Christine Loudes
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:
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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.
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Build knowledge: We document, demonstrate & disseminate methodologies that will help identify the feminist realities in our diverse communities.
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Advance feminist agendas: We expand and deepen our collective thinking and organizing to advance just solutions and systems that embody feminist values and visions.
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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:
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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
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Replenish wells of hope and energy as much needed fuel for rights and justice activism and resilience
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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.
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What are the Forum languages?
AWID’s working languages are English, French and Spanish. Thai will be added as the local language, as well as sign language & other accessibility measures. Other languages may be added if funding permits, so check back regularly for updates. We care about language justice and will try to include as many languages as we can and as our resources allow. We hope to create multiple opportunities for many of us to be present in our languages and to communicate with each other.
Doris Viloria Palomares
CFA 2023 - Call for Activities is live- EN
The Call for Activities is Live!
The Deadline to submit activities has been extended to February 1st, 2024
In the spirit of the Forum’s theme, we invite a diversity of activity topics and formats that:
- Facilitate genuine connection and interaction among participants
- Foster healing and regeneration in various forms, as individuals, as communities and as movements
- Inspire and challenge us to thrive together as communities and movements
Kate Millett
Related content
The Guardian: Kate Millett Obituary
New York Times: Kate Millett, Ground-Breaking Feminist Writer, Is Dead at 82
The New Yorker: A Last Interview with Kate Millett
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جديد
عبر الإنترنت وهجين
كمشارك/ة عبر الإنترنت، يمكنك توجيه النشاطات والتواصل والتحدث مع الآخرين/ الأخريات وتجربة الإبداع والفن والاحتفال بمنتدى جمعية حقوق المرأة في التنمية بشكل مباشر. سيستمتع المشاركون/ات المتصلون/ات عبر الإنترنت ببرنامج غني ومتنوع، بدءًا من ورشات العمل والنقاشات وحتى نشاطات الاستشفاء والعروض الموسيقية. ستركز بعض الأنشطة على التواصل بين المشاركين/ات عبر الإنترنت، وسيكون البعض الآخر هجينًا بالفعل، يركز على الاتصال والتفاعل بين المشاركين/ات عبر الإنترنت وأولئك الموجودين/ات في بانكوك.
2018: Supporting feminist movements to thrive and disrupt
This report looks back and celebrates the first year of AWID’s new strategic plan as we took our first steps towards our desired outcomes of supporting feminist movements to thrive, challenging anti-rights agendas and co-creating feminist realities.
We worked with feminists to disrupt anti-rights agendas, achieving important victories fought and won within the United Nations system when ground-breaking language on structural discrimination, sexual rights, and states’ obligations were included in a number of resolutions. Yes, the multilateral system is in crisis and in need of serious strengthening but these victories are important as they contribute to the legitimacy of feminist demands, providing feminist movements with more pressure points and momentum to advance our agendas.
We tried and tested different ways to build knowledge with feminist movements through webinars, podcasts and ‘live’ conversations. We developed facilitation guides with popular educators to reclaim knowledge in the interest of social and gender justice, even about a topic as seemingly opaque as illicit funding flows. We commissioned blogs and opinions about how feminist groups fund and resource themselves and threw light on the threats facing our human rights systems.
Within AWID, we practiced and learned from our shared leadership approach, and told the story of the trials and tribulations of co-leading a global, virtual organization. We don’t have a definitive answer to what feminist leadership looks like, but we know, a year on, that a continued commitment to collective experimentation and learning has enabled us to keep building an organization that we are all excited to contribute to.
As we look back on this year, we want to thank all our friends and supporters, colleagues and companions, who have given their time and shared their wealth of knowledge and wisdom with us. We want to thank our members who helped frame our strategic plan and joined us to make feminist demands. We could not do this work without you.
Deborah Holmes
At the time of her death, following a short but aggressive battle with cancer, Deborah was the Chief Communication and Engagement Officer at the Women’s Funding Network (WFN).
