Mass demonstration in Madrid on International Women's Day
Multitudinaria manifestación en Madrid en el día internacional de la mujer
Priority Areas
Supporting feminist, women’s rights and gender justice movements to thrive, to be a driving force in challenging systems of oppression, and to co-create feminist realities.
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.
وسيكون التحقيق مفتوحًا حتى 31 أغسطس 2024. الرجاء تكملته خلال هذا الوقت للتأكد بأن تشمل ردودكم/ن في التحليل.
Body
Membership why page - Loyiso Lindani
I believe empowered women empower women and that is why I’ve had an incredible time being an AWID member. My knowledge and understanding of Feminism and intersectionality has been broadened by the exposure I received being part of the AWID Community Street Team. I hope more women join and share topics and ideas that will help other women.
The platform is the go-to place for information and resources on safeguarding the universality of rights in international and regional human rights spaces.
Provides funding for young feminist-led initiatives. It aims to strengthen the capacity of young feminist organizations to leverage resources for their work and to increase donors’ and allies’ commitments to resourcing young feminist activism.
A go-to site to learn about the urgent responses undertaken to protect women human rights defenders and to find tools and resources to support the work and wellness of WHRDs.
A regional initiative created to prevent, respond, document and make public all cases of violence against women human rights defenders in the Mesoamerican region.
A Coalition of feminist, women´s rights, women´s development, grassroots and social justice organisations working to challenge and reframe teh global development agenda.
The role of the Women’s Major Group is to assure effective public participation of women’s non-governmental groups in the UN policy processes on Sustainable Development, Post2015 and Environmental matters.
An alliance of women’s organizations and networks to advocate for the advancement of gender equality, women’s empowerment and human rights in the Financing for Development (FfD) related UN processes.
7 Women Human Rights Defenders from across the South and Southeast Asian region are honored in this year’s Online Tribute. These defenders have made key contributions to advancing human and women’s rights, indigenous people’s rights, and the right to education. These WHRDs were lawyers, women’s rights activists, scholars, and politicians. Please join AWID in commemorating t their work and legacy by sharing the memes below with your colleagues, networks and friends and by using the hashtags #WHRDTribute and #16Days.
Please click on each image below to see a larger version and download as a file
The results of your research will also shape your advocacy – for example, your results will have revealed which sectors fund the most and which sectors you feel need donor education.
Adapt your strategy to the sector
1. Women’s rights organizations
2. Bilaterals and multilaterals
3. Private foundations
4. Women’s funds
5. Private sector and new donors
Build your advocacy strategy
In the “Frame your research” section of this toolkit we recommend that you plot out what goals you hope to accomplish with your research. These goals will allow you to build anadvocacy strategyonce your research is complete.
An advocacy strategy is a plan of distributing your research results in a way that allows you to accomplish your goals, falling under the broader goal of advocating with key sectors to make positive changes for resources for women’s rights organizing.
Using the goals defined in your research framing:
List the potential groups of contacts who can be interested in your research results
For each group, explain in one sentence how they can help you achieve your goal.
For each group, mark what tone you are supposed to use to talk to them (formal professional, commentary casual, do they understand the field’s jargon?)
List every media that can allow you to reach these audiences, in the proper tone (social media to build community feeling, press release for official announcement to a general audience, etc.)
From this list – as exhaustive as possible, chose which ones are the most efficient for achieve your goals. (See below for specific examples of audiences and advocacy methods)
Once you have a strategy, you can start the dissemination.
To disseminate your results, reach out first to the contacts through whom you distributed your survey, as well as to all your survey and interview participants.
First, take this opportunity to thank them for contributing to this research.
Share with them the main survey results and analysis.
Make it easy for them to disseminate your product through their networks by giving them samples of tweets, Facebook posts or even a short introduction that they could copy and paste on their website.
Do not forget to state clearly a contact person and ask for a confirmation once they have published it.
On top of making you able to track who disseminated your report, it will help build stronger relationships within your network.
As an example, we present below a list of sectors AWID engages in advocacy.
Use this list as a point of departure to develop your own sector-specific advocacy plan.
Create an objective for what you hope to accomplish for each sector.
Be sure to add any additional sectors to this list that are relevant for your particular research, such as local NGOs or local governments, for example.
Your list of advisory organizations and individuals will also be useful here. They can help you disseminate the report in different spaces, as well as introduce you to new organizations or advocacy spaces.
1. Women’s rights organizations
Sample objectives: Update women’s rights organizations on funding trends; brainstorm collaborative efforts for resource mobilization using research findings; influence how they approach resource mobilization
Examples of possible advocacy methods:
Offer seminars, learning cafés or other events throughout your region, in relevant languages, in order to update women’s rights organizations with the findings of your research.
