Sabriya Simon
Marcha da Mulheres Negras 2016
Marcha da Mulheres Negras 2016
Marcha da Mulheres Negras 2016

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.

Co-Creating Feminist Realities

While we dream of a feminist world, there are those who are already building and living it. These are our Feminist Realities!

What are Feminist Realities?

Feminist Realities are the living, breathing examples of the just world we are co-creating. They exist now, in the many ways we live, struggle and build our lives.

Feminist Realities go beyond resisting oppressive systems to show us what a world without domination, exploitation and supremacy look like.

These are the narratives we want to unearth, share and amplify throughout this Feminist Realities journey.

Transforming Visions into Lived Experiences

Through this initiative, we:

  • Create and amplify alternatives: We co-create art and creative expressions that center and celebrate the hope, optimism, healing and radical imagination that feminist realities inspire.

  • Build knowledge: We document, demonstrate & disseminate methodologies that will help identify the feminist realities in our diverse communities.

  • Advance feminist agendas: We expand and deepen our collective thinking and organizing to advance just solutions and systems that embody feminist values and visions.

  • Mobilize solidarity actions: We engage feminist, women’s rights and gender justice movements and allies in sharing, exchanging and jointly creating feminist realities, narratives and proposals at the 14th AWID International Forum.


The AWID International Forum

As much as we emphasize the process leading up to, and beyond, the four-day Forum, the event itself is an important part of where the magic happens, thanks to the unique energy and opportunity that comes with bringing people together.

We expect the next Forum to:

  • Build the power of Feminist Realities, by naming, celebrating, amplifying and contributing to build momentum around experiences and propositions that shine light on what is possible and feed our collective imaginations

  • Replenish wells of hope and energy as much needed fuel for rights and justice activism and resilience

  • Strengthen connectivity, reciprocity and solidarity across the diversity of feminist movements and with other rights and justice-oriented movements

Learn more about the Forum process

We are sorry to announce that the 14th AWID International Forum is cancelled

Given the current world situation, our Board of Directors has taken the difficult decision to cancel Forum scheduled in 2021 in Taipei. 

Read the full announcement

Find out more!

Related Content

CFA 2023 - Hubs - thai

ใหม่

จุดศูนย์กลาง: การเดินทางข้ามพรมแดน

ผู้เข้าร่วมประชุมจะได้เข้าร่วมตามสถานที่ต่างๆนอกเพื้นที่ในการจัดงานที่กรุงเทพฯ  และตามส่วนต่างๆของ โลกในแต่ละวันของการประชุม สถานที่ประชุมที่ผู้เข้าร่วมจัดการเองทั้งหมดนั้นจะเชื่อมต่อกับสถานที่จัดงาน
จริงในกรุงเทพฯเช่นเดียวกับบุคคลที่เชื่อมต่อทางออนไลน์        ผู้เข้าร่วมในจุดศูนย์กลาง Hub นี้จะสามารถ ดำเนินรายการในหัวข้อกิจกรรมต่างๆ เข้าร่วมอภิปราย แลกเปลี่ยน และเพลิดเพลินไปกับโปรแกรม ที่หลากหลาย

ที่ตั้งจุดศูนย์กลาง Hub จะประกาศในปี 2567

3. Design your survey

After assessing your organization’s capacity and research goals, you may choose to conduct a survey as one of the methods of data collection for your research analysis.

In this section:

Why conduct a survey?

A survey is an excellent way to gather information on individual organizations to capture trends at a collective level.

For example, one organization’s budget size does not tell you much about a trend in women’s rights funding, but if you know the budgets of 1,000 women’s rights organizations or even 100, you can start to form a picture of the collective state of women’s rights funding.

As you develop your survey questions, keep in mind the research framing that you developed in the previous section.

Remember: Your framing helps you determine what information you are trying to procure through your survey. The data collected from this survey should allow you to accomplish your goals, answer your key questions, and create your final products.

