Anit-Racism Movement (ARM) / Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
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.
Around the world, feminist, women’s rights, and allied movements are confronting power and reimagining a politics of liberation. The contributions that fuel this work come in many forms, from financial and political resources to daily acts of resistance and survival.
AWID’s Resourcing Feminist Movements (RFM) Initiative shines a light on the current funding ecosystem, which range from self-generated models of resourcing to more formal funding streams.
Through our research and analysis, we examine how funding practices can better serve our movements. We critically explore the contradictions in “funding” social transformation, especially in the face of increasing political repression, anti-rights agendas, and rising corporate power. Above all, we build collective strategies that support thriving, robust, and resilient movements.
Our Actions
Recognizing the richness of our movements and responding to the current moment, we:
Create and amplify alternatives: We amplify funding practices that center activists’ own priorities and engage a diverse range of funders and activists in crafting new, dynamic models for resourcing feminist movements, particularly in the context of closing civil society space.
Build knowledge: We explore, exchange, and strengthen knowledge about how movements are attracting, organizing, and using the resources they need to accomplish meaningful change.
Advocate: We work in partnerships, such as the Count Me In! Consortium, to influence funding agendas and open space for feminist movements to be in direct dialogue to shift power and money.
Related Content
متى ستكون نتائج الاستطلاع جاهزة؟
سنقوم بتحليل الردود على الاستطلاع للوصول للاستنتاجات الأساسية والنتائج خلال المنتدى العالمي ل AWID في بانكوك، وعن طريق الانترنت في ديسمبر (كانون الأول) 2024. الرجاء التسجيل هنا لحضور المنتدى.
Sexting Like a Feminist: Humor in the Digital Feminist Revolution Snippet Small
Sexting Like a Feminist: Humor in the Digital Feminist Revolution
by Chinelo Onwualu
On September 2nd, 2021, the amazing feminist and social justice activists of AWID’s Crear | Résister | Transform festival came together not only to share resistance strategies, co-create, and transform the world, but also to talk dirty on Twitter.
Host: We tend to think about communicating desire as something that is limited to the private intimacy of the bedroom and our personal relationships. But can we also think of this kind of communication as a structure, a praxis that informs our work, and how we are, how we do in the world?
Lindiwe
I believe that unfortunately in the past, expressing your sexuality has been limited. You were allowed to express it within the confines of your marriage, which was permitted, there have always been taboo and stigmas attached to expressing it any other way. When it comes to communicating, obviously the fact that certain stigmas are attached to expressing your sexuality or expressing your desire makes it a lot harder to communicate that in the bedroom or intimately with your partner. From my personal experience, I do believe that obviously if I feel more comfortable expressing myself outside of the bedroom on other matters or other topics, it’s easier for me to build that trust, because you understand conflict resolution with that particular person, you understand exactly how to make your communication special towards that particular person. It’s not easy. It’s something that is consistently done throughout whatever your engagement is, whether it’s your relationship or whether it’s casual and just in the moment. But I believe that confidence outside can definitely translate to how you communicate your desire.
Manal
Since childhood, a woman is raised with that, “you’re not allowed to talk about your body, you’re not allowed to talk about your desire,” which puts a heavy responsibility on women, especially girls in their teens when they need to express themselves and talk about these issues. So for me I think this is a big problem. You know, I have been married for more than 25 years, but still, until now, I cannot talk about my desires. I cannot say what I want or what I prefer, because it’s like I’m not allowed to go beyond this line. It’s like haram, despite it being my right. This is the case for all my friends, they just can’t express themselves in the right way.
Louise
Personally, I find that expressing our desires, my desires, however that expression comes in hand, has to do with the other, and the gaze that the other would have on me. So this is also something that we can link to cinema. And the gaze I would have on myself as well: what I think I am as an individual, but also what society expects of me and my sexuality. In the past, I somehow did the analogy between what happens in the bedroom and what happens in the workplace, because there is sometimes this dynamic of power, whether I want it or not. And oftentimes, verbal communication is harder than we think. But when it comes to representation in film, that’s a totally different game. We are very far away from what I guess all of us here would like to see on screen when it comes to just communicating sexual desires inside or outside the bedroom.