If you can’t physically reach everyone in your region, think about setting-up a webinar and online presentations.
Present your findings at larger convenings, such as the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).
Beyond your own organizations’ newsletters and website, write articles on different platforms that are frequented by your target audience. Some examples:World Pulse, OpenDemocracy, feministing.
2. Bilaterals and multilaterals
Sample Objective: Raising awareness about how funding is not meeting established commitments and how this sector needs to improve funding mechanisms to finance women’s rights organizing.
Identify which bilateral & multilaterals have the most influence on funding – this could include local embassies.
Examples of possible advocacy methods:
Enlist ally organizations and influential individuals (some may already be your advisors for this research process) to do peer education.
Seek their assistance to disseminate research finding widely in large multilaterals (like the UN).
Present at and/or attend influential spaces where bilaterals and multilaterals are present, such as GENDERNET .
Publish articles in outlets that are read by bilaterals and multilaterals such as devex, Better Aid, Publish What You Pay.
3. Private foundations
Sample Objective: Expand the quality and quantity of support for women’s rights organizations.
Examples of possible advocacy methods:
Attend and/or present at events led by private foundations.
Sample Objective: Encourage them to continue their work at higher scale.
Examples of possible advocacy methods:
Hold presentations at the women’s funds in your region and in countries that you hope to influence.
Disseminate your research findings to all women’s funds that impact the region, priority issue or population you are focusing on.
Consider doing joint efforts based on the results of the findings. For example, you could propose to collaborate with a fund to develop an endowment that closes the funding gaps found in your research.
5. Private sector and new donors
Sample Objective: Increase their understanding of the field and encourage coherence between their philanthropic interests and business practice.
Examples of possible advocacy methods:
Enlist ally organizations and influential individuals (some may already be your advisors for this research process) to do peer education.
Arrange meetings with influential private actors to present your research findings.
Host your own meeting, inviting private sector actors, to share the findings and to advocate for your position.
Make sure to adapt your presentations, propositions and applications to each targeted group.
We strongly recommend referring to our Ready to Go worksheet to assess your own advancement.
Estimated time:
• 1-2 years, depending on advocacy goals
People needed:
• 1 or more communications person(s)
Resources needed:
• List of spaces to advertise research
• List of blogs and online magazines where you can publish articles about your research finding
• List of advisors
• Your WITM information products
• Sample of Advocacy Plan
If your funding institution is already a part of the Database and you would like to contact us to update your record, or if you would like to leave some feedback for us, please use the form above.
Key opposition strategies and tactics
Despite their rigidity in matters of doctrine and worldview, anti-rights actors have demonstrated an openness to building new kinds of strategic alliances, to new organizing techniques, and to new forms of rhetoric. As a result, their power in international spaces has increased.
There has been a notable evolution in the strategies of ultra conservative actors operating at this level. They do not only attempt to tinker at the edges of agreements and block certain language, but to transform the framework conceptually and develop alternative standards and norms, and avenues for influence.
Strategy 1: Training of UN delegates
Ultra conservative actors work to create and sustain their relationships with State delegates through regular training opportunities - such as the yearly Global Family Policy Forum - and targeted training materials.
These regular trainings and resources systematically brief delegates on talking points and negotiating techniques to further collaboration towards anti-rights objectives in the human rights system. Delegates also receive curated compilations of ‘consensus language’ and references to pseudo-scientific or statistical information to bolster their arguments.
The consolidated transmission of these messages explains in part why State delegates who take ultra-conservative positions in international human rights debates frequently do so in contradiction with their own domestic legislation and policies.
Strategy 2: Holding international convenings
Anti-rights actors’ regional and international web of meetings help create closer links between ultra conservative Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), States and State blocs, and powerful intergovernmental bodies. The yearly international World Congress of Families is one key example.
These convenings reinforce personal connections and strategic alliances, a key element for building and sustaining movements. They facilitate transnational, trans-religious and dynamic relationship-building around shared issues and interests, which leads to a more proactive approach and more holistic sets of asks at the international policy level on the part of anti-rights actors.
Strategy 3: Placing reservations on human rights agreements
States and State blocs have historically sought to undermine international consensus or national accountability under international human rights norms through reservations to human rights agreements, threatening the universal applicability of human rights.
The Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) has received by far the most reservations, most of which are based on alleged conflict with religious law. It is well-established international human rights law that evocations of tradition, culture or religion cannot justify violations of human rights, and many reservations to CEDAW are invalid as they are “incompatible with the object and purpose” of CEDAW. Nevertheless, reference to these reservations is continually used by States to dodge their human rights responsibilities.
