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

Les femmes autochtones défenseuses de droits

Ces défenseuses ont fait campagne pour les droits fonciers et ont lutté pour les droits des femmes et des peuples autochtones. Elles se sont opposées aux industries extractives, ont écrit de la poésie et se sont battues pour que l'amour prévale. L'une d'entre elles nous a quitté il y a dix-neuf ans. Nous vous invitons à vous joindre à nous pour rendre hommage à ces défenseuses, à leur travail et à l’héritage qu’elles nous ont laissé. Faites circuler ces mèmes auprès de vos collègues et amis ainsi que dans vos réseaux et twittez en utilisant les hashtags #WHRDTribute et #16Jours.


S'il vous plaît cliquez sur chaque image ci-dessous pour voir une version plus grande et pour télécharger comme un fichier 

 

Protection of the Family

The Issue

Over the past few years, a troubling new trend at the international human rights level is being observed, where discourses on ‘protecting the family’ are being employed to defend violations committed against family members, to bolster and justify impunity, and to restrict equal rights within and to family life.

The campaign to "Protect the Family" is driven by ultra-conservative efforts to impose "traditional" and patriarchal interpretations of the family, and to move rights out of the hands of family members and into the institution of ‘the family’.

“Protection of the Family” efforts stem from:

  • rising traditionalism,
  • rising cultural, social and religious conservatism and
  • sentiment hostile to women’s human rights, sexual rights, child rights and the rights of persons with non-normative gender identities and sexual orientations.

Since 2014, a group of states have been operating as a bloc in human rights spaces under the name “Group of Friends of the Family”, and resolutions on “Protection of the Family” have been successfully passed every year since 2014.

This agenda has spread beyond the Human Rights Council. We have seen regressive language on “the family” being introduced at the Commission on the Status of Women, and attempts made to introduce it in negotiations on the Sustainable Development Goals.


Our Approach

AWID works with partners and allies to jointly resist “Protection of the Family” and other regressive agendas, and to uphold the universality of human rights.

In response to the increased influence of regressive actors in human rights spaces, AWID joined allies to form the Observatory on the Universality of Rights (OURs).  OURs is a collaborative project that monitors, analyzes, and shares information on anti-rights initiatives like  “Protection of the Family”.

Rights at Risk, the first OURs report, charts a map of the actors making up the global anti-rights lobby, identifies their key discourses and strategies, and the effect they are having on our human rights.   

The report outlines “Protection of the Family” as an agenda that has fostered collaboration across a broad range of regressive actors at the UN.  It describes it as: “a strategic framework that houses “multiple patriarchal and anti-rights positions, where the framework, in turn, aims to justify and institutionalize these positions.”

 

Related Content

Transitions: Tangarr’s Story

Transitions: Tangarr’s Story

After Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex (LGBTQI) rights and communities on the peninsula became subject to the discriminatory and repressive ‘anti-gay propaganda’ law


Tangarr was born in Sevastopol, a city on the Black Sea. But as a gay transman, with strong views and principles supporting feminism, LGBTQI rights and human rights in general, he now considers Crimea a dangerous place and has fled with his partner to the continental part of Ukraine.

About Identity

Unlike most transgender people, Tangarr discovered somewhat later in life that his gender identity didn't match his sex assigned at birth. He told us about his childhood being relatively happy and his parents holding fairly liberal views on how a child is supposed to behave. He and his brother were treated equally, and Tangarr wasn’t persuaded to 'act like a normal girl' or do things traditionally considered feminine by society.

"I was playing Cowboys and Indians, climbing mountains with my parents and my brother, we went backpacking. I practiced Judo. I had no problem with being myself."

The coming of puberty, though, brought challenges for him. He wasn’t happy about everything his mother cherished, particularly the notion that this was the time that ‘turns girls into beautiful women’, an idea often romanticized.

His feelings about those changes were based on worry and frustration, he remembers, “it's hard to realize that your body develops in a way contradictory to your psyche”. 

Society didn’t treat him the way he wanted to be treated, people saw in him a young girl, and all he felt was a sense of wrongness and confusion related to the fact that their perception disappointed him.

“I thought I was lesbian (because they're, you know, stereotypically portrayed as masculine women), but I preferred men. It’s one of the moments when you realize how important enlightenment on issues of gender and sexual orientation is.”

Tangarr describes how he lacked information about transgender people, so he thought that the main problem was his body. He worked out, “became more muscular and athletic, yet something was definitely missing”. The sense of wrongness still persisted even if it was diminished by a quite liberal environment, including the understanding and support of friends.

His life was changed by someone (he used to know) attempting to insult him by saying “no matter how hard you work out, you’ll never be a man”. At this point, Tangarr realized something he said he never thought about before...

“I thought I was alone. A girl who feels like a guy — moreover, a gay guy.”

Legal changes and challenges

Prior to his legal sex change, the information Tangarr found online and the people he talked to helped guide him to learn all he needed to know about this process in Ukraine. He read stories, medical articles, basically everything about appearance changes and hormone replacement therapy.

He started the therapy and went through mastectomy (removal of breasts) procedure in Moscow, Russia as there “are no surgeons in Ukraine who are famed for quality in this matter”. For him this also reflects general “ignorance among the population on transgender issues, even among medical workers”. 

“For everything we hold dear, it’s unthinkable to refuse facing the challenge.”

However, to complete the legal sex change in Ukraine, irreversible sterilization is mandatory. Tangarr protested against this because, “forced sterilization is discriminatory for too many reasons to count”. With support of a friend, he was able to change documents legally, without undergoing hysterectomy (removal of the uterus). He is one of the very few people who has done so in Ukraine. 

Discrimination/Bias/Violence and joining movement(s)

 “I always found it weird that nobody does anything to stop it from happening… But then I understood that this nobody is me”

Tangarr’s experiences during his life (as a woman) moved him to join the feminist movement, “as further male socialization highlighted all the challenges girls and women must overcome on a daily basis”. He is an activist in "Lavender Menace", a group whose main fields of interest are queer theory, feminism and transgender rights, and is an active member of the Trans* Coalition, which unites transgender people and their allies in countries of the former Soviet Union. 