Online and Embodied
Host: We can think about the digital world as embodied: while it might be virtual, it is not less real. And this was made clear in the context of AWID’s feminist realities festival, which took place entirely online. What does it mean then to talk about sexuality, collectively, politically, in online spaces? Do we navigate virtual spaces with our bodies and affects, and in this case, what are the different considerations? What does it do to communication and representation?
Lindiwe
Social media makes you feel community-based. When you express what it is that you want or like, there is someone who’s either going to agree or disagree, but those who do agree make you feel that you belong to a community. So it’s easier to throw it out into the universe, or for others to see, and potentially not get as much judgment. And I say this very loosely because sometimes, depending on what it is that you’re expressing, it either will get you vilified or celebrated. But when it comes to the bedroom, there is an intimacy and almost a vulnerability that is exposing you and different parts of you that is not as easy to give your opinion on. When it comes to expressing your desire, speaking it and saying it and maybe putting a Tweet or a social media post, or even liking and reading other communities that are same-minded is a lot easier than telling your partner, “this is how I want to be pleasured” or “this is how what I want you to do next,” because of the fear of rejection. But not only that, just the vulnerability aspect – allowing yourself to be bare enough to let the other person see into what you are thinking, feeling, and wanting – I think this is where the difference would come in for me personally. I feel it is a lot more community-based on social media, and it’s easier to engage in discourse. Whereas in the bedroom, you don’t want to necessarily kill the moment. But I think that also kind of helps you understand going forward, depending on the relationship with the person, how you would engage thereafter. So I always know that if I try to communicate something and I fail to do so in the moment, I can always try to bring it up outside of that moment and see what the reaction would be so I know how to approach it going forward.
Louise
You know the question in films is, I don’t know if the male gaze is done intentionally or not. Like we don’t really know that. What we know is that the reason why sexuality in general has been so heternormative and focused on penetration and not giving any space for women to actually ask for anything in films, is because most of the people who have been working in this industry and making decisions in terms of, you know, storytelling and editing have been white men. So rape revenge is this very weird film genre that was birthed in the 70s, and half of the story would be that a woman is being raped by one or multiple people, and in the other half, she would get her revenge. So usually she would murder and kill the people who have raped her, and sometimes other people next to them. At the beginning of the birth of this genre and for 30 years at least, those films were written, produced, and directed by men. This is why we also want so much representation. A lot of feminists and pioneers in queer filmmaking also used the act of filming in order to do that and to reclaim their own sexuality. I’m thinking about Barbara Hammer, who’s a feminist and queer pioneer in experimental cinema in the U.S. where she decided to shoot women having sex on 16mm, and by doing so reclaimed a space within the narrative that was exposed in film at that time. And there is also then the question of invisibilization: we know now, because of the internet and sharing knowledge, that women and queer filmmakers have been trying and making films since the beginning of cinema. We only realize it now that we have access to databases and the work of activists and curators and filmmakers.
Resisting Colonization
Host: And this opens up the conversation on the importance of keeping our feminist histories alive. The online worlds have also played a crucial role in documenting protests and resistance. From Sudan to Palestine to Colombia, feminists have taken our screens by storm, challenging the realities of occupation, capitalism, and oppression. So could we speak of communicating desire – the desire for something else – as decolonization?
