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.
Diakite was actively involved in advocating for women in political and public life in Mali.
She worked to support training of women candidates in elections, and spoke out against the practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). She was a strong proponent of reproductive health and rights.
إذا كانت مجموعتك أو مؤسستك تتلقى تمويلًا، فقد ترغب في مناقشة الأمر مع الممول/ة الخاص بك الآن إذا كان قادرًا على دعم سفرك ومشاركتك في المنتدى. تخطط العديد من المؤسسات لميزانياتها للعام المقبل في وقت مبكر من عام 2023، لذا من الأفضل عدم تأخير هذه المحادثة للعام المقبل.
Our strategic plan “Feminist Realities” completed its final year at the end of 2022. For the past five years, this bold framework pushed us to go beyond feminist futures and to recognize the feminist solutions and ways of life that already exist in the here and now. Realities that must be uplifted, celebrated, and popularized. The Feminist Economies We Love multimedia story project and Our:Resource knowledge hub on autonomous ways to resource feminist activism are just two examples of this visionary work, always deeply collective with diverse feminist movements.
Download the full 2022 Annual review
With this reflection on the year, we invite you to celebrate with us beautiful closures and promising beginnings. Change and transitions are an inseparable part of life and movements, which we seek to embrace with intention and care.
Carol Thomas was a trailblazer for women’s sexual and reproductive rights in South Africa. A gifted gynecologist and founder of the WomenSpace, she practiced and advocated for non-traditional ways of delivering healthcare to women, offering services that were high quality, empathetic and accessible.
“She entered into not only the joy of pregnancies and new babies, but the anxieties of infertility and premature deliveries and female cancers, the heartbreak of miscarriages and stillbirths.” Helen Moffett
Carol thought in new paradigms that centered the needs of women with the least access to services and rights in society:
“The prevailing socio-economic environment that we find ourselves in means that women bear a disproportionate burden of disease and unemployment…As a black, previously disadvantaged woman I have a good sense of what is happening in our communities.” - Carol Thomas
Carol’s innovative and multi-award-winning social venture “iMobiMaMa” used mobile kiosks and interactive technology to connect women directly with antenatal and reproductive health services, information and support in communities all over South Africa.
Carol supported women both in wanted and unwanted pregnancies, mentoring many nurses and doctors during her lifetime.
She was also described as the go-to gynecologist “for trans folks who could have affirming care. She got it right when so many did not have the language or pronouns. Her warm blankets, listening and saying just what you needed to hear was so comforting.” -Marion Lynn Stevens
Carol Thomas was described as being at the height of her professional career when she died on 12 April 2019 of complications following a double lung transplant.
The tributes that poured in following her unexpected death referred to her as many things:
“a role model, warrior woman, innovator, dynamic leader, mould-breaker, dynamo, brilliant scientist, compassionate doctor.”
Undoubtedly, Carol Thomas will be remembered and honored for being all of this and much more.
ليس هناك اختلاف، نفس الطريقة ونفس الموعد النهائي. يرجى استخدام نفس النموذج لإرسال مقترحك سواء كان ذلك شخصيًا أو عبر الإنترنت أو كليهما (هجين).
Marta is a queer, transfeminist non-binary activist-researcher from ex-Yugoslavia, currently based in Barcelona. They work as a transnational movement organizer, a feminist economist and a weaver of systemic alternatives. They are the co-founder and one of the coordinators of the Global Tapestry of Alternatives, a global process that seeks to identify, document and connect alternatives on local, regional and global levels. Locally, they are engaged in anti-racist, transfeminist, queer, migrant organizing. They also hold a doctoral degree in Environmental Science and Technology from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, dedicated to decolonial feminist perspectives of a pluriverse of systemic alternatives and the creation of feminist alternative systems based on care and the sustainability of life. During their free time, they enjoy boxing, playing the guitar and the drums as part of a samba band, photography, hiking, cooking for loved ones and spoiling their two cats.
“I’m no adherent to the concept of the ‘Third World’. I make films so that people - no matter what race or color they are - can understand them. For me there are only exploiters and the exploited, that’s all. To make a film means to take a position.” - Sarah Maldoror
Her groundbreaking film and “revolutionary picture” Sambizanga (1972) follows Angolan militants’ anti-colonial liberation struggle, as well as captures a woman’s perspective in a historical moment she finds herself in.
“For many African filmmakers, cinema is a revolutionary tool, a political education to raise consciousness. It is inscribed in the evolution of a Third Cinema striving to decolonize thought and advocate radical changes in society.” - Sarah Maldoror
Throughout her career, Sarah - together with a number of African and Caribbean artists - co-founded (1956) the first Black theatre troupe in France. She made around 40 films, comprising important documentaries that amplify the lives and work of black artists, including her friend and poet Aimé Césaire who wrote to her:
“To Sarah Maldo
who, a camera in hand,
fights oppression, alienation
and flies in the face
of human bullshit.”
Sarah was also committed to giving African women more ownership of the filmmaking process. In an interview, she pointed out:
"African women must be everywhere. They must be in the images, behind the camera, in the editing room and involved in every stage of the making of a film. They must be the ones to talk about their problems."
Sarah left an incredibly powerful legacy to be carried forward.
Born 19 July 1929, Sarah passed away on 13 April 2020 from complications of the coronavirus.
Watch Sambizanga and read a film review in a 1973 New York Times article
نعم! نحن نستكشف حاليًا تقنيات مبتكرة للسماح بالاتصال والمشاركة الهادفين.