In December 2015, Tangarr began his work as an activist by participating in a dialogue between representatives of the transgender community from countries of Eastern  Europe and Central Asia (EECA) and the Eurasian Coalition on Male Health (ECOM), to discuss  prevention and treatment of HIV and AIDS among transgender people as a socially vulnerable group. He made a presentation on "Cognitive biases as reasons for transmen being at a high risk of HIV infection, methods of prevention and improvement of the situation".

He has participated in creating an information booklet about gender, has authored articles on transgender issues, has worked on a video to support Odessa Pride, and has spoken on a television show about challenges transgender people face when trying to change legal sex.

In the Kirovograd (central Ukraine) Centre for Fight against HIV and AIDS, Tangarr has been invited to lecture journalists, human rights activists, medical workers and the police on transgender issues.

Tangarr firmly believes that “education is a panacea for biases and misconceptions, discrimination and xenophobia”. His motto: “surrender to the truth as fast as you can”.

“The more we know about gender identity and sexual orientation issues, the less biased we become. With prejudice comes suffering, and to dispel ignorance is to diminish distress caused by it.”

Topics
LGBTQI Rights
Source
AWID

Transiciones: La historia de Tangarr

Transiciones: La historia de Tangarr

Después de que Rusia le quitara Crimea a Ucrania y la anexara en marzo de 2014, las comunidades de personas lesbianas, gay, bisexuales, trans, queer e intersex (LGBTQI) de la península y sus derechos quedaron sujetos a una ley discriminatoria y represiva conocida como ley de «propaganda anti-gay»


Tangarr nació en Sebastopol, una ciudad sobre el Mar Negro. Como hombre trans y gay con firmes convicciones y principios que apoyan el feminismo, los derechos LGBTQI y los derechos humanos en general, considera que Crimea se ha tornado un lugar peligroso y por eso huyó con su pareja a la parte continental de Ucrania. 

Sobre la identidad 

A diferencia de la mayoría de las personas trans, Tangarr descubrió relativamente tarde que su identidad de género no coincidía con el sexo que le habían asignado al nacer. Nos contó que su infancia fue relativamente feliz y que su madre y su padre tenían una visión bastante liberal de cómo se supone que lxs niñxs deben comportarse. Los trataban a él y a su hermano de igual manera y nunca intentaron persuadir a Tangarr de que «actuara como una niña normal» o que hiciera cosas que la sociedad tradicionalmente considera como femeninas. 

«Jugaba a indios y vaqueros, escalaba montañas con mis padres y mi hermano, íbamos de mochileros. Practicaba judo. No tenía ningún problema en ser yo mismo.»


Pero la llegada de la pubertad implicó desafíos para él. No estaba contento con nada lo que su madre valoraba, sobre todo la idea a menudo idealizada de que ese es el momento en que «las chicas se convierten en bellas mujeres».

Sus sentimientos en relación a esos cambios tenían que ver más con la preocupación y la frustración, y recuerda lo «difícil que es darse cuenta que tu cuerpo se desarrolla de una forma que contradice a tu alma».

La sociedad no lo trataba de la forma en que él quería ser tratado; la gente veía en él a una joven y lo único que él sentía era que algo no estaba bien. Su confusión estaba relacionada con el hecho de que la percepción que la gente tenía de él lo decepcionaba. 

«Pensé que era lesbiana (porque, como ya saben, el estereotipo las muestra como mujeres masculinas), pero prefería a los hombres. Es uno de los momentos en los que te das cuenta de lo importante que es entender las cuestiones del género y la orientación sexual». 

Tangarr relata que como carecía de información acerca de las personas transgénero, pensó que el problema principal era su cuerpo. Hizo ejercicio y logró «volverse más musculoso y atlético, pero definitivamente algo estaba faltando». Sin embargo, la sensación persistente de que algo no estaba bien se veía atenuada por un entorno bastante liberal en el que contaba con la comprensión y el apoyo de sus amigxs.

Fue una persona (que él conocía) quien cambió su vida cuando intentó insultarle diciendo «No importa cuánto ejercicio hagas, nunca serás un hombre». En ese momento Tangarr se dio cuenta de algo que nunca se le había ocurrido antes... 

«Pensé que estaba solx. Una chica que se sentía como un chico — lo que es más, un chico gay».

Cambios legales y desafíos 

Antes de su cambio de sexo legal, Tangarr encontró información en línea y habló con gente que le ayudó y le guió mientras aprendía todo lo que necesitaba saber acerca de este proceso en Ucrania. Leyó historias, artículos médicos, básicamente todo lo relacionado con los cambios en la apariencia y la terapia de reemplazo hormonal. 

Tangarr comenzó la terapia y se hizo una mastectomía (extirpación de los senos) en Moscú, Rusia, ya que «no hay cirujanos en Ucrania que sean conocidos por su pericia en este tema». Para él, esta situación también refleja el estado general de «ignorancia sobre los temas trans que existe entre la población, incluso entre lxs trabajadorxs de la salud». 

«Por todo aquello que atesoramos, es impensable negarse a enfrentar el desafío.» 

Sin embargo, en Ucrania, para completar el cambio de sexo legal es obligatoria la esterilización irreversible. Tangarr protestó contra eso porque «las razones por las que la esterilización forzada es discriminatoria son demasiadas para ser enumeradas». Con el apoyo de una persona amiga pudo cambiar sus documentos legalmente, sin someterse a una histerectomía (extracción del útero). Tangarr es una de las pocas personas que lo ha hecho en Ucrania.

Discriminación/Prejuicios/Violencia y la afiliación al/los movimiento(s)  

«Siempre me pareció raro que nadie hiciera nada para evitar que eso sucediera... Pero luego entendí que ese nadie era yo.» 