See examples of survey questions in AWID’s Sample WITM Global Survey

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Identify your survey population

This is an important step – the clearer you are about which populations you want to survey, the more refined your questions will be. 

Depending on your research goals, you may want to create separate surveys for women’s rights organizations, women’s funds and donors. Or you may want to focus your survey on women’s groups and collect interviews for women’s funds and donors, as a survey for each population can be resource-intensive.

The questions you ask women’s groups may be different than ones you would ask women’s funds. If you plan on surveying more than one population, we encourage you to tailor your data collection to each population.

At the same time, some key questions for each population can and should overlap in order to draw comparative analysis from the answers.

Online survey

If you can reach your survey population online, it is useful and efficient to create an online survey.

We recommend two online tools, both which offer free versions:

Survey Gizmo allows you to convert your data for SPSS, a statistical software useful for advanced data analysis

Your data analyst person(s) will be the best person(s) to determine which tool is best for your survey based on staff capacity and analysis plans.

For accessibility, consider making a PDF form version of your survey that you can attach via email. This ensures organizations that have sporadic internet connections or those that pay for it by the minute can download the survey and complete it without requiring a constant online connection.

Paper survey

You may decide that an online approach is not sufficiently accessible or inclusive enough for your popuation.

In this case, you will need to create a paper survey and methods to reach offline populations (through popular events or through post, with pre-stamped envelopes for returning).

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Create your questions

Make it easy for participants to complete your survey.

1. Short and clear questions

If the questions are confusing or require complex answers, you risk having participants leave the survey unfinished or providing answers that are unusable for your analysis.

Ensure your questions only ask for one item of information at a time.

For example:

  • What is your organization’s budget this year?
    Easy to answer: participant can easily locate this information for their organization, and it is only asking for one item of information.
  • What percentage of your budget have you identified as likely sources for funding for your organization, but are still unconfirmed? 
    Confusing and difficult to answer: are you asking for a list of unconfirmed funding sources or percentage of funding that is likely but unconfirmed?
    This information is difficult to obtain: the respondent will have to calculate percentages, which they may not have on hand. This increases the risk that they will not complete the survey.

2. Simple and universal language

Many words and acronyms that are familiar to you may be unknown to survey participants, such as “resource mobilization”, “WHRD”, and “M&E”, so be sure to choose more universal language to express your questions.

If you must use industry lingo – phrases and words common to your colleagues but not widely known – then providing a definition will make your survey questions easier to understand.

Be sure to spell out any acronyms you use. For example, if you use WHRD, spell it out as “Women’s Human Rights Defenders".

3. "Closed” and "Open" questions

Closed questions:

Only one response is possible (such as “yes,” “no” or a number). Survey participants cannot answer in their own words and they typically have to choose from predetermined categories that you created or enter in a specific number. Responses to closed questions are easier to measure collectively and are often quantitative.

Example of a closed question: What is your organization’s budget?

Open-ended questions:

These are qualitative questions that are often descriptive. Respondents answer these questions entirely in their own words. These are more suitable for interviews than surveys.

They are harder to analyze at a collective level as compared to closed-end questions, especially if your survey sample is large. However, by making open-ended questions very specific, you will make it easier to analyze the responses.

Whenever possible, design your survey questions so that participants must select from a list of options instead of offering open-ended questions. This will save a lot of data cleaning and analysis time.

Example of open-ended question: What specific challenges did you face in fundraising this year?

Familiarize yourself with different types of questions

There are several ways to ask closed-ended questions. Here are some examples you can review and determine what fits best for the type of data you want to collect:

  • Multiple choice questions: the participant can select one or several options you pre-entered
  • Rating scales: the participant gives a note on a scale you pre-determine.
    For this type of questions, make sure to clearly state what the bottom and the top of your scale mean
  • Ranking: the participant will choose and organize a certain number of answers you pre-determine.

View more question types

4. Logical organization

If you plan to conduct this research at regular intervals (such as every two years), we recommend developing a baseline survey that you can repeat in order to track trends over time.