‘Reservations’ to UN documents and agreements that are not formal treaties - such as Human Rights Council and General Assembly resolutions - are also on the rise.
Strategy 4: Creating a parallel human rights framework
In an alarming development, regressive actors at the UN have begun to co-opt existing rights standards and campaign to develop agreed language that is deeply anti-rights.
The aim is to create and then propagate language in international human rights spaces that validates patriarchal, hierarchical, discriminatory, and culturally relativist norms.
One step towards this end is the drafting of declarative texts, such as the World Family Declaration and the San Jose Articles, that pose as soft human rights law. Sign-ons are gathered from multiple civil society, state, and institutional actors; and they are then used a basis for advocacy and lobbying.
Strategy 5: Developing alternative ‘scientific’ sources
As part of a strategic shift towards the use of non-religious discourses, anti-rights actors have significantly invested in their own ‘social science’ think tanks. Given oxygen by the growing conservative media, materials from these think tanks are then widely disseminated by conservative civil society groups. The same materials are used as the basis for advocacy at the international human rights level.
While the goals and motivation of conservative actors derive from their extreme interpretations of religion, culture, and tradition, such regressive arguments are often reinforced through studies that claim intellectual authority. A counter-discourse is thus produced through a heady mix of traditionalist doctrine and social science.
Strategy 6: Mobilizing Youth
This is one of the most effective strategies employed by the religious right and represents a major investment in the future of anti-rights organizing.
Youth recruitment and leadership development, starting at the local level with churches and campuses, are a priority for many conservative actors engaged at the international policy level.
This strategy has allowed for infiltration of youth-specific spaces at the United Nations, including at the Commission on the Status of Women, and creates a strong counterpoint to progressive youth networks and organizations.
Key anti-rights strategies
Strategy 7: Defunding and delegitimizing human rights mechanisms
When it comes to authoritative expert mechanisms like the UN Special Procedures and Treaty Monitoring Bodies and operative bodies like the UN agencies, regressive groups realize their potential for influence is much lower than with political mechanisms[1].
In response, anti-rights groups spread the idea that UN agencies are ‘overstepping their mandate,’ that the CEDAW Committee and other Treaty Bodies have no authority to interpret their treaties, or that Special Procedures are partisan experts working outside of their mandate. Anti-rights groups have also successfully lobbied for the defunding of agencies such as the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
This invalidation of UN mechanisms gives fuel to state impunity. Governments, when under international scrutiny, can defend their action on the basis that the reviewing mechanism is itself faulty or overreaching.
Strategy 8: Organizing online
Conservative non-state actors increasingly invest in social media and other online platforms to promote their activities, campaign, and widely share information from international human rights spaces.
The Spanish organization CitizenGo, for example, markets itself as the conservative version of Change.org, spearheading petitions and letter-writing campaigns. One recent petition, opposing the establishment of a UN international day on safe abortion, gathered over 172,000 signatures.
Overarching Trends:
Learning from the organizing strategies of feminists and other progressives.
Replicating and adapting successful national-level tactics for the international sphere.
Moving from an emphasis on ‘symbolic protest’ to becoming subversive system ‘insiders.’
By understanding the strategies employed by anti-rights actors, we can be more effective in countering them.
[1] The fora that are state-led, like the General Assembly, the Human Rights Council, and UN conferences like the Commission on the Status of Women and the Commission on Population and Development
Where is the Money for Feminist Organizing? Survey Results
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.
Stay tuned for the upcoming report for more analysis!
¿Por qué las industrias como la minería son peligrosas para el medioambiente?
Estas industrias 'extraen' materias primas de la tierra: minería, gas, petróleo y madera son algunos ejemplos.
Este modelo económico explota desenfrenadamente la naturaleza e intensifica las desigualdades norte, donde sus grandes corporaciones se benefician y sur, de donde extraen los recursos.
Contaminación del agua, daño irreparable al medioambiente, deforestación de la amazonia, comunidades forzadas a desplazarse son algunas de las consecuencias inmediatas.
Hay alternativas sostenibles para el medioambiente y los derechos humanos de la mujer. Empecemos por conseguir un tratado vinculante para que las corporaciones extractivas nos respeten.
As world leaders gather in Brazil, it’s vital that feminist movements especially from the Global Majority have autonomous spaces to gather, strategize, and disrupt.
These Hubs challenge the elitism of climate talks, center lived experiences, and aim to build collective power across borders. They offer a critical counterbalance to top-down, often exclusionary international negotiations. The Hubs aim to foster community-driven solutions, amplify feminist demands, and ensure that feminist principles of care and solidarity shape the climate agenda. It’s not just about being present at COP30, it’s about reshaping the conversation on climate justice on feminist terms.