Las experiencias de Tangarr durante su vida (como mujer) le llevaron a unirse al movimiento feminista, «ya que el proceso adicional de socialización masculina puso de relieve todos los desafíos que las niñas y mujeres deben superar día a día». Desde entonces es activista en la «Amenaza Violeta», un grupo cuyas principales áreas de interés son la teoría queer, el feminismo y los derechos trans y miembro activo de la Trans* Coalition [Coalición Trans*], grupo que une a las personas trans y sus aliadxs en los países de la antigua Unión Soviética. 

En diciembre de 2015 Tangarr comenzó su trabajo como activista participando en un coloquio entre representantes de la comunidad trans de los países de Europa Oriental y Asia Central (EECA, por sus siglas en inglés) y la Eurasian Coalition on Male Health (ECOM) [Coalición Euroasiática sobre Salud Masculina], para discutir sobre prevención y tratamiento de VIH y SIDA entre las personas trans como grupo socialmente vulnerable. Allí hizo una presentación sobre los «Los sesgos cognitivos como razones por las cuales los hombres trans corren un alto riesgo de infección por VIH, métodos de prevención y cómo mejorar la situación».

Tangarr ha colaborado en la creación de un folleto informativo sobre género, ha escrito artículos sobre temas trans, ha trabajado en un video que apoya al grupo Odessa Pride [Orgullo Odesa] y ha hablado en un programa de televisión acerca de los desafíos que enfrentan las personas trans cuando intentan hacer un cambio de sexo legalmente

En el Centro de Lucha contra el VIH y el SIDA de Kirovogrado (Ucrania central), Tangarr ha sido invitado a dar una conferencia para periodistas, activistas de derechos humanos, trabajadorxs de la salud y policías sobre temas trans. 

Tangarr cree firmemente que «la educación es una panacea contra los prejuicios y conceptos erróneos, la discriminación y la xenofobia». Su lema es: «Ríndete a la verdad tan rápido como puedas».

«Cuanto más sepamos sobre identidad de género y orientación sexual, menos prejuicios tendremos. El prejuicio trae aparejado sufrimiento, por eso barrer con la ignorancia es reducir el dolor que ella causa».

Source
AWID

Transitions : l’histoire de Tangarr

Transitions : l’histoire de Tangarr

Depuis l’annexion de la Crimée à la Russie en mars 2014, les droits et les communautés des personnes lesbiennes, gaies, bisexuelles, trans*, queers et intersexes (LGBT*QI) de la péninsule sont soumis à la loi discriminatoire et répressive de « propagande anti-gays » (lien en anglais). 


Tangarr est né à Sébastopol, une ville située au bord de la Mer Noire. Mais cet homme trans* aux convictions et aux principes bien ancrés, soutenant le féminisme, les droits LGBT*QI et les droits humains en général, estime que la Crimée est aujourd’hui un lieu dangereux (lien en anglais) et a fui avec son partenaire en Ukraine continentale. 

De l’identité 

Contrairement à la plupart des personnes trans*, Tangarr a découvert un peu plus tard que son identité de genre n’était pas en accord avec le sexe qui lui avait été assigné à la naissance. Il nous a raconté que son enfance avait été relativement heureuse, que ses parents avaient une vision plutôt libérale du comportement que l’on attend d’un enfant. Son frère et lui ont été traités de la même façon, et on ne demandait pas à Tangarr « d’avoir le comportement d’une fille normale » ou de faire des choses que la société considère féminines. 

« Je jouais aux cowboys et aux indiens, j’escaladais des montagnes avec mes parents et mon frère, on voyageait en sac à dos. Je faisais du judo. J’étais moi-même et je me sentais bien. »

Mais avec la puberté, il a vu surgir les difficultés. Il vivait mal les aspirations de sa mère, en particulier l’idée selon laquelle la puberté était la période qui « transforme les filles en de belles femmes », une idée qui est souvent enjolivée. 

Cette métamorphose suscitait en lui des sentiments de frustration et du tourment. Il se souvient : « C’est dur de réaliser que le développement de votre corps prend une direction opposée à celle de votre psyché ». 

La société ne l’a pas toujours traité comme il l’aurait souhaité, les gens voyaient en lui une jeune fille. Cela ne lui inspirait qu’une confusion et une impression d’incongruité, toutes deux liées au fait que leur perception le décevait.

« J’ai cru que j’étais lesbienne (parce que, vous savez, elles sont stéréotypées comme étant des femmes masculines), mais je préférais les hommes. C’est là qu’on se rend compte à quel point il est important d’éclairer les gens sur les questions d’orientation de genre et sexuelle. » 

Tangarr décrit qu’il a cruellement manqué d’informations concernant les personnes trans*, ce qui l’a amené à croire que le plus gros problème venait de son corps. Il s’est mis à s’entraîner, « [est] devenu plus musclé et athlétique, mais quelque chose manquait clairement ». Bien qu’atténuée par un environnement assez libéral et par la compréhension et le soutien de ses ami-e-s, cette impression d’incongruité a continué de persister.

Sa vie a changé lorsque quelqu’un (qu’il connaissait) a cherché à l’insulter en lui disant : « Tu peux t’entraîner autant que tu veux, tu ne seras jamais un homme ». À cet instant, Tangarr a réalisé une chose à laquelle il dit n’avoir jamais pensé auparavant… 

« Je me suis dit que j’étais seul. Une fille qui se sent comme un mec — un mec gay, qui plus est. »

Changements juridiques et obstacles 

Avant de changer légalement de sexe, les renseignements que Tangarr a trouvés sur le net et les gens avec lesquels il a échangé l’ont aidé à s’orienter afin d’obtenir toutes les informations nécessaires au sujet de ce processus en Ukraine. Il a lu des témoignages, des articles médicaux, essentiellement tout ce qu’il pouvait sur les changements au niveau de l’apparence et sur le traitement hormonal de substitution. 

Il a entamé sa thérapie et subi une mastectomie (ablation des seins) à Moscou, en Russie, puisqu’il « n’existe en Ukraine aucun chirurgien de qualité réputé dans ce domaine ». Pour lui, cela reflète aussi « l’ignorance générale de la population sur les questions trans*, et cela même parmi le corps médical ». 