Manal
Maybe because my village is just 600 residents and the whole village is one family – Tamimi – there are no barriers between men and women. We do everything together. So when we began our non-violent resistance or when we joined the non-violent resistance in Palestine, there was no discussion whether women should participate or not. We took a very important role within the movement here in the village. But when other villages and other places began to join our weekly protests, some men thought that if these women participate or join the protests, they will fight with soldiers so it will be like they’re easy women. There were some men who were not from the village who tried to sexually harass the women. But a strong woman who is able to stand in front of a soldier can also stand against sexual harassment. Sometimes, when other women from other places join our protest, they are shy at first; they don’t want to come closer because there are many men. If you want to join the protest, if you want to be part of the non-violent movement, you have to remove all these restrictions and all these thoughts from your mind. You have to focus on just fighting for your rights. Unfortunately, the Israeli occupation realizes this issue. For example, the first time I was arrested, I wear the hijab so they tried to take it off; they tried to take off my clothes, in front of everybody. There were like 300-400 people and they tried to do it. When they took me to the interrogation, the interrogator said: “we did this because we want to punish other women through you. We know your culture.” So I told him: “I don’t care, I did something that I believe in. Even if you take all my clothes off, everybody knows that Manal is resisting.”
Lindiwe
I think even from a cultural perspective, which is very ironic, if you look at culture in Africa, prior to getting colonized, showing skin wasn’t a problem. Wearing animal skin and/or hides to protect you, that wasn’t an issue and people weren’t as sexualized unless it was within context. But we conditioned ourselves to say, “you should be covered up” and the moment you are not covered up you are exposed, and therefore it will be sexualized. Nudity gets sexualized as opposed to you just being naked; they don’t want a little girl to be seen naked. What kind of society have we conditioned ourselves to be if you’re going to be sexualizing someone who is naked outside of the context of a sexual engagement? But environment definitely plays a big role because your parents and your grannies and your aunts say “no, don’t dress inappropriately,” or “no, that’s too short.” So you hear that at home first, and then the moment you get exposed outside, depending on the environment, whether it’s a Eurocentric or more westernized environment to what you are used to, then you are kind of free to do so. And even then, as much as you are free, there’s still a lot that comes with it in terms of catcalling and people still sexualizing your body. You could be wearing a short skirt, and someone feels they have the right to touch you without your permission. There is so much that is associated with regulating and controlling women’s bodies, and that narrative starts at home. And then you go out into your community and society and the narrative gets perpetuated, and you realize that you get sexualized by society at large too, especially as a person of color.
Resistance as Pleasure
Host: And finally, in what ways can our resistance be more than what we are allowed? Is there a place for pleasure and joy, for us and our communities?
Louise
Finding pleasure as resistance and resistance in pleasure, first for me there is this idea of the guerrilla filmmaking or the action of filming when you’re not supposed to or when someone told you not to, which is the case for a lot of women and queer filmmakers in the world right now. For example, in Lebanon, which is a cinema scene that I know very well, most of the lesbian stories that I’ve seen were shot by students in very short formats with “no production value” as the west would say – meaning with no money, because of the censorship that happens on an institutional level, but also within the family and within the private sphere. I would think that filming whatever, but also filming pleasure and pleasure within lesbian storytelling is an act of resistance in itself. A lot of times, just taking a camera and getting someone to edit and someone to act is extremely hard and requires a lot of political stance.
Lindiwe
I have a rape support group. I’m trying to assist women to reintegrate themselves from a sexual perspective: wanting to be intimate again, wanting to not let their past traumas influence so much how they move forward. It’s not an easy thing, but it’s individual. So I always start with understanding your body. I feel the more you understand and love and are proud of it, the more you are able to allow someone else into that space. I call it sensuality training, where I get them to start seeing themselves as not sexual objects, but as objects of pleasure and desire that can be interchangeable. So you’re worthy of receiving as well as giving. But that’s not only from a psychological point of view; it is physical. When you get out of the shower, you get out of the bath, and you’re putting lotion on your body, look at every part of your body, feel every part of your body, know when there are changes, know your body so well that should you get a new pimple on your knee, you are so aware of it because just a few hours ago it wasn’t there. So things like that where I kind of get people to love themselves from within, so they feel they are worthy of being loved in a safe space, is how I gear them towards claiming their sexuality and their desire.