Freeing the Church, Decolonizing the Bible for West Papuan Women
By Rode Wanimbo (@rodwan986), Jayapura, Papua Province of Indonesia
“Lord, we are unworthy. We are the ones who committed sin for Eve ate the fruit in Eden. We are just women who grow sweet potatoes, look after pigs and give birth to children. We believe you died on the cross to set us free. Thank you, In Jesus’s name Amen.”
This is a typical prayer of women I have heard during my visits to ministries in several villages. Even I said the same prayer for many years.
I was born and grew up in Agamua, the Central Highlands of West Papua. My father belongs to the Lani tribe and my mother comes from Walak.
In Lani and Walak languages - languages spoken in the Central Highlands - tiru means a pillar. There are four tiru (pillars) standing firmly in the middle of the Lani roundhouse (honai), around wun’awe or a furnace. Tiru is always made of the strongest type of wood called a’pe (ironwood tree). The longer the wood gets heated and smoked from the fire in the honai, the stronger it becomes. Without tiru, the honai cannot stand firm. West Papuan women are these tiru.
West Papua is located in the western part of the New Guinea island, containing some of the world’s highest mountains, densest jungle, and richest mineral resources. It is home to over 250 groups and has an incredible biodiversity. Due to its natural wealth, West Papua has, over the centuries, been targeted by foreign occupiers. Until 1963, we were colonized by the Dutch. However in 1969, after a manipulative political act, we were transferred from the Dutch to Indonesia.
The first German missionaries arrived in Mansinam Island, Manokwari, in 1855. Then, in the 1950s, Christianity was brought to the Central Highlands of West Papua by Protestant missionaries of European descent from America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
According to Scripture in Genesis 1: 26-27, Man and Woman are created in the image of God. It means all humanity is made with the call and capacity to exercise dominion. Radah, the Hebrew word for dominion, means stewardship. Radah is not a call to exercise imperial power as declared by Pope Nicolas V, granting Catholic nations the right to “discover” and claim dominion over non-Christian lands. To diminish the capacity of humans to exercise dominion, is to diminish the image of God on earth (Lisa Sharon Harper, The Very Good Gospel).
The Evangelical Church of Indonesia (GIDI) was established as an institution in 1963. In the Sunday Service liturgy of GIDI, Women are considered unworthy to take any responsibility except collecting offerings. In 2003, after 40 years, the Department of Women was introduced within the structure of the Synod leadership.
In November 2013, I was entrusted to be a chairperson of the Women’s Department of the GIDI Synod.
Together with several other women leaders, we started a cell group that is committed to “decolonizing the Bible.” We learn together how to reconstruct the interpretation of biblical texts to champion women.
A feminist theologian named Elisabeth S Florenza calls it a feminist hermeneutic theory (Josina Wospakrik, Biblical Interpretation and Marginalization of Woman in the Churches of West Papua).
Besides the cell group, we interview our elderly women to collect our ancestors’ wisdom and values. As Bernard Narakobi in his book The Melanesian Way said: “Our history did not begin with contact with the Western explorers. Our civilization did not start with the coming of the Christian missionaries. Because we have an ancient civilization. It is important for us to give proper dignity and place to our history”.
Yum is a knotted net or woven bag handmade from wood fiber or leaves. Yum is highly valued for it symbolizes life and hope. When women of Lani and Walak get married, our maternal aunts put yum on our heads. It means we bear the responsibility for giving life and for providing food. Yum is used to carry garden produce as well as being used as a container to put a baby to sleep in as it gives warmth and a sense of security.
“West Papuan Women are Yum and Tiru” became the prime references as we contextualized women in the eyes of Jesus Christ in seminar and focus group discussions. From 2013 to 2018, we focused on reconstructing the view of women in GIDI and in gaining a healthy self-image. We are still in the process of understanding who we are to Jesus, rather than who we have been told we are by theologians and the fathers of the early Churches. Josina Wospakrik, a West Papuan Theologian said “The Gospel is incredibly rich but it was impoverished due to human ambitions and agendas.”
Since 2018, the GIDI Women Leadership team and I have formulated four priority programs: Decolonizing the Bible, Storytelling in a circle, Training of trainers for Literacy and Gender. The fourth, supported simple bookkeeping and savings groups workshops facilitated by Yapelin and Yasumat, which are faith based organizations established by GIDI leaders to reach the economic, social and health needs of women in the communities.
Storytelling in a Circle
In this programme we create a safe space for women to talk - each woman has a story. We all sit together and learn how to be good listeners.
“I became Christian and was taught that the government is God’s representative. Why did the government do nothing when the army burnt down my village and killed my relatives?” asked one woman in the storytelling circle. “My aunt was raped.” She stopped for a while. Could not talk. She cried. We all did.
