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A framework for your research will guide throughout your research process, and the framing document you develop can also serve as a concept note to advisors and partners, and a funding proposal to potential donors.

Before conducting any research:

• Set the goals of your research
• List the key questions you want your research to answer
• Write out the type of data you will need to obtain and review to answer your key questions
• Define the final products you will produce with your research

Your research framing may evolve over time as you refine your questions and gather new information. However, building an initial research framing will allow you to work from a solid foundation.

Goals

To create a strong foundation for your WITM research, it is important to clarify what you hope to accomplish.

For example, one goal of AWID’s WITM global research was to provide rigorous data to prove what we already knew anecdotally: that women’s rights organizations are discrepantly underfunded. With this data, we felt we would be better positioned to influence funders in their decision-making.

Your goals could be to:

• Generate hard data on funding realities and trends to prove or disprove existing myths.
• Gain deeper insight into differences between the perspectives of donors and women’s rights organizations.
• Influence donors in grant-making.
• Add crucial input to key funding debates.
• Explore collaboration between donors and women’s rights organizations on issues that emerge from the research.

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Key questions

Frame your research process with key questions that only your research can answer and limit those questions to a specific time frame (e.g. past five years, past year, etc.).

Consider the following points:

• What exactly do you want to learn more about and what is the hypothesis you would like to test? Writing this out will assist you in your thought process.
• Is there existing research on this? If research already exists, it may not make sense to conduct new WITM research unless you feel like the existing research is not extensive or specific enough.  
• What time frame do you want to cover in your analysis? For example, will your research analyze only the past year, or several previous years, such as the past five years?
• Are you planning to repeat your survey to collect data in the future?

Choosing a specific timeframe for your research can result in more precise findings than working with an open-ended timeframe. Also, deciding whether you will repeat this research at regular intervals will allow you to set up data collection benchmarks for easy replication and comparison over time.

These were the key questions that guided AWID’s WITM research process:

• What is the current state of women’s organizations’ financial sustainability across the world?
• What external and internal trends are impacting donors’ funding decisions to support women’s organizations and movements?

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Type of data

Now that you determined your key questions, you can determine what kind of data will help you answer your key questions. This will allow you to plan the rest of your schedule for your WITM research.

For example, will you conduct a survey that covers an extensive portion of your priority population? Will you analyze the applications that funders are receiving from a certain region? Will you also conduct interviews (recommended)? By determining the types of data you need, you can reach out to external parties who will provide this data early on, and plot out your full schedule accordingly. Some suggested sources of data could be:

• Surveys you create for women’s rights organizations and donors
• Application and grantmaking data from donors funding cycles
• Interviews of prominent activists, organizations, and donors
• Donor data from membership organizations and networks, such as  the Foundation Center, regional or national donor affinity groups.

Diverse data sets are a great way to create robust and rich analysis.

The data from AWID’s 2011 Global Survey formed the backbone of our analysis in Watering the Leaves, Starving the Roots report. However, we also collected data from interviews and interactions with several actors in the field, ranging from donors to activists and women’s rights organizations.

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Final products

In addition to allowing you to set your schedule, creating an initial plan of what products you will develop will also allow you to work out what resources you need.

For example, will you only produce a long research report or will you also create infographics, brochures and presentations? Depending on your products, you may need to hire a design firm, plan events and so on.

These products will also be the tools you use to achieve your goals, so it is important to keep those goals in mind. For example, is your WITM research exclusively intended as an advocacy tool to influence funders? In that case, your products should allow you to engage with funders at a deep level.

 Some sample products:

• Long report for dissemination with key funders and organizations.
  Historically, AWID WITM research has centered on a long report, from which AWID distilled other smaller products  - see rest of list.
• Infographic for viral distribution online
• Short animation demonstrating key findings
• Short brochure(s) distilling your findings and messages
• Articles and blog posts on key findings to draw interest to your larger report
• Seminars or webinars presenting key findings.

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Conclusion: Framing your research will give you the big picture

Framing your research to cover goals, key questions, types of data, and final products will allow you to create a well-planned schedule, prepare your resources in advance, and plan a realistic budget.

This will make interactions with external partners easier and allow you to be nimble when unexpected setbacks occur.

Previous step

1. Gather your resources

Next step

3. Design your survey

Estimated time:

• 1 month

People needed:

• 1 or more Research person(s)

Resources available:

• AWID Research Framing: sample 1
• AWID Research Framing: sample 2

Previous step

1. Gather your resources

Next step

3. Design your survey

Ready to Go? Worksheet

Download the toolkit in PDF

Context

The search for alternative means of food production based on environmental sustainability is gaining ground across regions. This worldwide search comes with a common characteristic: the need to involve rural people and particularly women, building on their local priorities and knowledge by employing the principle of agroecology.

Definition

Agroecology is a way of practicing agriculture or using technologies that do not harm the environment. It proposes breaking with the hegemonic rural development model based on large landed estates and single-crop plantations that benefit mostly agricultural businesses and entrenches social exclusion.   

In family farming, agroecology manifests as a resistance to the current development model and its social, cultural, environmental, and economic problems. It opposes the lack of the farmer’s financial capital autonomy; and it symbolizes a resistance to the current agribusiness model.

Feminist perspective

Efforts based solely on agroecology may not be sufficient to solve all problems of women’s marginalization and invisibility. A feminist perspective is then crucial to analyze the norms associated with the idea of family as currently constituted as the perfect institution, as well as with the condition of women’s subordination.

In simpler terms, it is important to include in this debate a reflection on socially constructed gender roles to advance the emancipatory potential of agroecology.