Deborah also worked for the Global Fund for Women from 2008 to 2017. Deborah was extremely loved and respected by board, staff, and partners of Global Fund for Women.
Kavita Ramdas, former CEO of the Global Fund for Women aptly noted that Deborah was “a small package exploding with warmth, generosity, intelligence, style, and a passionate commitment to fusing beauty with justice. She understood the power of story. The power of women’s voice. The power of lived experience. The power of rising from the ashes and telling others it was possible. And, still we rise.”
Musimbi Kanyoro, the present CEO of the Global Fund for Women, added, “We have lost a sister and her life illuminates values that unite and inspire us all. As we all come together to mourn Deborah’s passing, let us remember and celebrate her remarkable, bold, and passionate life.”
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What criteria are you using to select the activities?
Please refer to the Call for Activities for this information, including the section “What you need to know”.
Sanyu Awori
Biography
Sanyu is a Pan-African feminist based in Nairobi, Kenya. She has spent the last decade supporting labour, feminist and human rights movements advocating for corporate accountability, economic justice and gender justice. She has worked with the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, IWRAW Asia Pacific and the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative. She has a Master’s of Laws in Human Rights Law and a Bachelor’s of Laws from the University of Nottingham. Her writing has been published in the Business and Human Rights Journal, Human Rights Law Review, Open Global Rights, Open Democracy and more. In her free time, she loves walking in the forest and chasing butterflies.
Position
Manager, Building Feminist Economies
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Mariam Uy Acob
Mariam was a paralegal at the Kawagib Moro Human Rights Alliance.
Mariam was a staunch critic of militarization in Moro communities, and consistently denounced aerial bombardment and encampment. She had to seek sanctuary after exposing and calling out the injustices committed against Muslim communities in the Philippines.
She is believed to have been killed by suspected military agents because of her work as a WHRD. The assailants who killed Mariam waited for her, caught up with the vehicle she was using and shot her seven times.
متى وأين سيكون المنتدى؟
2-5 ديسمبر 2024، بانكوك، تايلاند! سنجتمع في مركز الملكة سيريكيت الوطني للمؤتمرات (QSNCC) وكذلك افتراضيا عبر
Brenda Salas Neves
Biography
Brenda Salas Neves is a feminist queer strategist born and raised in the southern Andes. They organize to shift narratives and mobilize resources to support racial and climate justice movements around the world. They have produced media projects to uplift migrant power and rise against U.S. military intervention across Latin America, with Deep Dish TV and the Portland Central America Solidarity Committee. They are a proud member of the Audre Lorde Project and a graduate of the United World Colleges (UWC) movement.
Position
Secretary
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Sainimili Naivalu
“I’ve witnessed discrimination on the streets, being teased on the streets and verbally abused on the streets. I have also made numerous friends and have met a lot of people. There may be dangers out there but I am a survivor and this is where I will be for now.”
- Sainimili Naivalu
Sainimili Naivalu was a feminist and disability rights activist from the village of Dakuibeqa on Beqa Island, Fiji.
She demanded policy makers and stakeholders provide disability friendly policies and services such as the construction of ramps in towns and cities to increase accessibility. Physical barriers were not the only ones she strived to change. From her own experience, she knew that more difficult changes need to take place in social and economic spheres. Many of the challenges disabled people face are rooted in attitudes that carry discrimination and stigma.
A survivor and a fighter, Sainimili contributed to co-creating feminist realities that foster inclusion and shift attitudes towards disabled people. As a member of the Spinal Injury Association of Fiji (SIA) and through Pacific Disability Forum’s Pacific Enable project she attended the International Labour Organisation “Start Your Business” training in Suva, enabling her to transform her ideas into her own business. She was an entrepreneur at the Suva Market Stall 7, offering manicure services, as well as running SIA’s women’s market stall selling handicrafts, sulus and artifacts. Sainimili’s plan was to expand her business and become a major employer of disabled people.