« Au nom de tout ce qui nous tient à cœur, il est impensable de refuser de relever ce défi. » 

Mais l’Ukraine exige qu’une stérilisation irréversible soit pratiquée afin d’effectuer le changement de sexe. Tangarr s’est insurgé contre cette condition, car « la stérilisation forcée est discriminatoire pour mille et une raisons ». Avec l’aide d’un ami, il est parvenu à modifier ses documents légalement, sans avoir à subir d’hystérectomie (ablation de l’utérus). Il est l’une des très rares personnes à avoir procédé ainsi en Ukraine. 

Discrimination/préjugés/violence et adhérer à des mouvements 

 « J’ai toujours trouvé bizarre que personne ne fasse rien pour empêcher que cela n’arrive… Et puis j’ai compris que ‘personne’, c’était moi ». 

Les expériences que Tangarr a faites au cours de sa vie (de femme) l’ont amené à rejoindre le mouvement féministe, « dans la mesure où sa socialisation en tant qu’homme a mis en évidence tous les obstacles que les filles et les femmes ont à surmonter jour après jour ». C’est un activiste de Lavender Menace, un groupe dont les principaux domaines d’intérêt sont la théorie queer, le féminisme et les droits trans*. Il est aussi membre actif de la Trans* Coalition, qui rassemble les personnes trans* et leurs allié-e-s des pays de l’ex Union soviétique. 

En décembre 2015, Tangarr a entamé son travail activiste et participé à un dialogue entre représentant-e-s de la communauté trans* des pays de l'Europe de l'Est et d'Asie centrale (EEAC, en anglais) et de l’Eurasian Coalition on Male Health ou ECOM (Coalition eurasienne sur la santé des hommes), afin de parler des stratégies de prévention et des traitements du VIH et du SIDA au sein de la communauté trans* en tant que groupe socialement vulnérable. Il a présenté un exposé sur « les préjugés cognitifs comme causes de la forte exposition des hommes trans* à l’infection du VIH, les méthodes de prévention et l’amélioration de la situation ».

Il a participé à la création d’un ouvrage d’information sur le genre, rédigé des articles sur le thème trans*, travaillé à une vidéo de soutien à Odessa Pride et s’est exprimé lors d’une émission télévisée au sujet des obstacles juridiques auxquels les personnes trans* sont confrontées lorsqu’elles tentent de changer de sexe. 

Le Centre de la lutte contre le VIH et le SIDA de Kirovohrad (au centre de l'Ukraine) a invité Tangarr à donner une conférence sur les questions trans* à des journalistes, des activistes œuvrant en faveur des droits humains, des travailleur-euse-s de la santé et à la police. 

Tangarr est fermement convaincu que « l’éducation est une panacée capable d’éliminer les préjugés et les idées erronées, la discrimination et la xénophobie ». Il a pour devise : « Optez pour la vérité le plus rapidement possible ». 

« Plus nous savons de choses sur ce qui a trait à l’identité de genre et l’orientation sexuelle, moins nous nourrissons de préjugés. Les idées reçues engendrent de la souffrance. En abolissant l’ignorance, on diminue la détresse qu’elle provoque. » 

Source
AWID

4. Collect and analyze your data

This section will guide you on how to ensure your research findings are representative and reliable.

In this section:

Collect your data

1. Before launch

  • First determine the best way to reach your survey population.
    For example, if you want to focus on indigenous women’s rights organizers, do you know who the key networks are? Do you have contacts there, people who can introduce you to these organizations or ways of reaching them?
  • Determine if your key population can be easily reached with an online survey, if you need to focus on paper survey distribution and collection or a mix of both. This decision is very important to ensure accessibility and inclusiveness.
  • Be prepared! Prior to advertizing, create a list of online spaces where you can promote your survey.
    If you are distributing paper versions, create a list of events, spaces and methods for distributing and collecting results.
  • Plan your timeline in advance, so you can avoid launching your survey during major holidays or long vacation periods.
  • Make it easy for your advisors and partners to advertize the survey – offer them pre-written Twitter, Facebook and email messages that they can copy and paste.

2. Launch

  • Send the link to the survey via email through your organization’s email databases.
  • Advertize on your organization’s social media. Similar to your newsletter, you can regularly advertize the survey while it is open.
  • If your organization is hosting events that reach members of your survey population, this is a good space to advertize the survey and distribute paper versions as needed.
  • Invite your advisors to promote the survey with their email lists and ask them to copy you so you are aware of their promotional messages. Remember to send them follow-up reminders if they’ve agreed to disseminate.
  • Approach funders to share your survey with their grantees. It is in their interest that their constituencies respond to a survey that will improve their own work in the field.

3. During launch

  • Keep the survey open for a minimum of four weeks to ensure everyone has time to take it and you have time to widely advertize it.
  • Send reminders through your email databases and your partners databases asking people to participate in the survey. To avoid irritating recipients with too many emails, we recommend sending two additional reminder emails: one at  midway point while your survey is open and another a week before your survey closes.
  • As part of your outreach, remember to state that you are only collecting one response per organization. This will make cleaning your data much easier when you are preparing it for analysis.
  • Save an extra week! Halfway through the open window for survey taking, check your data set. How have you done so far? Run initial numbers to see how many groups have responded, from which locations, etc. If you see gaps, reach out to those specific populations. Also, consider extending your deadline by a week – if you do so, include this extension deadline in one of your reminder emails, informing people know there is more time to complete the survey. Many answers tend to come in during the last week of the survey or after the extended deadline.

If you also plan to collect data from applications sent to grant-making institutions, this is a good time to reach out them.

When collecting this data, consider what type of applications you would like to review. Your research framing will guide you in determining this.

Also, it may be unnecessary to see every application sent to the organization – instead, it will be more useful and efficient to review only eligible applications (regardless of whether they were funded).