The process of storytelling has driven us into deep conversation. We began to contextualize Biblical texts within our daily realities.
We started asking questions amongst ourselves: Where is God in our toughest times? Does the state government truly represent God on earth? Why does the Creator allow privileged people to destroy His own image in the name of Christianity and Development? During the process, I realized that I have been reading the Bible using somebody else’s glasses.
The church has to be a safe place to share stories and be a place of comfort to be still and rest. As we reflect on the testimonies, those who tell their stories begin the process of recovering from wounds and trauma.
Financial Literacy for Women
Culturally, West Papuans invest in relationships. The concept of saving is understood as an investment in relations, not in a bank account. And while the Indonesian central government has granted special autonomy to respond to West Papuans’ demand for self-determination, many government policies harm the quality of family life and they do not account for women’s lives. High illiteracy rates amongst women mean most women do not have access to a bank account. With no money saved, access to medical services becomes a struggle.
Through the priority programmes, Yapelin, with the active involvement and support of women, created saving groups in Bokondini and Jayapura. The saving groups are chaired by women who have access to a bank.
In coordination with Yayasan Bethany Indonesia (YBI) and Yayasan Suluh, a faith-based organization (FBO) based in Jayapura, we facilitated four literacy workshops. The literacy team facilitated the training of trainers in three different dioceses: Merauke, Sentani, and Benawa. We now have 30 facilitators in different congregations who run literacy programs.
Lack of financial support for our programs will not stop us. Being stigmatized as rebels will not stop us from standing up and speaking in church evaluation meetings and conferences. It is stressful but I am committed together with several women leaders to calling on the power-holders within to free the church.
The Gospel known as Good News should become news that liberates women from a very patriarchal circle of power, liberates women from social stigma and returns women to the original purpose of The Creator.
The Gospel must be a mirror to reflect who we are collectively. As Lisa Sharon Harper, in her book The Very Good Gospel said “The Gospel is not only about an individual’s reconciliation with God, self and communities. But also speaks on systemic justice, peace between people groups and freedom for the oppressed”.
Rode Wanimbo is the chairperson of the Women’s Department of Evangelical Church of Indonesia (GIDI).
“Offerings for Black Life”
By Sokari Ekine (@blacklooks), New Orleans
Coming from a place of healing and self-care is a political act that guides us to be focused and to move as one. In New Orleans, we created and will be creating altars in honour of those murdered by police and white supremacists vigilantes!
Où est l’argent ? Un plaidoyer documenté pour soutenir les organisations féministe
Ce rapport révèle la réalité du financement des organisations féministes et de défense des droits des femmes dans un contexte de bouleversements politiques et financiers. S’appuyant sur plus de dix ans d’analyse depuis la dernière étude Où est l’argent ? de l’AWID (Arroser les feuilles, affamer les racines), il dresse un bilan des progrès réalisés, des lacunes persistantes et des menaces croissantes dans le domaine du financement féministe.
Le rapport salue le pouvoir des initiatives menées par les mouvements pour façonner le financement selon leurs propres conditions, tout en alertant sur les coupes massives dans l’aide au développement, le recul de la philanthropie et l’escalade des offensives anti-droits.
Il appelle les bailleurs de fonds à investir massivement dans l’organisation féministe, infrastructure essentielle pour la justice et la libération, et invite les mouvements à réimaginer des modèles de financement audacieux et autodéterminés, fondés sur le soin, la solidarité et le pouvoir collectif.
Le rapport sera bientôt disponible
Colectivo Morivivi
Colectivo Moriviví is an all women artistic collective. Our artistic production consists of muralism, community-led muralism, and protest performance/actions. Our work is about democratizing art and bringing the narratives of Puerto Rican communities to the public sphere to create spaces in which they are validated. We believe that through artivism we can promote consciousness on social issues and strengthen our collective memory.
“Cacibajagua” 2017, Mural Project. Jiangxi, China“Cacibajagua” 2017, Mural Project. Jiangxi, China“Paz para la Mujer” 2015, collaboration with Coordinadora Paz para la Mujer Organization. Santurce, Puerto Rico
“Paz para la Mujer” 2015, collaboration with Coordinadora Paz para la Mujer Organization. Santurce, Puerto Rico
As part of their participation in AWID’s Artist Working Group, Colectivo Morivivi gathered a diverse group of members, partners and staff to facilitate a collaborative process of dreaming into, informing, and deciding on the content for a community mural through a multi-stage co-creation process. The project began with a remote conceptualization with feminists from different parts of the planet brought together by AWID, and then it evolved to its re-contextualization and realization in Puerto Rico. We were honored to have the input of local artists Las Nietas de Nonó(@lasnietasdenono), the participation of local women in the Community Painting Session, the logistics support from the Municipality of Caguas, and FRIDA Young Feminist Fund’s additional support to the collective.