Set 1: Screening questions

Screening questions will determine the participant’s eligibility for the survey.

The online survey options we provided allow you to end the survey if respondents do not meet your eligibility criteria. Instead of completing the survey, they will be directed to a page that thanks them for their interest but explains that this survey is intended for a different type of respondent.

For example, you only want women’s rights groups in a given location to take this survey. The screening questions can determine the location of the participant and prevent respondents from other locations from continuing the survey.

Set 2: Standardized, basic demographic questions

These questions would collect data specific to the respondent, such as name and location of organization. These may overlap with your screening questions.

If resources permit, you can store these answers on a database and only ask these questions the first year an organization participates in your survey.

This way when the survey is repeated in future years, it is faster for organizations to complete the entire survey, increasing chances of completion.

Set 3: Standardized and mandatory funding questions

These questions will allow you to track income and funding sustainability. Conducted every year or every other year, this allows you to capture trends across time.

Set 4: Special issues questions

These questions account for current context. They can refer to a changing political or economic climate. They can be non-mandatory funding questions, such as attitudes towards fundraising.

For example, AWID’s 2011 WITM Global Survey asked questions on the new “women & girls” investment trend from the private sector.

5. Less than 20 mins

The shorter, the better: your survey shouldn’t exceed 20 minutes to ensure completion and respect respondents’ time.

It is natural to get excited and carried away by all the types of questions that could be asked and all the information that could be obtained. However, long surveys will lead to fatigue and abandonment from participants or loss of connection between participants and your organization.

Every additional question in your survey will add to your analytical burden once the survey is complete.

6. Simple and exciting

  • Let participants know the estimated time to complete the survey before they begin
  • Specify what information they will need to complete it so they have it on hand (for example, if you are asking for financial data, say it at the outset so they can prepare)
  • Request information that organizations can easily access and provide – for example, requesting financial information from 20 years ago may be difficult (or impossible) for organizations to provide.
  • Create an incentive to convince your survey population to complete the survey, such as a prize raffle. For example, AWID held a raffle draw for a round-trip flight to the AWID Forum as a prize for completing our 2011 WITM Global Survey.

General tips

  • Ask for exact budgets instead of offering a range (in our experience, specific amounts are more useful in analysis).
  • Specify currency! If necessary, ask everyone to convert their answers to the same currency or ask survey takers to clearly state the currency they are using in their financial answers.
  • Ensure you collect enough demographic information on each organization to contextualize results and draw out nuanced trends.
    For example, if you are analyzing WITM for a particular country, it will be useful to know what region each organization is from or at what level (rural, urban, national, local) they work in order to capture important trends such as the availability of greater funding for urban groups or specific issues.

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Test and translate

1. Your advisors

Involving your partners from the start will allow you to build deeper relationships and ensure more inclusive, higher quality research.

They will provide feedback on your draft survey, pilot test the survey, and review your draft research analysis drawn from your survey results and other data collection.

These advisors will also publicize the survey to their audiences once it is ready for release. If you plan on having the survey in multiple languages, ensure you have partners who use those languages.

If you decide to do both survey and interviews for your data collection, your advisor-partners on your survey design can also double as interviewees for your interview data collection process.

2. Draft and test

After your survey draft is complete, test it with your partners before opening it up to your respondents. This will allow you to catch and adjust any technical glitches or confusing questions in the survey.

It will also give you a realistic idea of the time it takes to take the survey.

3. Translation

Once the survey is finalized and tested in your native language, it can be translated.

Be sure to test the translated versions of your survey as well. At least some of your pilot testers should be native speakers of the translated languages to ensure clarity.

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Target the right population

1. Sample size

Your survey sample size is the number of participants that complete your survey.

Your survey sample should reflect the qualities of the larger population you intend to analyze.

For example: you would like to analyze the millions of women’s rights groups in Valyria but you lack the time and resources to survey every single one.
Instead, you can survey only 500 of the Valyrian women’s rights groups – a sample size - to represent the qualities of all the women’s groups in the region.

