and reward.

Rockflower is guided by two philosophies: Radical Idealism, Practically Realized and the Currency of Mind. 

The willingness to step back and imagine the world you want to see, regardless of how radical the vision, but then to employ a practical determination to do what’s being asked of you right in that moment, whether that is the provision of food, seeds or sanitary towels is the meaning of Radical Idealism, Practically Realized.  

The Currency of Mind is a phrase I heard in meditation almost six years ago. It felt important and so I wrote it down. The Currency of Mind is the most valuable and powerful currency that exists, everything of value starts with an idea created in someone’s mind and when shared it increases, expands and takes on energy. We place the Currency of Mind at the center of all of our work.

The two metaphors of Mothering and Gardening used to illustrate Rockflower’s methodology, combine to form a deep appreciation that Mother Earth will provide everything we need if we just listen to the wisdom of indigenous maternal communities and those most closely connected to their eco-systems.

By working with those who weed, nurture and fertilize agents of change, we can still reimagine a new Earth, one of shared abundance and prosperity.