Manal
You know we began to see women coming from Nablus, from Jerusalem, from Ramallah, even from occupied 48, who have to drive for 3-4 hours just to come to join the protests. After that we tried to go to other places, talk with women, tell them that they don’t have to be shy, that they should just believe in themselves and that there is nothing wrong in what we are doing. You can protect yourself, so where is the wrong in participating or in joining? Once I asked some women, “why are you joining?” And they said, “if the Tamimi women can do it, we can do it also.” To be honest I was very happy to hear this because we were like a model for other women. If I have to stand for my rights, it should be all my rights, not just one or two. We can’t divide rights.
No care economies without domestic workers! A Manifesto
Clone of Mariam Mekiwi | Snippet AR
مريم مكيوي مخرجة أفلام ومصورة من الإسكندرية تعيش وتعمل في برلين.
Snippet - Section Two Funding Resources in One Place - EN
A Universe of Funders & Funding Commitments
Hospital | Content Snippet AR
مستشفى
ترجمة مارينا سمير
«الآن قد يكون وقتًا مناسبًا لإعادة التفكير في الشكل الذي يمكن للثورة أن تتّخذه. ربما لن تبدو كمسيرةٍ من الأجساد الغاضبة والقادرة في الشوارع. ربما ستبدو وكأنّ العالم واقفٌ في ثباتٍ لأن جميع الأجساد الموجودة فيه منهَكة – حيثُ أنّه يجب إعطاء الأولوية للرعاية قبل فوات الأوان». - جوانا هيدفا
المستشفيات مؤسسات، ومواقع حيّة للرأسمالية، وما يحدث عندما يكون من المفترض أن يستريح شخصٌ ما ليس إلّا نموذجاً مصغّراً من النظام الأكبر. تَعمَد المؤسسات إلى فصلنا عن أنظمة رعايتنا – نَجِد أنفسنا معزولين في بُنى تراتبية راسخة، وغالبًا ما نشعر وكأنّ الرعاية هي شيء يُفعَل بنا بدلاً من أن تكون شيئًا يُعطى ويؤخَذ كجزء من محادثة. الرعاية المؤسسية معزولة بسبب اندماجها في الطلب الرأسمالي: شخص واحد يعالج رِجلك ورِجلك فقط، شخص آخر يعالج ضغط الدم وهكذا.
المستشفيات مؤسسات، ومواقع حيّة للرأسمالية، وما يحدث عندما يكون من المفترض أن يستريح شخصٌ ما ليس إلّا نموذجاً مصغّراً من النظام الأكبر. تَعمَد المؤسسات إلى فصلنا عن أنظمة رعايتنا – نَجِد أنفسنا معزولين في بُنى تراتبية راسخة، وغالبًا ما نشعر وكأنّ الرعاية هي شيء يُفعَل بنا بدلاً من أن تكون شيئًا يُعطى ويؤخَذ كجزء من محادثة. الرعاية المؤسسية معزولة بسبب اندماجها في الطلب الرأسمالي: شخص واحد يعالج رِجلك ورِجلك فقط، شخص آخر يعالج ضغط الدم وهكذا.
اضطرّت المصوّرة مريم مكيوي لإجراء عملية جراحية الشهر الماضي، ووثّقت هذا المسار. صورها للبيئات المعقّمة بألوانها الباهتة – أضواء نيون بيضاء وصفوف تلو صفوف من التكوينات المتكرّرة – تعكس مكانًا استُنزفت منه الحياة والحركة. كانت هذه إحدى الطرق التي حافظت بها مريم على بقاء روحها. لقد كان أحد أشكال الاحتجاج من داخل حدود مؤسسةٍ كان عليها التعامل معها.