Recommended sample size

  • 100 survey participants or less tend to be unreliable
  • 250 to 400 will yield results of reasonable accuracy
  • over 400 are fully adequate and will also allow accurate analysis of subgroups (for example, age groups).

Although it is not necessary to determine your exact sample size before you launch your survey, having a size in mind will allow you to determine when you have reached enough participants or whether you should extend the dates that the survey is available, in case you feel that you have not reached enough people.

2. Degree of participation

Even more important than size of a sample is the degree to which all members of the target population are able to participate in a survey.

If large or important segments of the population are systematically excluded (whether due to language, accessibility, timing, database problems, internet access or another factor) it becomes impossible to accurately assess the statistical reliability of the survey data.

In our example: you need to ensure all women’s groups in Valyria had the opportunity to participate in the survey.

If a segment of women’s groups in Valyria do not use internet, and you only pull participants for your sample through online methods, then you are missing an important segment when you have your final sample, thus it is not representative of all women’s groups in Valyria.

You cannot accurately draw conclusions on your data if segments of the population are missing in your sample size; and ensuring a representative sample allows you to avoid this mistake.

3. Database and contact list

To gain an idea of what the makeup of women’s groups for your area of research (region, population, issue, etc) looks like, it may be useful to look at databases.

  • Some countries may have databases of all registered nonprofits, which will allow you to know your full population.
  • If databases are not available or useful, you can generate your own list of groups in your area of research. Start with networks and coalitions, ask them to refer you to additional groups not in the membership lists.

By understanding the overall makeup of women’s groups that you plan to target, you can have an idea of what you want your sample to look like - it should be like a mini-version of the larger population.

After participants have taken your survey, you can then gauge if the resulting population you reached (your sample size) matches the makeup of the larger population. If it doesn’t match, you may then decide to do outreach to segments you believe are missing or extend the window period that your survey is open.

Do not be paralyzed if you are unsure of how representative your sample size is – do your best to spread your survey as far and wide as possible.

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Previous step

2. Frame your research

Next step

4. Collect and analyze your data


Estimated time:
• 2 - 3 months
People needed:
• 1 or more Research person(s)
• Translator(s), if offering survey in multiple languages
• 1 or more Person(s) to assist with publicizing survey to target population
• 1 or more Data analysis person(s)
Resources needed:
• List of desired advisors: organizations, donors and activists
• Optional: an incentive prize to persuade people to complete your survey
• Optional: an incentive for your advisors
Resources available:
Survey Monkey or Survey Gizmo
Sample of WITM Global Survey

Previous step

2. Frame your research

Next step

4. Collect and analyze your data


Ready to Go? Worksheet

Download the toolkit in PDF

Body

Juana Raymundo

Juana was an Indigenous Mayan Ixil, professional nurse and coordinator of the Farmers’ Development Committee (Comité de Desarrollo Campesino – CODECA).

CODECA is a human rights organisation of Indigenous farmers dedicated to promoting land rights and rural development for Indigenous families) in the Nebaj Quiché micro-region. She first joined CODECA as a member of its youth branch (Juventud de CODECA). At the time of her death had been elected to be part of the Executive Committee of the Movement for the Liberation of Peoples (MLP).

Juana’s body was found by neighbours by a small river on the road near Nebaj and Acambalam Village, Guatemala. According to CODECA, her body showed signs of torture.


 

Juana Raymundo, Guatemala

CFA 2023 - breadcrumbs Menu _ cfa-thai

Alternative framework for economic governance

Context

The current global economic crisis provides stark evidence that the economic policies of the last 3 decades have not been working.

The devastation that the crisis has wrought on the most vulnerable households in the Global North and Global South is a reminder that the formulation of economic policy and the realization of human rights (economic, social, political, civil and cultural) have for too long been divorced from one another. Economic policy and human rights do not have to be opposing forces, but can exist symbiotically.