You can also ask grant-making institutions to share their data with you.

See a sample letter to send to grant-making institutions

Back to top


Prepare your data for analysis

Your survey has closed and now you have all this information! Now you need to ensure your data is as accurate as possible.

Depending on your sample size and amount of completed surveys, this step can be lengthy. Tapping into a strong pool of detail-oriented staff will speed up the process and ensure greater accuracy at this stage.

Also, along with your surveys, you may have collected data from applications sent to grant-making institutions. Use these same steps to sort that data as well. Do not get discouraged if you cannot compare the two data sets! Funders collect different information from what you collected in the surveys. In your final research report and products, you can analyze and present the datasets (survey versus grant-making institution data) separately.

1. Clean your data

  • Resolve and remove duplications: If there is more than one completed survey for one organization, reach out to the organization and determine which one is the most accurate.
  • Remove ineligible responses: Go through each completed survey and remove any responses that did not properly answer the question. Replace it with “null”, thus keeping it out of your analysis.
  • Consistently format numerical data: For example, you may remove commas, decimals and dollar signs from numerical responses. Financial figures provided in different currencies may need to be converted.

2. Code open-ended responses

There are two styles of open-ended responses that require coding.

Questions with open-ended responses

For these questions, you will need to code responses in order to track trends.

Some challenges you will face with this is:

  1. People will not use the exact same words to describe similar responses
  2. Surveys with multiple language options will require translation and then coding
  3. Staff capacity to review and code each open-ended response.

If using more than one staff member to review and code, you will need to ensure consistency of coding. Thus, this is why we recommend limiting your open-ended questions and as specific as possible for open-ended questions you do ask. 

For example, if you had the open-ended question “What specific challenges did you face in fundraising this year?” and some common responses cite “lack of staff,” or “economic recession,” you will need to code each of those responses so you can analyze how many participants are responding in a similar way.

For closed-end questions

If you provided the participant with the option of elaborating on their response, you will also need to “up-code” these responses.

For several questions in the survey, you may have offered the option of selecting the category “Other” With “Other” options, it is common to offer a field in which the participant can elaborate.

You will need to “up-code” such responses by either:

  • Converting open-ended responses to the correct existing categories (this is known as “up-coding”). As a simple example, consider your survey asks participants “what is your favorite color?” and you offer the options “blue,” “green,” and “other.” There may be some participants that choose “other” and in their explanation they write “the color of the sky is my favorite color.” You would then “up-code” answers like these to the correct category, in this case, the category “blue.”
  • Creating a new category if there are several “others” that have a common theme. (This is similar to coding the first type of open-ended responses). Consider the previous example question of favorite color. Perhaps many participants chose “other” and then wrote “red” is their favorite. In this case, you would create a new category of “red” to track all responses that answered “red.”
  • Removing “others” that do not fit any existing or newly created categories.

3. Remove unecessary data

Analyze the frequency of the results

For each quantitative question, you can decide whether you should remove the top or bottom 5% or 1% to prevent outliers* from skewing your results. You can also address the skewing effect of outliers by using median average rather than the mean average. Calculate the median by sorting responses in order, and selecting the number in the middle. However, keep in mind that you may still find outlier data useful. It will give you an idea of the range and diversity of your survey participants and you may want to do case studies on the outliers.

* An outlier is a data point that is much bigger or much smaller than the majority of data points. For example, imagine you live in a middle-class neighborhood with one billionaire. You decide that you want to learn what the range of income is for middle-class families in your neighborhood. In order to do so, you must remove the billionaire income from your dataset, as it is an outlier. Otherwise, your mean middle-class income will seem much higher than it really is.

Remove the entire survey for participants who do not fit your target population. Generally you can recognize this by the organizations’ names or through their responses to qualitative questions.

4. Make it safe

To ensure confidentiality of the information shared by respondents, at this stage you can replace organization names with a new set of ID numbers and save the coding, matching names with IDs in a separate file.

With your team, determine how the coding file and data should be stored and protected.

For example, will all data be stored on a password-protected computer or server that only the research team can access?

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Create your topline report

A topline report will list every question that was asked in your survey, with the response percentages listed under each question. This presents the collective results of all individual responses. 

Tips:

  • Consistency is important: the same rules should be applied to every outlier when determining if it should stay or be removed from the dataset.
  • For all open (“other”) responses that are up-coded, ensure the coding matches. Appoint a dedicated point person to randomly check codes for consistency and reliability and recode if necessary.
  • If possible, try to ensure that you can work at least in a team of two, so that there is always someone to check your work.

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Analyze your data

Now that your data is clean and sorted, what does it all mean? This is the fun part where you begin to analyze for trends.

Are there prominent types of funders (government versus corporate)? Are there regions that receive more funding? Your data will reveal some interesting information.

1. Statistical programs

  • Smaller samples (under 150 responses) may be done in-house using an Excel spreadsheet.

  • Larger samples (above 150 responses) may be done in-house using Excel if your analysis will be limited to tallying overall responses, simple averages or other simple analysis.

  • If you plan to do more advanced analysis, such as multivariate analysis, then we recommend using statistical software such as SPSS, Stata or R.
    NOTE: SPSS and Stata are expensive whereas R is free.
    All three types of software require staff knowledge and are not easy to learn quickly.

Try searching for interns or temporary staff from local universities. Many students must learn statistical analysis as part of their coursework and may have free access to SPSS or Stata software through their university. They may also be knowledgeable in R, which is free to download and use.

2. Suggested points for analysis

  • Analysis of collective budget sizes
  • Analysis of budget sizes by region or type of organization
  • Most common funders
  • Total amount of all funding reported
  • Total percentages of type of funding (corporate, government, etc)
  • Most funded issues/populations
  • Changes over time in any of these results.