تُشكّل الصور وصفًا لشيءٍ واهنٍ بشدّة، فمشاهدة شخصٍ ما وهو يعايش انهيار جسده هو دائمًا تذكير جليل بهشاشتنا. إنه أيضًا تذكير بهشاشة أنظمة الرعاية هذه، والتي قد تُمنَع عنّا لأسباب متعدّدة – بدايةً من عدم امتلاك الأموال وصولًا إلى عدم التواجد في جسدٍ يُعتبَر ذا قيمة كافية، فربما يكون أنثويًا أكثر مما ينبغي أو كويريًا أكثر مما ينبغي أو ملوَّنًا أكثر مما ينبغي.
الرعاية الانفرادية والمجرّدة من جوهرها والتي قد تُسلَب منّا في أي لحظة لا تساعدنا على الازدهار. وهي مختلفة تمامًا عن الطريقة التي يسلكها البشر عند رعاية بعضهم البعض. كم سيبدو عالمنا مختلفًا إذا التزمنا بتفكيك الهياكل الرأسمالية الحالية حول صحّتنا؟ كيف سيبدو إذا أعَدنا تخيُّلَه بشكل جذريّ؟
Snippet2 - WCFM Regional focus: - EN
Regional focus:
Filter for funders that support initiatives in your geographical area.
Snippet Kohl - Panel “un”Inclusive Feminism | AR
حلقة نقاش | النسوية “غير” الشاملة: فتيات بلا صوت في الحركة النسوية الهايتية
مع نايكي ليدان وفيدورا بيير-لوي
Feminist and women’s rights organizations don’t just rely on institutional funding, we resource ourselves. Our organizing is powered by passion, political commitment, solidarity and collective care.
These resources are self- generated and autonomous, and often invisible in our budgets, but they are the backbone of our organizing.
ان كنت نسوية عن حق، فإنك سترفضين التحقير الموجّه ضد الممارسات الجنسية الغرائبيّة
تَلفَزَتُنا للثورة تحت حزامك مشروطة بطبيعة رغباتك
Snippet - COP30 - Feminist Demands for COP30 Col 1
What We Reject:
Market-based false solutions
Ecosystem service trading
Green neoliberal economies mining
Geo-engineering
Fossil fuels
Military spending over climate funds
Climate finance as loans
Add your own propositions
Please take a look at the existing propositions for inspiration before submitting your own idea. Someone might already be thinking along the same lines! Send your proposition to contribute@awid.org.
We will review and include new propositions on this webpage as they come.
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.”
Vie Féminine et Handicap : lutter contre les discriminations au Sénégal
L’association Vie Féminine et Handicap est devenue membre de l’AWID en 2008 « pour mieux défendre nos idées, mieux sensibiliser sur les discriminations dont les femmes en situation de handicap sont victimes en Afrique et offrir une meilleure visibilité de nos actions », confie la Présidente de l’association, Ndoya Kane.
Prendre en compte les besoins spécifiques des femmes en situation de handicap
Créée en 2008, Vie Féminine et Handicap se donne pour mission de lutter contre la pauvreté des femmes en situation de handicap au Sénégal et de façon plus globale sur tout le continent africain. Dans le cadre d’une vision où le handicap ne devrait pas constituer un frein à la dignité et au bien-être des femmes, l’association se donne pour objectifs principaux de lutter contre la pauvreté, les Infections Sexuellement Transmissibles et le Sida chez les femmes en situation de handicap, tout en renforçant leur accès aux nouvelles technologies de l’information.
Vie Féminine et Handicap a été créée pour que les problématiques des femmes handicapées soient gérées à partir d’une perspective qui prenne en compte leurs besoins spécifiques, liés à la fois à leurs statuts de femme et de personne handicapée, et pour que leur situation économique évolue de façon positive et que la société soit mieux sensibilisée aux questions du handicap sans préjugés négatifs.