Macroeconomic policies affect the operation of the economy as a whole, shaping the availability and distribution of resources. Within this context, fiscal and monetary policies are key.

Definition

  • Fiscal policy refers to both public revenue and public expenditure, and the relationships between them as expressed in the government budget.
  • Monetary policy includes policies on interest and exchange rates and the money supply, as well as the regulation of the financial sector.
  • Macroeconomic policies are implemented using instruments such as taxation, government spending, and control over the supply of money and credit.

These policies affect key prices such as interest and exchange rates that directly influence, among other things, the level of employment, access to affordable credit, and the housing market.

Applying a human rights framework to macroeconomic policy allows States to better comply with their obligation to respect, protect, and fulfill economic and social rights. Human rights are internationally agreed-upon universal standards. These legal norms are articulated in United Nations treaties including, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).

Article 1 of the UDHR states that, “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.”

Although the UDHR was written about six decades ago its relevance is enduring. Many of the ideas address concerns and critical issues that people continue to face globally. Issues regarding inhuman punishment (Art. 5), discrimination (Art. 7), property ownership (Art. 17), equal pay for equal work (Art. 23/2), and access to education (Art. 26/1) are pertinent matters in countries South and North of the equator.

More specifically, States have an obligation under international law to respect, protect and fulfill human rights, including the economic and social rights of people within their jurisdiction. This is particularly relevant now given the financial crisis. In the U.S., regulation is skewed in favor of certain interests. The failure to extend government’s supervisory role in the context of social and economic change is a failure with regard to the obligation to protect human rights.

Feminist perspective

States should abide by key human rights principles to achieve economic and social rights. Some of the principles have potentially important implications for governance of financial institutions and markets, yet these possibilities have been underexplored.

Economic and social rights have a concrete institutional and legal grounding. Global declarations, international treaties, covenants, and, in a number of cases, national constitutions have incorporated aspects of the economic and social rights framework—providing an institutional infrastructure in national and international law.

Some have suggested that a consideration of global justice may not be a useful pursuit because of the institutional complexities involved. However, this does not get around that fact that global institutions already have an impact on social justice, both positive and negative.

It is useful to tease out the implications that elements of alternative frameworks have for economic governance, specifically those supported by existing institutions. Economic and social rights represent one such concrete framework. The framework is an evolving one, and ongoing discussion and deliberation is necessary to address underdeveloped areas and potential deficiencies.


Learn more about this proposition

This section is based on CWGL’s blog “Applying a Human Rights Framework to Macroeconomic Policies” (2012).

Part of our series of


  Feminist Propositions for a Just Economy

Stella Mukasa

Stella began her career at the Ministry of Gender and Community Development in Uganda engaging with policymakers for law reform, including the 1995 Ugandan Constitution, which established some of the most progressive reforms for women in the region.

She is revered throughout the region for her tireless efforts to create and enforce gender-responsive laws and policies. She played a key role in drafting Uganda’s Domestic Violence Act and in mobilizing support for gender-responsive constitutions in both Uganda and in Rwanda.

Through her work with International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), she worked on violence against children, and worked to strengthen the capacities of grassroots organizations addressing gender-based violence. She was a lecturer on gender rights and the law at Makerere University and served on the boards of Akina Mama wa Afrika, ActionAid International Uganda and the Open Society Initiative for Eastern Africa.


 

Stella Mukasa, Uganda

I applied for the past forum, do I need to reapply?

Yes please. The world has changed since 2021 and we invite you to submit an activity that reflects your current realities and priorities.

Defending our land and ourselves from corporate power

These industries 'extract' raw materials from the Earth: mining, timber, gas, oil are some examples

This economical model exploits nature and as it intensifies, so does the inequality between global North with their large corporations, and the global South, where resources are extracted.

Land contamination, water pollution, environmental damage, communities displaced are only some of the consequences.

Find more on our report on EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES

There are sustainable alternatives for the environment and women's rights.