Leila is a transnational feminist leader, strategist, and advisor with over 25 years of organizing, advocacy and philanthropic experience advancing human rights, gender equality, and sexual and reproductive rights and justice. She was born in Algeria and educated in the U.S., France, and Morocco; over her professional career, she has lived and worked in forty countries across Africa, Europe, Latin America and Asia. Leila currently serves as a Senior International Fellow at the Asfari Institute for Civil Society and Citizenship at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon and as Senior Strategist for various feminist movements and organizations as well as the the Urgent Action Fund-Africa and Trust Africa on an initiative on Reimagining Feminist and Pan-African Philanthropies.
From 2017-2023, Leila held the position as Vice-President of Programs at Global Fund for Women where she oversaw its strategic grantmaking, movement-strengthening, global advocacy and philanthropic collaborations. At GFW, she doubled its grantmaking to over $17 million, launched its feminist and gender-based movements and crises work, created an adolescent girls program led by a girls’ advisory council and led its philanthropic advocacy work. Prior to that she served on the senior leadership team of Ipas from 2002 to 2016 where she published extensively on abortion rights and justice, lead global advocacy efforts and partnered with feminist groups working on self-management, community strategies and stigma reduction around bodily integrity and sexual and reproductive rights.
Leila is currently researching shifts in the philanthropic sector including recognizing non-institutional practices of giving resources in the Global South and efforts to decolonize practices in the Global North. She has written extensively on the political nature of veiling across North Africa and the Middle East, abortion practices in majority Muslim contexts and feminist approaches to sexual and reproductive health, rights and justice.
Leila holds an MPH in public health and a MA in Middle Eastern and North African Studies, studied Islamic law in Morocco and pursued doctoral studies in sociology in France. She studied Arabic and speaks French and English fluently. She is a mother of two feminist young women, an avid scuba diver, mountain bike rider, skier, and outdoor enthusiast.
“If we stay quiet they kill us and if we talk [they kill us] too. So, let’s talk.” - Cristina Bautista, 2019
A tireless defender of the rights of Nasa people, Cristina spoke strongly and loudly against the violence directed at her community. In a speech before the United Nations, she called for the protection of Indigenous women’s lives and their involvement in different spheres of life. In 2017, Cristina was a UN Human Rights Office Indigenous fellow and she was awarded a grant from the UN Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Peoples in 2019.
“I would like to bring to light the current situation of the Indigenous people in Colombia, the killing of Indigenous leaders, the repression of social protest. Instead of helping, the peace deal has increased war and the exploitation of sacred territories in Colombia… In the current situation, in almost all Indigenous nations as women we have been working to find a better future for our families. I don’t want more women from the countryside to continue living under these circumstances. We need opportunities for Indigenous women to participate in politics, in the economy, in society and in culture. Today gives me true strength, to see all these women here and that I am not alone.” - Cristina Bautista, 2019
On 29 October 2019, Cristina was murdered along with four unarmed Indigenous guards in an attack which was allegedly carried out by armed members of “Dagoberto Ramos”, a FARC dissident group.
According to Global Witness, “the murder of community and social leaders has risen dramatically in Colombia in recent years.”
“The Nasa community has repeatedly raised the alarm with the authorities about threats to their safety. Despite efforts by successive Colombian Governments, indigenous peoples continue to face great risks, especially religious or community leaders like Cristina Bautista.” - UN press briefing, 1 November 2019
Watch a speech by Cristina Bautista in August 2019 in which she denounced previous murders of Indigenous guards (Spanish only)
Co-create the The 15th AWID International Forum in Bangkok, Thailand.
A dynamic network of people around the world, AWID members are researchers, academics, students, educators, activists, business people, policy-makers, development practitioners, funders, and more. Our members - of every age - are those who make AWID a unique global feminist association.
We offer different types of memberships geared to income level and whether you are an individual or an organization. Currently we have over 5000 members, individual and institutional, from 164 countries.
We collaborate for advocacy on specific issues, members vote in elections for our Board, and can also participate in and contribute to our Priority Areas through webinars, surveys, or urgent actions, for example.
Our institutional membership draws from a broad range of organizations interested in advancing gender justice and women’s human rights, including women’s rights organizations, from the local to the global levels, grassroots networks, major international institutions, government departments, university programs and more. 63% of our members are from the global South and 38% are under the age of 30.
Thanks to our global feminist community! From May to August 2024, nearly 1,200 organizations working for Women's rights, gender justice, and LBTQI+ equality shared their experiences in the WITM survey. The results offer a unique picture of how feminist movements are resourced and where gaps remain.
It would be better for you to seek legal advice and contact a women’s shelter or referral centre in your area.
The HotPeachPages is an online resource that offers links to women’s shelters around the world. AWID cannot vouch for the accuracy or quality of its listings, but it may be a good place to start if you don’t know of organizations in your area.
The full “Where is the Money for Feminist Organizing” report will be published in 2026.
To learn more how AWID has been shining a light on money for and against feminist movements check out the work of our Resourcing Feminist Movements Initiative here.
Further drafting sessions on the Addis Ababa outcome document
Learn more from the CSO Hitchhiker’s Guide
External funding includes grants and other forms of funding from philanthropic foundations, governments, bilateral, multilateral or corporate funders and individual donors – from both within your country or abroad. It excludes resources that groups, organizations and/or movements generate autonomously such as, for example, membership fees, the voluntary contributions of staff, members and/or supporters, community fundraisers, venue hires or sale of services. For ease and clarity, definitions of the different types of funding as well as short descriptions of different donors are included in the survey.
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