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Previous step

3. Design your survey

Next step

5. Conduct interviews


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 platforms:

Survey Monkey
Survey Gizmo (Converts to SPSS for analysis very easily)

Examples:
2011 WITM Global Survey
Sample of WITM Global Survey
Sample letter to grantmakers requesting access to databases

Visualising Information for Advocacy:
Cleaning Data Tools
Tools to present your data in compelling ways
Tutorial: Gentle Introduction to Cleaning Data

 


Previous step

3. Design your survey

Next step

5. Conduct interviews


Ready to Go? Worksheet

Download the toolkit in PDF

Feminist propositions: Glossary of terms

Capitalism:

An economic system in which production and consumption patterns are based on profit using privately owned capital goods and wage labour. The system builds on individual wealth and capital accumulation at the lowest cost to the investor, with little regard for the societal costs and exploitation of the workforce - both paid and unpaid.

Commodification of land:

The conversion of land and activities related to it (like agriculture) into commodities that can be bought or sold for profit.

International Financial Institutions (IFIs):

Institutions (like the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, or regional development banks) that provide loans to countries lacking sufficient money to cover funding shortfalls or to finance development projects. Historically, the lending policies of these institutions have been determined by economically powerful Western countries and private enterprises. Loans to low-income countries in particular typically include conditionalities that prompt economic reforms in these countries to support neo-liberalism.

Neoliberalism:

A set of economic and political theories in which market forces, rather than governments, determine key aspects of the economy with governments acting to support globalized markets and the interests of capital. Neo-liberal economic policies typically include promotion of free trade, privatisation, reduced government spending on social programs, subsidies and tax exemptions for business, deregulation of financial sector and foreign investments, low taxes on the wealthy and corporations, flexible labour and weak environmental protection.

Patriarchy:

Refers to systemic and institutionalized male domination embedded in and perpetuated by cultural, political, economic and social structures and ideologies. Hetero-patriarchy in addition, is a patriarchal system that is also based on the belief that heterosexuality is the only normal and acceptable sexual orientation.

Live events

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Impunity for violence against women defenders of territory, common goods, and nature in Latin America

 


Follow the online conversation!

#CSW62 #ResistImpunity

Calling all artists & creative activists to come together in a new Slack community!

Our thoughts are with the many people all around the world who are most affected by the repercussions of the global COVID-19 pandemic, especially marginalised communities that are historically oppressed.

This is an invitation for artists and creative activists to join a virtual space to connect, build community, and support each other through these challenging times. For this we have created a new Slack community to safely share insights, learnings, life-hacks, resources, advice, fears and anxieties, hopeful and joyful reminders, and in general chat about how we’re doing.

Join us on Slack

After filling out the form, we will send you a personal invitation to the community.


About this community:

For those who are new to Slack, we’ll have orientation sessions and materials available after you sign up.

Since we are working in three languages (English, Spanish, French) we invite you to write in the language you are the most comfortable with and use online translation tools (Google Translate or others) to participate in discussions.

Co-creating welcoming and safe spaces:

Please refer to the Community Guidelines

The co-creation of our feminist realities starts with ourselves and how we treat each other. We are dedicated to creating and protecting safe and supportive spaces for our communities both online and in person.  We also consider that safe and welcoming spaces are co-owned and co-created. We expect our members to act in a manner that is ethical, responsible and consistent with the values of AWID and assume collective responsibility to ensure an atmosphere of mutual respect and solidarity.

Weekly Prompts: 

As part of our ongoing discussions, we will offer weekly prompts in Slack with the intention to gently facilitate dialogue and inspire art-making processes. This can be an introspective process, but to make the most out of this community, we welcome you to interact with other community members and share thoughts as part of our discussions. The intention is to invite folks to respond freely and gradually by writing or making art in whatever way feels best. 

We hope to have relevant and timely discussions with you, so we invite your suggestions and feedback. In general, the themes will center the experiences and perspectives of artists, writers, and creators -- and they will make space for folks to vision into and beyond the current global climate through the lens of feminist realities.


Join us on Slack

Pleasure Garden Exhibition

The artwork is a photography and illustration collaboration between Siphumeze and Katia during lockdown. The work looks at black queer sex and plesure narratives, bondage, safe sex, toys, mental health and sex and many more. It was created to accompany the Anthology Touch.

Mental Health
Mental Health
Sex and Spirtuality
Sex and Spirtuality
Orgasm
Orgasm

About the Artists:

Siphumeze Khundayi portrait
Siphumeze Khundayi is an art-maker, photographer and facilitator interested in creative ways of bringing together dialogue and artistic practice in relation to African Queer identity.

She is creative director of HOLAAfrica! a pan-Africanist womanist online collective.

Her solo and collaborative performance work has been featured in a number of festivals and theatre spaces such as Ricca Ricca Festival in Japan

She directed two Naledi nominated productions in 2017 and 2018. She directed a show that won a Standard Bank Ovation award in 2020.

As a photographer she was part of a group exhibition titled Flowers of my Soul in Italy organised by the Misfit Project. Produced three publications for HOLAAfrica and was published in and provided the cover for volume two: As You Like of the Gerald Kraak Anthologies.
katia portrait
Katia Herrera is a 21-year-old  Digital visual artist from the noisy city of  Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. Despite Herrera being a self-proclaimed introvert, her artwork is remarkably loud in a world trying to quiet black voices. With titles like Black Woman, You Own the Moon, Earth Goddess, Forever,  and Universe Protector, Herrera’s legacy will be marked by her passion for highlighting the endurance and perseverance of black folks of old and present to contrast the narrative that black skin should only be associated with slavery.

One of her most lovely and vivaciously titled works, Universe Protector, portrays the black soul as a divine entity full of strength, power, and greatness. In her youth, her love of graphic design was stimulated by her parents’ artistry and the Photoshop they had downloaded on their computer for their professional photography.