 

In memory of all women journalists who were killed in 2018

Just like women have learned to avoid dark streets for their safety, women journalists are forced to avoid reporting certain stories as a result of online harassment.

The physical, sexual and online abuse that has become a part of their daily work lives should never be normalized.

Harassment is not part of the job description and should be called out and challenged at every turn to ensure these important voices are not silenced.

This tribute to journalists was made on behalf of IFEX
In memory of all women journalists who were killed in 2018

ما هي لغات المنتدى؟

لغات العمل في جمعية حقوق المرأة في التنمية هي الإنجليزية والفرنسية والإسبانية. ستتم إضافة اللغة التايلاندية كلغة محلية، بالإضافة إلى لغة الإشارة وإجراءات الاتصال الأخرى. يمكن إضافة لغات أخرى إذا سمح التمويل بذلك، لذا تحقق/ي مرة أخرى بانتظام للحصول على التحديثات. نحن نهتم بالعدالة اللغوية وسنحاول تضمين أكبر عدد ممكن من اللغات بقدر ما تسمح به مواردنا. نأمل في خلق فرص متعددة للكثيرين/ات منا للتواجد بلغاتنا والتواصل مع بعضنا البعض.

Download your faciliation guide:

"A Feminist Approach to Understanding Illicit Financial Flows and Redirecting Global Wealth"

IFF Toolkit

Download your facilitation guide in English

This Guide is also available in Spanish and Russian


Thanks to the co-creators of this facilitation guide:

  • Daniela Fonkatz and Ana Ines Abelenda (AWID)
  • Zenaida Joachim (Mesoamericanas en Resistencia - El Salvador)
  • Olga Shnyrova (Ivanovo Center for Gender Studies - Russia)
  • Leah Eryenyu (Akina Mama Wa Afrika - Uganda)
  • Daryl Leyesa (Oriang and PKKK/National Rural Women Congress - the Philippines)

Mereani Naisua Senibici

Mereani Naisua Senibici, also called ‘Sua’, was a longstanding member of the Fiji Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) movement.

She worked with diverse groups of women in multi-racial, rural and urban settings and was committed to supporting and promoting women’s and young women’s rights.

In the Lautoka YWCA, she worked with women of Indian descent, and was  a leading figure in the sports development and participation of women and of trans athletes in Lautoka. 

“Sua is greatly loved by Fiji YWCA members for her dedication and long-time support towards all that the organisation endeavoured to do.” - Tupou Vere

Mereani was part of the House of Sarah (HoS), an initiative of the Association of Anglican Women (AAW), launched in 2009 and aimed at raising awareness of the issues around gender-based violence, as well as providing support to women who face violence. She started as a dedicated volunteer and offered support to women throughout the Pacific.

“A people’s person and an all-rounder in women's empowerment and movement work at community level. Rest in Peace, Sua.” - Tupou Vere

كم تكلفة المشاركة؟

يرجى حساب تكاليف السفر إلى بانكوك، والإقامة والبدل اليومي، والتأشيرة، وأي احتياجات خاصة بإمكانية الوصول، والنفقات الطارئة، بالإضافة إلى رسوم التسجيل التي سيتم الإعلان عنها قريبًا. تتراوح أسعار الفنادق في منطقة سوكومفيت في بانكوك ما بين 50 دولارًا أمريكيًا إلى 200 دولار أمريكي في الليلة الواحدة في حالة حجز غرفة مزدوجة.

يحصل أعضاء جمعية حقوق المرأة في التنمية على خصم عند التسجيل، لذلك إذا لم تكن عضوًا/ة بعد، فإننا ندعوك إلى التفكير في أن تصبح عضوًا/ة والانضمام إلى مجتمعنا النسوي العالمي.

Principles of Engagement

Welcome to Crear | Résister | Transform: a festival for feminist movements!

Principles of Engagement

AWID is committed to creating an online space that invites and challenges us all to operate from a place of courage, curiosity, generosity and shared responsibility.