The mural explores the transcendence of borders by presenting bodies like a map, in an embrace that highlights the intersection of the different feminist manifestations, practices and realities.
We also thank Kelvin Rodríguez, who documented and captured the different stages of this project in Puerto Rico:
About Colectivo Morivivi
Moriviví is a collective of young female artists, working on public art since April 2013. Based in Puerto Rico, we’ve gained recognition for the creation of murals and community led arts.
The group started out in local Urban Art Festivals. As our work became more popular, organizations and community leadership started to reach out to us. We began as eight high schoolers who wanted to paint a mural together. However, in eight years of hard work, we’ve faced many challenges. Now we are in a period of transition. During this following year, we aim to restructure the collective internally. Our goal is to open new opportunities for collaborators and back-up our decision making process with a new evaluation system. In the long run, we aspire to become an alternative school of art practice for those interested in immersing themselves in community art production.
WHRDs are self-identified women and lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LBTQI) people and others who defend rights and are subject to gender-specific risks and threats due to their human rights work and/or as a direct consequence of their gender identity or sexual orientation.
WHRDs are subject to systematic violence and discrimination due to their identities and unyielding struggles for rights, equality and justice.
The WHRD Program collaborates with international and regional partners as well as the AWID membership to raise awareness about these risks and threats, advocate for feminist and holistic measures of protection and safety, and actively promote a culture of self-care and collective well being in our movements.
Risks and threats targeting WHRDs
WHRDs are exposed to the same types of risks that all other defenders who defend human rights, communities, and the environment face. However, they are also exposed to gender-based violence and gender-specific risks because they challenge existing gender norms within their communities and societies.
By defending rights, WHRDs are at risk of:
Physical assault and death
Intimidation and harassment, including in online spaces
Judicial harassment and criminalization
Burnout
A collaborative, holistic approach to safety
We work collaboratively with international and regional networks and our membership
to raise awareness about human rights abuses and violations against WHRDs and the systemic violence and discrimination they experience
to strengthen protection mechanisms and ensure more effective and timely responses to WHRDs at risk
We work to promote a holistic approach to protection which includes:
emphasizing the importance of self-care and collective well being, and recognizing that what care and wellbeing mean may differ across cultures
documenting the violations targeting WHRDs using a feminist intersectional perspective;
promoting the social recognition and celebration of the work and resilience of WHRDs ; and
building civic spaces that are conducive to dismantling structural inequalities without restrictions or obstacles
Our Actions
We aim to contribute to a safer world for WHRDs, their families and communities. We believe that action for rights and justice should not put WHRDs at risk; it should be appreciated and celebrated.
Promoting collaboration and coordination among human rights and women’s rights organizations at the international level to strengthen responses concerning safety and wellbeing of WHRDs.
Supporting regional networks of WHRDs and their organizations, such as the Mesoamerican Initiative for WHRDs and the WHRD Middle East and North Africa Coalition, in promoting and strengthening collective action for protection - emphasizing the establishment of solidarity and protection networks, the promotion of self-care, and advocacy and mobilization for the safety of WHRDs;
Increasing the visibility and recognition of WHRDs and their struggles, as well as the risks that they encounter by documenting the attacks that they face, and researching, producing, and disseminating information on their struggles, strategies, and challenges:
Mobilizing urgent responses of international solidarity for WHRDs at risk through our international and regional networks, and our active membership.
Feminine Life and Disability: Fighting against the discrimination in Senegal
The organization Vie Féminine et Handicap (Feminine Life and Disability) became an AWID member in 2008 “to better defend our ideas, to better promote awareness of the discrimination faced by women living with disability in Africa, and to increase visibility of our work,” says President of the organization, Ndoya Kane.
Considering the specific needs of women living with disability
Launched in 2008, the mission of Vie Féminine et Handicap is to fight against poverty among women living with disability in Senegal and globally, but especially across the African continent. With a vision where disability is no longer a barrier to a woman’s dignity or well-being, the main objectives of the organization are to combat poverty, sexually transmitted infections, and AIDS among women living with disability, while strengthening their access to new information technologies.
Vie Féminine et Handicap was created to address the issues of disabled women from a perspective that considers their specific needs, related to both their status as a woman and as a person living with a disability – and to ensure that their economic situation evolves in a positive way and to better sensitize society to disability issues without the negative prejudice.