In addition to her activism, she was also a table tennis medalist and youth champion.
A vivacious personality, Sainimili was one of a kind. You would always know that Sainimili is in a room because her laughter and her stories would be the first thing that you would notice.
- Michelle Reddy
Sainmili passed away in 2019.
ويخطط عدد من الأشخاص من منظمتي لحضور المنتدى. هل يوجد خصم جماعي للمنتدى؟
لا تقدم جمعية حقوق المرأة في التنمية خصومات جماعية، ولكننا نقدم خصومات التسجيل للأعضاء/ العضوات. (انقر هنا لمعرفة المزيد عن كيفية الانضمام)
Can organizations be members of AWID?
Yes, we encourage institutional membership.
AWID currently has hundreds of prominent, innovative organizations working on issues related to women’s rights and development as members. Criteria for membership are the same as for individuals, although membership fees and membership benefits are different, and are geared to address the needs of our member organizations.
Binta Sarr
Binta Sarr was an activist for social, economic, cultural and political justice, and a hydraulic engineer in Senegal. After 13 years in civil service, she left this path to work with rural and marginalized women.
Out of this engagement grew the Association for the Advancement of Senegalese Women (APROFES), a grassroots movement and organization Binta founded in 1987. One of her main approaches was leadership training, relating not only to economic activities but also to women's rights and access to positions of decision-making.
“Grassroots populations must organize, mobilize, assume citizen control and demand democratic governance in all sectors of public space. The priority of social movements must go beyond the fight against poverty and must be focused on articulated and coherent development programs in line with human rights principles, while taking into account their needs and concerns both at the national and sub-regional levels and from a perspective of African and global integration.” - Binta Sarr
Rooted in Binta’s conviction that fundamental change in women’s status requires transformation in male attitudes, APROFES took an interdisciplinary approach, using radio, seminars and popular theatre, as well as providing innovative public education and cultural support for awareness-raising actions. Its popular theatre troupe performed original pieces on the caste system in Senegal, alcoholism, and conjugal violence. Binta and her team also looked at the crucial connection between the community and the broader world.
“For APROFES, it is a question of studying and taking into account the interactions between the micro and the macro, the local and the global and also, the different facets of development. From slavery to colonization, neocolonialism and the commodification of human development, most of the resources of Africa and the Third World (oil, gold, minerals and other natural resources) are still under the control of financial cartels and other multinationals that dominate this globalized world.” - Binta Sarr
Binta was one of the founding members of the female section of the Cultural and Sports Association Magg Daan. She received commendations from the Regional Governor and the Minister of Hydrology for her "devotion to rural people."
Born in 1954 in Guiguineo, a small rural town, Binta passed away in September 2019.
Tributes:
“The loss is immeasurable, the pain is heavy and deep but we will resist so as not to mourn Binta; we will not mourn Binta, we will keep the image of her broad smile in all circumstances, to resist and be inspired by her, maintain, consolidate and develop her work…” - Aprofes Facebook page, September 24, 2019
"Farewell Binta! We believe your immense heritage will be preserved." - Elimane FALL, president of ACS Magg-Daan
ما هي المعايير اختيار الأنشطة؟
يرجى الرجوع إلى فتح باب التقديم للحصول على هذه المعلومات، بما في ذلك قسم "ما تحتاج/ين إلى معرفته".
2009: The UN holds Conference on the impact of the economic crisis
2009 UN Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impacts on Development
- The 2009 conference was an outcome of the 2008 Doha conference. The Doha Declaration had mandated that the United Nations hold a conference, to be organized by the President of the General Assembly, on the world financial and economic crisis and its impact on development.
- During the conference women’s groups, through the WWG, highlighted the impact of the global financial crisis on vulnerable groups. In their statement to the members, the WWG proposed necessary actions to be taken by member states to redress the effects of the crisis to women. They stated that other social groups affected by the crisis are key to a response that is harmonized with international standards and commitments to gender equality, women’s rights and human rights and empowerment.