We invite you to co-create spaces with us that are free of harassment and violence, where everyone is respected in their gender identity and expression, race, ability, class, religion, language, ethnicity, age, occupation, type of education, sexuality, body size, and physical appearance. Spaces where we recognize inequalities in our world and strive to transform them in our own interactions with each other.


We want to create a space where ...

  • we can all be present

This means that we are able to listen, understand and relate to each other. To feel close, in spite of it all being virtual.  For this, we will make interpretation available and open channels (like chat and other tools) for you to react and share. To hear each other better, we invite you to wear headphones during the conversation. If it is possible for you , we suggest  that you close your email and any other likely source of distraction while you are in the conversation. 

  • all forms of knowledge are valued

Let us celebrate the multiple ways in which knowledge shows up in our lives. We invite you to approach the conversation with curiosity and openness to learn from others, allowing ourselves to unlearn and relearn through the exchange, as a way to start collectively building knowledge.  

  • all of us feel welcome

We are committed to holistically approaching accessibility by being mindful of different physical, language, mental and safety needs. We want a space that is welcoming of folks from various  backgrounds, beliefs, abilities and experiences. We will be proactive but we also ask that you communicate your needs with us, and we will do our best within our capacity to address these needs.

  • all of us feel safe and respected:

We all commit individually and collectively to respect each other’s privacy and to seek people’s consent before sharing any images or content generated during the conversation that involves them.


Creating a safer, respectful and enjoyable environment for the conversations, is everybody's responsibility.


Reporting

If you notice that someone is behaving in a discriminatory or offensive manner, please contact the reference person who will be indicated at the beginning of the session.

Any participants that express oppressive language or images, will be removed from the call and will not be readmitted. We will not engage with them in any way.

María Digna Montero

María Digna Montero was a Garifuna (Afro-descendent and indigenous) land defender and a member of the National Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH), a grassroots organization working to protect the Garifuna communities, their ancestral rights, culture, resources and territory.

María also taught in the local school and was a member of the OFRANEH Intercultural Bilingual Education working group.

On the Day of Indigenous Resistance, October 12, 2019, unknown assailants shot María multiple times in the backyard of her house.  

She was one of six Garifuna women defenders murdered between September and October 2019 and according to OFRANEH, there was no investigation by the authorities into these crimes. In an official statement, the organization also highlighted the connection between the violence against Garifuna leaders and the increase in extractive industries which exploit natural resources in their communities calling this violence part of a “strategy of intimidation and systematic expulsion” by the Honduran State. 

“The heightened tension and growing risks to the security and human rights of the leaders in the communities and ancestral territories is a product of the dispossession, displacement and criminalization of the communities and of the extractive mega projects promoted by the State together with the national and international corporations.” - OFRANEH communique, October 12, 2019

هل هناك مواضيع ذات الخطوط الحمراء التي يجب علينا تجنب تقديمها؟

لقد كان منتدى جمعية حقوق المرأة في التنمية دائمًا مساحة لا تخجل من النقاشات الصعبة والمطلوبة بشدة. نحن نرحب بهذه المشاركات عندما يتمكن المنظمون/ات بعناية من توفير الاحترام والأمان في المساحة للمشاركين/ات.

The Crear, Résister, Transform Story by Coumba Toure

A magical experience of feminist story telling led by pan-African feminist Coumba Toure, performing in the age old tradition of West African griots.

And we gathered again 
We gathered our stories our strength 
our songs
our tears 
our rage 
our dreams 
our success
our failures
And we pull them all together 
In one big bowl to share 
for a moon of thoughts 
And we stay in touch 
We shake each others minds 
we caress each other souls
While our hands still are tied 
And our kisses and hugs are banned 
Yet we grow stronger by the hour 
Weaving together our voices
Crossing the sound barriers 
as we speak in tongues 