Comprised of some fifteen members and working mainly across the Pikine and Guédiawaye departments in the Dakar region, the work of Vie Féminine et Handicap includes awareness raising and training for women living with disability, as well as advocacy with decision-makers around the human rights of women living with disability, their economic empowerment, and their sexual and reproductive health. “We do awareness raising on the issue of disability in neighbourhoods by inviting community authorities, youth and ‘able-bodied’ people, because disability is surrounded by a lot of negative prejudice in the Senegalese and African context in general. We also participate in conferences at the African and International level to discuss the situation of disabled women in Africa and around the world to better align our strategies,” highlights Kane.
“Without solidarity, without an understanding that the fight that we lead is not done in the interest of a sole disabled people’s organization, but in the interest of all, we will never achieve any results. Each disabled people’s organization to understand that the fight that we lead outweighs the competition and that we have to go forward together to succeed in getting long lasting results,” explained Ndoya Kane in 2010, in a repport produced by AWID
Pooling resources and the self-financing of members
Since February 2010, the organization has established a self-financing fund, which consists of pooling member contributions to allow each one to finance small personal projects and to initiate income-generating activities for its members, mainly focused on small business. The idea to create the fund originated from our members themselves, a vulnerable group with limited economic resources and for which access to credit is nearly impossible.
The Fund for example allowed Marétou Diop, a resident of Guédiawaye, to open a shop in her neighbourhood market and sell foodstuffs. “Now the other women are joining our self-financing fund to receive credit and finance their activities,” highlights Ndoya Kane.
“Group discussions are even more important as they give us the opportunity to meet among women living with disability and build confidence in some to comfortably talk about the issues they face as women. Together we decide which challenges exist and try to engage specialists in addressing the issue,” says Kane.
Género y discapacidad: la lucha contra la discriminación en Senegal
La organización Vie Féminine et Handicap [vida femenina y discapacidad] se afilió a AWID en el año 2008. La Presidenta de la organización, Ndoye Kane, afirma que esto se hizo « con el fin de defender mejor nuestras ideas, mejorar la concientización sobre la discriminación experimentada por las mujeres que viven con discapacidad en África y para dar mayor visibilidad a nuestro trabajo».
Tener en cuenta las necesidades específicas de las mujeres que viven con discapacidad
Vie Féminine et Handicap comenzó a operar en 2008 y su misión es luchar contra la pobreza que sufren las mujeres que viven con discapacidad en Senegal y en todo el mundo –aunque especialmente en el continente africano. En su visión, la discapacidad dejar de ser una barrera para la dignidad o el bienestar de las mujeres. Los principales objetivos de la organización son la lucha contra la pobreza, las infecciones de transmisión sexual y el sida entre las mujeres que viven con diversidad funcional, fortaleciendo su acceso a las nuevas tecnologías de la información.
Vie Féminine et Handicap se creó para abordar cuestiones relevantes a las mujeres con diversidad funcional — desde una perspectiva que toma en cuenta sus necesidades específicas como mujeres y personas que viven con una discapacidad —; para garantizar que su situación económica evoluciona de manera positiva; y para mejorar la sensibilidad social a temas relacionados con la discapacidad, eliminando los prejuicios negativos.
La organización cuenta con 15 integrantes y trabaja, principalmente, en los departamentos de Pikine y Guédiawaye de la región de Dakar. Su tarea incluye crear conciencia y capacitar a mujeres que viven con diversidad funcional; y también hacer incidencia con tomadores de decisión por los derechos humanos de las mujeres que viven con discapacidad, su empoderamiento económico y su salud sexual y reproductiva. «Creamos conciencia sobre el tema de la diversidad funcional en las comunidades, invitando a las autoridades, a la juventud y a las personas sin discapacidades, porque en Senegal y en el contexto africano hay, por lo general, muchos prejuicios negativos en torno a las capacidades diferentes. También participamos en conferencias regionales e internacionales para hablar de la situación de las mujeres discapacitadas en África y en el mundo; y para alinear mejor nuestras estrategias», subraya Kane.
«Sin solidaridad, sin una comprensión de que la lucha que nosotras lideramos no es para una sola organización de personas discapacitadas, sino para todas, nunca lograremos ningún resultado. Cada organización de personas con diversidad funcional debe comprender que la lucha que estamos librando es más importante que la competencia y que debemos avanzar juntas para seguir obteniendo resultados duraderos.», explicó Ndoya Kane, en el 2010 en un informe de AWID.
Recursos combinados y el financiamiento autónomo de la membresía
En febrero de 2010, la organización creó un fondo de autofinanciamiento, que combina los aportes de su membresía para que cada integrante financie pequeños proyectos personales y para iniciar actividades de generación de ingresos, particularmente bajo la forma de pequeños negocios. La idea de crear este fondo surgió de la propia membresía –un grupo vulnerable con recursos económicos limitados y para el que resulta casi imposible acceder al crédito.
