Advancing Universal Rights and Justice
Uprooting Fascisms and Fundamentalisms
Across the globe, feminist, women’s rights and gender justice defenders are challenging the agendas of fascist and fundamentalist actors. These oppressive forces target women, persons who are non-conforming in their gender identity, expression and/or sexual orientation, and other oppressed communities.
Discriminatory ideologies are undermining and co-opting our human rights systems and standards, with the aim of making rights the preserve of only certain groups. In the face of this, the Advancing Universal Rights and Justice (AURJ) initiative promotes the universality of rights - the foundational principle that human rights belong to everyone, no matter who they are, without exception.
We create space for feminist, women’s rights and gender justice movements and allies to recognize, strategize and take collective action to counter the influence and impact of anti-rights actors. We also seek to advance women’s rights and feminist frameworks, norms and proposals, and to protect and promote the universality of rights.
Our actions
Through this initiative, we:
- Build knowledge: We support feminist, women’s rights and gender justice movements by disseminating and popularizing knowledge and key messages about anti-rights actors, their strategies, and impact in the international human rights systems through AWID’s leadership role in the collaborative platform, the Observatory on the Universality of Rights (OURs)*.
- Advance feminist agendas: We ally ourselves with partners in international human rights spaces including, the Human Rights Council, the Commission on Population and Development, the Commission on the Status of Women and the UN General Assembly.
- Create and amplify alternatives: We engage with our members to ensure that international commitments, resolutions and norms reflect and are fed back into organizing in other spaces locally, nationally and regionally.
- Mobilize solidarity action: We take action alongside women human rights defenders (WHRDs) including trans and intersex defenders and young feminists, working to challenge fundamentalisms and fascisms and call attention to situations of risk.
Related Content
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To make the complexity of resourcing diverse forms of feminist organizing visible
Alexandra Lamb Guevara
Alexandra is an anglo-colombian feminist with over 20 years of experience in local, national and international HIV and sexual and reproductive health and rights programming. She has extensive experience in resource mobilization and donor relations with private philanthropic foundations and multilateral agencies on behalf of international, national and local NGOs, predominantly in Latin America and the Caribbean. Prior to AWID, Alexandra worked at Fundación Si Mujer, a feminist abortion provider and educator in Colombia, RedTraSex and the International HIV/AIDS Alliance.
Alexandra has a BA in International Relations and Development Studies from Sussex University and a MSc in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. In rare moments when she is not working or parenting, she loves to swim, eat and has recently begun to play Zelda: Breath of the Wild with her son.
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Resources
Can AWID provide funding for my development project?
No, we regret that AWID is not a funding organization.
We and cannot review funding proposals or requests.
We encourage you to browse our list of donors that may potentially fund your women's rights organizing.
More resources are available from the Priority Area “Resourcing Feminist Movements”
How many questions are in the survey?
There are 47 questions in total, of which 27 are mandatory* and the remaining 20 are optional. The majority of questions are multiple-choice. We invite you to respond to all the questions.
2007: CSO engagement rises with the creation of the WWG on FfD
The Women’s Working Group on Financing for Development (WWG on FfD), an alliance of women’s rights organizations and networks, was launched in October 2007 to advocate for the advancement of gender equality, women’s empowerment and human rights in the FfD related UN processes.
- The Third High-level Dialogue on Financing for Development, 23-25 October 2007 saw an upsurge in civil society participation. Aside from the six round table sessions, there were hearings for civil society and the business sector.
- AWID delivered a statement at the plenary on behalf of Civil Society calling for governments to give greater attention to the importance of women’s rights organizations as agents of development, and the need to promote new mechanisms for financing for women in developing and least developed countries. The statement urged governments to give greater support to gender architecture in the United Nations so that the system as a whole could make progress in terms of its commitment to gender equality, women’s empowerment and human rights, including the economic, social, cultural and environmental rights of all persons.
Can I contact someone if I have questions or concerns?
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us via the form here, indicating “WITM Survey” as the title of your message. You can also write to us at witm@awid.org.
What are some of the debates and conflict areas?
- Towards The Third International Conference On Financing For Development: Old Tensions And New Challenges, by Nicole Bidegain Ponte/DAWN (March 2015)
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‘A geopolitical Analysis of Financing for Development’ by Regions Refocus 2015 and Third World Network (TWN) with DAWN.
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The Zero Draft Language Map, by Regions Refocus
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‘Addis Ababa financing conference: Will the means undermine the goals?‘ by RightingFinance
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Чтобы заявить о себе как об эксперте по вопросам ресурсного обеспечения феминистских движений
Will the AWID Forum still be in Taipei in light of the COVID-19?