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كلمة العدد

ترجمة رولا علاء الدين

كلمة العدد

فقدان الكلام  

Ghiwa Sayegh
Chinelo Onwualu

غوى صايغ

تشينيلو أونوالو


«لمّا نكون مُستَقتِلين للتغيير، لِكوننا في حالة مرضٍ وتمرّدٍ في آنٍ واحد، تخلو لغتنا من التعقيد وتنصقل لتعكس أبسط ركائزها. (...) لكن، ومع استمرار المرض والثورة، تصبح اللغة المُصاغة في هذه الحالة وعنها أكثرَ عمقاً وأكثرَ تعبيراً عن الفوارق الدقيقة، وتكون منغمسة انغماساً شديداً في التجربة الإنسانية التي يواجه فيها المرءُ حدودَه عند نهاية العالم».
  - جوانا هيدفا 

 


بدأنا التخطيط لعدد المجلّة هذا مع نانا داركوا قُبيل مهرجان «ابدعي، قاومي، غيٍّري: مهرجان للحراكات النسوية» لجمعية «حقوق المرأة في التنمية» AWID، وانطلقنا وقتها من سؤالٍ هو بالأحرى ملاحظة حول حالة العالم، ورغبة في تغيير الاعتقادات السائدة: لماذا لا تزال جنسانيّاتنا وملذّاتنا تخضع للترويض والتجريم مع أنّه يتمّ تذكيرنا مراراً وتكراراً بأنّها لا تأتي بأيّ قيمة أو تطوّر؟ واستنتجنا أنّ جنسانيّاتنا، لمّا تتجسّد، فيها ما يتعارض مع النظام العالمي الذي ما زال يتجلّى من خلال ضوابط الحدود، والتمييز العنصري في توزيع اللقاح، والاستعمار الاستيطاني، والتطهير العرقي، والرأسمالية المُستشرية. هل يمكننا إذاً القول إنّ لجنسانيّاتنا قدرةٌ تعطيليّة؟ وهل يصحّ هذا القول عندما ننظر إلى واقع حركاتنا التي يتمّ الاستيلاء عليها ومأسستها في سعيها للتزوّد بالموارد؟

عندما يصبح عملنا المتجسّد مادةً ربحية في أيدي الأنظمة التي نسعى إلى إزالتها فلا عجب أنّ جنسانيّاتنا وملذّاتنا توضَع جانباً من جديد، لا سيّما أنّها ليست مُربِحة بما فيه الكفاية. لقد تساءلنا، في مواقف عدّة خلال إنتاج هذا العدد، ما الذي سيحدث إذا رفضنا مراعاة خدمات الرأسمالية الأساسية؟ لكن هل نجرؤ على هذا التساؤل وقد أنهكنا العالم؟ ربما يتمّ تجاهل جنسانيّاتنا بهذه السهولة لأنها لا تُعتَبَر أشكالاً من أشكال الرعاية. ربما ما نحتاجه هو أن نعيد تصوّر الملذّة كشكلٍ من أشكال الرعاية الجذرية، تكون أيضاً مناهضة للرأسمالية وللمؤسساتية.

بدأنا العام الثاني على التوالي لحالة الجائحة العالمية وكان لا بدّ أن تركّز مقاربتنا للتجسيدات العابرة للحدود القومية على ملاحظة سياسيّة واحدة: أنّ الرعاية هي شكل من أشكال التجسيد. وبما أنّ جزءاً كبيراً من عملنا يتمّ حالياً من دون أيّ اعتبار للحدود بيننا وفينا فنحن جميعاً متجسّدون بشكلٍ عابرٍ للحدود القومية، ونحن جميعاً نفشل. نحن نفشل في رعاية ذاتنا، والأهمّ أننا نفشل في رعاية الآخرين. 

هذا الفشل ليس من صنع أيدينا.

إنّ الكثير من أهالينا اعتبروا العملَ مقايضةً، أي أنّه شيءٌ يُعطى مقابل أجرٍ وضمانة بالحصول على الرعاية. صحيحٌ أنّه تمّ الإخلال بهذه المقايضة أحياناً، لكنّ أهالينا ما كانوا يأملون أنّ عملهم سيوفّر لهم الرِضا الذاتي، وكانوا يعتمدون لهذا الغرض على نشاطهم الترفيهي وهواياتهم ومجتمعاتهم. أمّا اليوم، فنحن، أولادهم الذين تمّت تهيأتنا لنعتبر العمل متشابكاً مع الشغف، توقّعاتنا مختلفة تماماً. نحن لا نفرّق بين العمل والترفيه ونعتبرهما عنصراً واحداً، وبالنسبة للكثيرين بيننا، العمل بات يجسّد الذات بكاملها.

إنّ الرأسمالية القائمة على الأبويّة والمغايَرة الجنسية لا ترى لنا أيّ قيمة، ناهيك عن عملنا وجنسانيّاتنا. إنّه نظامٌ سيستمر في طلب المزيد والمزيد منك إلى يوم مماتك، وبعدها سيستبدلك بشخصٍ آخر. يُنتَظَر منّا أن نكون على اتصال بالإنترنت في كلّ الأوقات، ما يعني أنّه لا يمكننا الانصراف عن العمل حتى لو شئنا ذلك. إنّ هذا التَتْجير للعمل وفصله تماماً عن الشخص قد تسلّل إلى كلّ ناحية من نواحي حياتنا، ويتمّ ترسيخ هذا التَتْجير حتى في الأوساط الأكثر نسويّة والأكثر تمرّداً وتشدّداً.

لطالما حمَلَت تطلّعات الرأسمالية ضرراً كبيراً بالأجساد التي لا تتوافق مع النموذج المثالي، وأولئك الذين يسعون إلى ترسيخ سلطتهم استغّلوا الجائحة كفرصة لاستهداف النساء والأقلّيات الجنسية وكلّ مَن يعتبرونه دون المستوى.

تمّ إعداد هذا العدد الخاص بفعل هذا الواقع، وطبعاً، رغماً عن هذا الواقع.

لقد قدّم المساهمون/ المساهمات والعاملون/ العاملات كلّهم تقريباً مجهوداً يفوق طاقاتهم، وكلٌّ من الأعمال الواردة هنا هو نتاجُ سعيٍ شغوف ولكن أيضاً نتاج حالة إنهاكٍ شديد. 