We are getting louder and louder 
We know about differences from others 
and from each other so we are stitching our beauties into patchwork or thoughts
From our deepest learnings from our powers 
Sometimes we are surrounded by terror 
by confusions by dishonesty
But we wash out in the Ocean of love 
We are weavers of dreams 
To clothes or new world 
Thread after thread
As small as we are
Like little ants building our movement
Llike little drops building our rivers
 We take steps forward and steps backward 
Dancing our way back to sanity 
Sustain to the rhythm of our hearts keep 
Beating please don't not stop
And we are here transmitter of forgotten generosity 
drop after drop growing like the ocean 
growing like the river flowing from our souls .
showing our strength  to be  the  water 
that will clean this world
and we are gathering again can you feel us 
I would lie if I say I said I am 
Ok not to see you I do miss my people 
I miss your touch and
You unfiltered and unrecorded voices 
I miss our whispers and our screams 
Our cries of the aborted revolution 
We only want to give birth to new worlds 
 So fight to erase the borders between us 


And we gathered again 
We gathered our stories our strength 
our songs
our tears 
our rage 
our dreams 
our success
our failures
And we pull them all together In one big bowl to share 
For a moon of thoughts 
And we stay in touch 
We shake each others minds 
we caress each other souls
While our hands still are tied 
And our kisses and hugs are banned 
Yet we grow stronger by the hour 
Weaving together our voices
Crossing the sound barriers 
as we speak in tongues 
We are getting louder and louder 
We know about differences from others 
and from each other so we are stitching our beauties into patchwork or thoughts
From our deepest learnings from our powers Sometimes we are surrounded by terror by Confusions by dishonesty
But we watch out in the Ocean of love 
We are weavers of dreams 
To clothes or new world 
Thread after thread 
As small as we are like little ants building our movements
 like little drops building our rivers We take steps forward and steps backward 
dancing our way back to sanity 
Sustain to the rhythm of our hearts
keep beating please don't not stop
And we are here transmitter of forgotten generosity 
Drop after drop growing like the ocean 
growing like the river flowing from our souls 
showing our strength to be  the  water 
that will clean this world  
and we are gathering again can you feel us 
I would lie if I I said I am Ok
not to see you
I do miss my people
I miss your touch and
You unfiltered and unrecorded voices  
I miss  our  whispers  and  our screams 
Our cries over the aborted revolutions 
We only want to give birth to new worlds 
So fight to erase the borders between us 
Please don’’t stop

Paulina Cruz Ruiz

Paulina Cruz Ruiz, from the Rabinal, Baja Verapaz region of Guatemala, was an ancestral Maya Achí (Indigenous) authority and a human rights defender.

She was actively involved in community organizing and resistance, including legal measures against mining projects on Indigenous territory, projects that would severely affect and damage the socio-environmental fabric.  

“The extractive industry model promoted by the Guatemalan government and the construction of large-scale development projects on indigenous lands without community consent has been a source of ongoing disputes with resistance movements.” - Minority Rights Group International

Paulina was also part of the March for Dignity, Life and Justice, in which on 1 May 2019 thousands of Guatemalans started a march of eight days against corruption and impunity in the prosecution and assassinations of human rights, peasant and Indigenous leaders and land defenders.

Paulina was murdered on 14 September 2019 near her home in the village of Xococ. 

According to the Minority Rights Group International, “one of the major ongoing issues affecting Mayan communities is the increasing activity of the mining industry.”


Read more about the Mayans of Guatemala

Read more about the March for Dignity, Life and Justice
 

 

ماذا عن التأشيرات؟

نحن ندرك تمامًا العقبات العملية والضغوط العاطفية المرتبطة بالسفر الدولي، وخاصة من الجنوب العالمي. تعمل جمعية حقوق المرأة في التنمية مع TCEB (مكتب تايلاند للمؤتمرات والمعارض) لدعم المشاركين/ات في المنتدى في الحصول على التأشيرات. سيتم توفير المزيد من المعلومات حول هذه المساعدة للحصول على التأشيرة عند التسجيل، بما في ذلك معلومات الاتصال الخاصة بمكان وكيفية التقديم.