Learn more about this proposition

• Agroecology: Exploring opportunities for women’s empowerment based on experiences from Brazil (2011) by AWID and ActionAid
• Sowers of struggles and hope for feminism and food sovereignty by La Via Campesina captures the exchanges of the 4th Women’s Assembly that discussed the capitalism crisis and the challenges in constructing a peasant and working class feminism.

WHRD Tribute - 2017

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This page provides ideas and inspiration for how you can fund your participation at the 14th AWID International Forum. 

As you plan the activity you would like to do at the Forum, please also consider how you will fund your participation. Typical Costs include: accommodation, travel, visa, forum registration fees, etc.

It is important to note that this Forum will have many ‘open spaces’ and moments for movements to learn and exchange, but fewer formal sessions. (See “Ways to describe the Forum in your fundraising” below for language to use in your outreach.) 

Work with your current funders:

Reach out to your current donors first : Your best option is always a current funder that you have.

Make sure to do it in advance : We recommend contacting them by early 2020 at the latest. Many funders who support feminist organizations have some budget allocated for Forum travel. Others may be able to include it in renewal grants or through other travel funds.

If your group has funders, tell them that you want to attend the AWID Forum to learn, experience, exchange and network- even if your activity does not get selected for the final program. In order to be able to support your participation, your donors will need to know about it well in advance so tell them right away! (they are already deciding which funds they will distribute in 2020).

Seeking new funders:

If you do not currently have donor support or are not able to secure grants for Forum travel, consider reaching out to new donors. 

• You can see ideas of specific funders at AWID’s portal ‘Who can fund my women’s rights organizing?’
• Consider reaching out to national, regional, or global feminist and women’s funds
• Explore funder networks, such as Candid and European Foundation Centres, for lists of funders and opportunities in your region

Deadlines and requirements vary by funder, and a  grant review process can take many months. If you’re considering applying for new grants, do so as soon as possible.

Creative inspiration:

Feminist movements have long gotten creative with funding our own activism. Here are some ideas that we have gathered to inspire alternative ways of fundraising:

• Mobilize your community to support participation: fundraise with small contributions from members through community dinners, dance parties, and local shows, events and tours
• Mobilize your networks by organizing giving circles and crowdsourcing using various online tools like gofundme, indiegogo, plumfund, or kickstarter
• Cultivate local sources of income, including from individual donors and membership dues    
• Consider co-funding through strategic partnerships with other community and social justice groups.

For more inspiration, see AWID’s ongoing series on autonomous resourcing, including specific ideas for conference raising participation funds. 

Access Fund:

AWID strives to make the Forum a truly global gathering with participation from diverse movements, regions and generations. To this end, AWID mobilizes resources for a limited Access Fund (AF) to assist Forum participants with the costs of attending the Forum.

AWID’s Access Fund will provide support to a limited number of Forum participants and session/activity facilitators. You can indicate in your application if you would like to apply to the AWID Access Fund. This is not guaranteed, and we strongly encourage you to seek alternative funding for your participation and travel to the Forum.

Even if you apply for the AWID Access Fund, we encourage you to continue to explore other options to fund your participation in the Forum.  Access Fund decisions will be confirmed by the end of June 2020. Please remember that these resources are very limited, and we will be unable to support all applicants. 

Ways to describe the Forum in your fundraising: 

As you reach out to funders or your own networks, here is some sample messaging that may be helpful. Feel free to adapt it in whatever way is useful for you!

The AWID Forum is a co-created feminist movement space that energizes participants in their own activism, and strengthens connections with others across multiple rights and justice movements. Participants get to draw from wells of hope, energy and radical imagination, as well as deepen shared analysis, learning, and build cross-movement solidarity to develop more integrated agendas and advance joint strategies.

Our organization is seeking funds to attend the Forum in order to connect with other activists and movements from around the world, strengthen our strategies, and share our work. We are inspired by past participants, who have described the power of this global feminist gathering:

“Over four days … voices weaved together into a global perspective on the state of gender equality. And when I say global, I mean simultaneous translation into seven languages kind of global  ....”

“It was reminding us that we are not alone. The Forum provided a means of translating collectivity into our movements. Whether across ideologies, identities or borders, our strength is in our vision and our support of one another.”

It is important to note that this Forum will have many ‘open spaces’ and moments for movements to learn and exchange, but fewer formal sessions. While many attendees will not be presenting in formal sessions, there will be invaluable space to learn, strategize, and experience feminist movements’ collective power in action.

Budget considerations: 

When calculating your costs and how much you need to raise, it is important to factor in costs that may come up. Here’s an example of key items to consider:

• Airfare
• Forum registration fees (please note that even if you are granted Access Funds by AWID, you will have to cover your registration fee yourself)
• Visa costs
• Travel health insurance
• Local travel to and from the airport (taxis or other transportation)
• Layover costs, such as hotels and meals if your plane travel requires a long layover
• Accommodation, including giving yourself a day to recover on either end if you have traveled far
• Technology, including WiFi access or fees for international communication as needed during travel (AWID will provide WiFi during the Forum)
• Materials costs for any items (visuals, reports, artwork!) you want to bring, share, or exchange at the Forum 
• Incidentals and/or per diems to cover food and other items that come up (all lunches and coffee/tea breaks, plus one dinner will be provided by AWID during Forum days) 
• Accessibility, such as any additional support that may be important to make your travel more comfortable, safe, and secure

We look forward to seeing you at the Forum!

The Forum is a collaborative process

The AWID Forum will now take place 11-14 January 2021 in Taipei .

It is more than a four-day convening. It is one more stop on a movement strengthening journey around Feminist Realities that has already begun and will continue well beyond the Forum dates.

Join us on this journey!