AWID is closely monitoring the global COVID 19 situation and for now anticipates continuing with the Forum as planned.
If at any moment the situation demands something different, we will let you know right away.
The 14th AWID International Forum is scheduled to take place 20-23 September 2021 in Taipei,.
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Обеспечение ресурсами феминистских движений имеет основополагающее значение для обеспечения более справедливого и мирного настоящего и свободного будущего.
За последнее десятилетие спонсоры выделили значительно больше средств на обеспечение гендерного равенства, однако лишь 1% средств, выделенных на благотворительность и развитие был направлен непосредственно на поддержку социальных изменений, проводимых под руководством феминисток.
В солидарности с движениями, которые по-прежнему остаются невидимыми, маргинализированными и не имеют доступа к основному, долгосрочному, гибкому и основанному на доверии финансированию, данный опрос освещает фактическое состояние ресурсного обеспечения, выявляет ошибочные решения и указывает на то, как необходимо изменить модели финансирования, чтобы движения процветали и решали сложные задачи современного мира.
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Слова благодарности
AWID выражает признательность всем тем, чьи идеи, аналитические работы и вклад в развитие легли в основу исследования «Где деньги?» и его дальнейшей адвокации.
Прежде всего, мы выражаем глубочайшую благодарность членам AWID и активисткам(-там), которые участвовали в консультациях, и провели этот опрос вместе с нами, щедро поделившись своим временем, аналитикой и теплом.
Мы выражаем признательность феминистским движениям, союзницам(-кам) и феминистским фондам, включая (но не ограничиваясь ими) Black Feminist Fund, Pacific Feminist Fund, ASTRAEA Lesbian Foundation for Justice, FRIDA Young Feminist Fund, Purposeful, Kosovo Women’s Network, Human Rights Funders Network, Dalan Fund and PROSPERA International Network of Women's Funds , за ваше тщательное исследование состояния ресурсного обеспечения, вдумчивый анализ и постоянную адвокацию для достижения более объемного и эффективного финансирования для феминистских организаций и движений за гендерную справедливость во всех контекстах.
Присоединяйтесь к глобальному феминистскому сообществу, которое освещает состояние ресурсного обеспечения, требуя большего финансирования и влияния для феминисток(-ов) во всем мире
Quem deve participar no inquérito?
Grupos, organizações e movimentos cujo foco específico ou principal seja os direitos das mulheres, de jovens, a justiça de género, os direitos das pessoas LBTQI+ e de aliados em todas as regiões e em todos os níveis, quer sejam novos ou já estabelecidos.
هل على مجموعتنا، منظمتنا أو حركتنا تعبئة الاستطلاع مع أننا لم نحشد أو نأخذ تمويلاً من ممولين/ات خارجيين/ات؟
نعم! نلاحظ ونقدّر الأسباب المختلفة لعدم تلق الحركات النسوية التمويل الخارجي، حيث من الممكن أن تكون غير مؤهلة لتقديم الطلبات للتمويل و\ أو تلقّي المال من خارج البلاد، أو الاعتماد على المصادر التي يتم إنتاجها بشكل مستقل كاستراتيجية سياسية. نريد أن نسمع منكم/ن بعيدا عن تجربتكم/ن مع التمويل الخارجي.
Моего языка нет в списке и мне сложно заполнить опрос – что мне делать?
AWID стремится к языковой справедливости, и мы сожалеем, что на данный момент проведение опроса на большем количестве языков не представляется возможным. Если вам нужна помощь в переводе или вы хотите заполнить анкету на любом другом языке, пожалуйста, свяжитесь с нами по адресу witm@awid.org
From “WID” to “GAD” to Women’s Rights: The First Twenty Years of AWID
In 2002 AWID celebrated its 20th anniversary. Given the challenging political, economic and funding environment in which women's organizations must survive, a milestone such as this is worthy of recognition.
In the past two decades the geo-political landscape has been transformed and development theories have come and gone, but approaches to ensure women benefit from development processes have endured.
In its twenty-year history, AWID grew from a volunteer organization for U.S. "Women in Development" (WID) specialists to an international network striving to support proactive and strategic gender equality research, activism and policy dialogue.
On the occasion of its 20th anniversary, this paper charts not only the changes in AWID's organizational structure and goals but also the shifts in policy approaches to gender equality in a changing global environment, through the lens of a membership organization committed to improving the lives of women and girls everywhere.