Un ejemplo de este trabajo es la historia de Marétou Dio, quien vive en Guédiawaye: el fondo le permitió instalar un puesto en el mercado de su comunidad y vender productos alimenticios. «Ahora hay mujeres que se están sumando a nuestro fondo autofinanciado para obtener crédito y costear sus actividades», indica Ndoya Kane.
«Las conversaciones grupales son todavía más importantes porque abren la oportunidad de reunirnos con otras mujeres que viven con discapacidad y generar relaciones de confianza para hablar cómodamente sobre los problemas que nosotras enfrentamos. Decidimos colectivamente cuáles son los desafíos que afrontamos e intentamos traer especialistas para abordarlos», explica Kane.
Vie Féminine et Handicap : lutter contre les discriminations au Sénégal
L’association Vie Féminine et Handicap est devenue membre de l’AWID en 2008 « pour mieux défendre nos idées, mieux sensibiliser sur les discriminations dont les femmes en situation de handicap sont victimes en Afrique et offrir une meilleure visibilité de nos actions », confie la Présidente de l’association, Ndoya Kane.
Prendre en compte les besoins spécifiques des femmes en situation de handicap
Créée en 2008, Vie Féminine et Handicap se donne pour mission de lutter contre la pauvreté des femmes en situation de handicap au Sénégal et de façon plus globale sur tout le continent africain. Dans le cadre d’une vision où le handicap ne devrait pas constituer un frein à la dignité et au bien-être des femmes, l’association se donne pour objectifs principaux de lutter contre la pauvreté, les Infections Sexuellement Transmissibles et le Sida chez les femmes en situation de handicap, tout en renforçant leur accès aux nouvelles technologies de l’information.
Vie Féminine et Handicap a été créée pour que les problématiques des femmes handicapées soient gérées à partir d’une perspective qui prenne en compte leurs besoins spécifiques, liés à la fois à leurs statuts de femme et de personne handicapée, et pour que leur situation économique évolue de façon positive et que la société soit mieux sensibilisée aux questions du handicap sans préjugés négatifs.
Constituée d’une cinquantaine de membres et agissant principalement sur les départements de Pikine et de Guédiawaye dans la région de Dakar, Vie Féminine et Handicap entreprend des activités de sensibilisation et de formation des femmes en situation de handicap ainsi que de plaidoyer envers les autorités, qui portent à la fois sur la question de l’exercice des droits humains des femmes handicapées, leur pouvoir économique et leur santé sexuelle et reproductive. « Nous organisons des activités de sensibilisation sur le handicap dans les quartiers en y invitant les autorités communales, les jeunes et les personnes « valides » car le handicap est entouré de beaucoup de préjugés négatifs dans la culture sénégalaise et africaine en général. Nous participons aussi à des conférences aux niveaux africain et international pour débattre de la situation des femmes handicapées en Afrique et dans le monde pour une meilleure harmonisation de nos stratégies », souligne Ndoya Kane.
« Sans faire preuve de solidarité, sans comprendre que notre combat n’est pas mené pour défendre les intérêts d’une seule organisation de personnes handicapées, mais de tou-te-s, nous n’obtiendrons jamais de résultats. Toutes les organisations de personnes handicapées doivent comprendre que le combat que nous menons est plus important que les rivalités internes et que nous devons avancer ensemble pour réussir à obtenir des résultats durables », expliquait Ndoya Kane en 2010 dans un rapport de l'AWID.
Mutualisation des ressources et autofinancement des membres
L’association a mis en place depuis février 2010 une caisse d’autofinancement (CAF), qui consiste à mettre en commun les cotisations des membres pour permettre à chacune de disposer de financements de petits projets personnels et d’initier des activités génératrices de revenus pour ses membres, axées notamment autour du petit commerce. L’idée de créer cette CAF est née de la volonté des membres elles-mêmes, qui constituent un groupe très précaire disposant de faibles ressources économiques et dont l’accès aux crédits formels s’avère par conséquent impossible.
La CAF a par exemple permis à Marétou Diop, une habitante de Guédiawaye, d’ouvrir une boutique dans le marché de son quartier pour y vendre des denrées alimentaires. « Maintenant, les autres femmes viennent adhérer à notre Caisse d’Autofinancement pour trouver du crédit et financer leurs activités », souligne Ndoya Kane.
« Les discussions de groupe sont d’autant plus importantes qu’elles permettent de nous retrouver entre femmes handicapées et renforcent la confiance chez certaines pour parler de leur condition de femme en toute aisance. Nous choisissons ensemble quel problème existe et essayons d’avoir recours à des spécialistes pour nous entretenir sur la question », raconte Ndoya Kane.