يشكّل هذا العدد، بطريقة غايةً في الواقعية، تجسيداً للعمل العابر للحدود القومية، علماً أنّ أيّ عمل في عصرنا الرقمي أصبحَ عابراً لتلك الحدود. وفيما فُرِضَ علينا تقبّل حدود جديدة، وهي حدود لا تخالف النظام القائم سابقاً بل تعزّزه، اختبرنا مباشرةً، إلى جانب مساهمينا، كيف تستنزف الرأسمالية طاقاتنا القصوى – كيف يصبح من الصعب بناء الحجج المتماسكة لا سيّما حينما تكون خاضعة لموعد التسليم. إننا نعاني بشكلٍ جَماعي من فقدان الكلام لأننا أساساً نعاني من فقدان العوالم.

الشعور بالضياع والوحدة في عالم الرأسمالية القائمة على الأبوية والمغايَرة الجنسية هو بالتحديد ما يجعل من الضروري أن نعيد تقييم أنظمة الرعاية التي نتّبعها وأن نُعيد النظر فيها. لقد حوّلنا هذا العدد بوسائل عدّة إلى مهمّة لإيجاد الملذّة في الرعاية. فبما أنّه بات من الصعب بناء الحجج المتماسكة، برزت الوسائط البصرية والمبتكرة وقد لجأ كثرٌ ممن اعتادوا الكتابة إلى هذه الوسائط كطرقٍ لإنتاج المعرفة واختراق الضباب الفكريّ الذي أحاط بنا. لقد ضمّينا في هذا العدد أصواتاً أخرى، بالإضافة إلى أصواتٍ عدّة استمعتم إليها في المهرجان، كوسيلة لإطلاق حوارات جديدة وتوسيع آفاقنا.

بما أنّ كلماتنا قد سُرِقَت منّا، يقضي واجبنا السياسي بأن نستمر في إيجاد الوسائل للحفاظ على أنفسنا والآخرين والاهتمام بأنفسنا وبالآخرين. بالتالي، يصبح تجسّدنا نوعاً من المقاومة إذ هو بداية إيجادنا لسبيل الخروج من الذات ودخولها.
 

 


Cover image for Communicating Desire
 
Explore Transnational Embodiments

This journal edition in partnership with Kohl: a Journal for Body and Gender Research, will explore feminist solutions, proposals and realities for transforming our current world, our bodies and our sexualities.

Explore

Cover image, woman biting a fruit
 

التجسيدات العابرة للحدود

نصدر النسخة هذه من المجلة بالشراكة مع «كحل: مجلة لأبحاث الجسد والجندر»، وسنستكشف عبرها الحلول والاقتراحات وأنواع الواقع النسوية لتغيير عالمنا الحالي وكذلك أجسادنا وجنسانياتنا.

استكشف المجلة

Love letter to Feminist Movements #5

Sudanese Feminists: "A Revolution within the Revolution"

"I have been subjected to sexual violence, physical injuries and other forms of violence while protesting at the frontlines. But I will never stop until we achieve complete civilian rule in Sudan. We must stop militarization of the state. Our bodies should not be treated as battlegrounds any longer."

Said Amal*, a 23 years old woman protester.** 

During the last 4 years women led the revolution in Sudan. Their leadership wasn't just on streets, but they were the power driving the consistent resistance at all levels. Women and young feminists became the alerted consciousness of the Sudanese change and democratization movement. Since the first protest against the former regime in Aldmazein town in the conflict area of Blue Nile on December 13th, 2018, young school girls were the voices demanding the end of the rule of the 30 years dictatorship of military and Muslim Brotherhood. 

Love letter to feminist movements from Your dramatically cloaked jungle nymph.

The feminist movement led by young women aging 16 to 35, has established a revolution within the revolution in Sudan in the last 4 years of non stop revolution. The strong voices of young women occupying spaces on streets, social media, civil society and political organizations were high enough to reshape the public opinion and challenge social norms. Discussions of sexual and gender based violence and taboos of domestic violence and male dominant decisions making process became mainstream debates for the first time in Sudan history. Women Football teams appointed spokeswomen for resistance committees, and women led professional unions are part of the manifestation of the new wave of feminist movement in Sudan. Young women identifying as feminist proudly and publicly is the most important achievement in a country ruled by fundamentalist Islam for 3 decades. Young men supporting feminist activism, and identifying as feminist is another progress worth noting. 

This progress is not cost free, it is also not perfect. Feminist activists, groups and activists face the same challenges we expect in a conservative, and conflict affected contexts. But the impact of the young feminists movement in Sudan is worth of looking up to. Overcoming internal boundaries of diverse cultures, religions, and conflicts history is a challenge, but young feminists in Sudan seems to work hard to bridge the gaps. Creation of feminist schools in Darfur and Kordofan is something that makes the work of young feminists in Sudan a unique journey worth to learn from. 

The young women leading these efforts and the women groups working on the ground cannot be mentioned here due to several security concerns under the current military coup. But their resilience, strength and courage is one for the history books. The audacious young women leading resistance on streets, behind screens, and working in different professions and activism fields are shaping the future of Sudan. The young feminists in Sudan are creating new spaces for a feminist narratives and discourses to restructure the distribution of power at political, economical and social aspects.

Despite the immense violence, reemergence of fundamentalist Islam, militarization and shrinking civic spaces, feminist activists in Sudan remain rooted in their sisterhood. They remain a great inspiration for the feminist movements globally. 

 

Nazik Awad


* Amal is a pseudonym used to protect the young activist quoted. 
** Sudan is living under constant revolution since 2018. A new wave started after the military coup on October 25th 2021. 

The world came to my home: Tidinha’s story

Cover image for story 2: The world came to my home: Tidinha’s story

How do you react when the world seemingly descends upon you? For Tidinha, it is one where she found herself being able to be heard as she questions the choice of location, while also discovering shared visions and dreams and realizing that she is not alone.

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In her own voice: watch the interview with Tidinha


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