Constituée d’une cinquantaine de membres et agissant principalement sur les départements de Pikine et de Guédiawaye dans la région de Dakar, Vie Féminine et Handicap entreprend des activités de sensibilisation et de formation des femmes en situation de handicap ainsi que de plaidoyer envers les autorités, qui portent à la fois sur la question de l’exercice des droits humains des femmes handicapées, leur pouvoir économique et leur santé sexuelle et reproductive. « Nous organisons des activités de sensibilisation sur le handicap dans les quartiers en y invitant les autorités communales, les jeunes et les personnes « valides » car le handicap est entouré de beaucoup de préjugés négatifs dans la culture sénégalaise et africaine en général. Nous participons aussi à des conférences aux niveaux africain et international pour débattre de la situation des femmes handicapées en Afrique et dans le monde pour une meilleure harmonisation de nos stratégies », souligne Ndoya Kane.
« Sans faire preuve de solidarité, sans comprendre que notre combat n’est pas mené pour défendre les intérêts d’une seule organisation de personnes handicapées, mais de tou-te-s, nous n’obtiendrons jamais de résultats. Toutes les organisations de personnes handicapées doivent comprendre que le combat que nous menons est plus important que les rivalités internes et que nous devons avancer ensemble pour réussir à obtenir des résultats durables », expliquait Ndoya Kane en 2010 dans un rapport de l'AWID.
Mutualisation des ressources et autofinancement des membres
L’association a mis en place depuis février 2010 une caisse d’autofinancement (CAF), qui consiste à mettre en commun les cotisations des membres pour permettre à chacune de disposer de financements de petits projets personnels et d’initier des activités génératrices de revenus pour ses membres, axées notamment autour du petit commerce. L’idée de créer cette CAF est née de la volonté des membres elles-mêmes, qui constituent un groupe très précaire disposant de faibles ressources économiques et dont l’accès aux crédits formels s’avère par conséquent impossible.
La CAF a par exemple permis à Marétou Diop, une habitante de Guédiawaye, d’ouvrir une boutique dans le marché de son quartier pour y vendre des denrées alimentaires. « Maintenant, les autres femmes viennent adhérer à notre Caisse d’Autofinancement pour trouver du crédit et financer leurs activités », souligne Ndoya Kane.
« Les discussions de groupe sont d’autant plus importantes qu’elles permettent de nous retrouver entre femmes handicapées et renforcent la confiance chez certaines pour parler de leur condition de femme en toute aisance. Nous choisissons ensemble quel problème existe et essayons d’avoir recours à des spécialistes pour nous entretenir sur la question », raconte Ndoya Kane.
Feminine Life and Disability: Fighting against the discrimination in Senegal
The organization Vie Féminine et Handicap (Feminine Life and Disability) became an AWID member in 2008 “to better defend our ideas, to better promote awareness of the discrimination faced by women living with disability in Africa, and to increase visibility of our work,” says President of the organization, Ndoya Kane.
Considering the specific needs of women living with disability
Launched in 2008, the mission of Vie Féminine et Handicap is to fight against poverty among women living with disability in Senegal and globally, but especially across the African continent. With a vision where disability is no longer a barrier to a woman’s dignity or well-being, the main objectives of the organization are to combat poverty, sexually transmitted infections, and AIDS among women living with disability, while strengthening their access to new information technologies.
Vie Féminine et Handicap was created to address the issues of disabled women from a perspective that considers their specific needs, related to both their status as a woman and as a person living with a disability – and to ensure that their economic situation evolves in a positive way and to better sensitize society to disability issues without the negative prejudice.
Comprised of some fifteen members and working mainly across the Pikine and Guédiawaye departments in the Dakar region, the work of Vie Féminine et Handicap includes awareness raising and training for women living with disability, as well as advocacy with decision-makers around the human rights of women living with disability, their economic empowerment, and their sexual and reproductive health. “We do awareness raising on the issue of disability in neighbourhoods by inviting community authorities, youth and ‘able-bodied’ people, because disability is surrounded by a lot of negative prejudice in the Senegalese and African context in general. We also participate in conferences at the African and International level to discuss the situation of disabled women in Africa and around the world to better align our strategies,” highlights Kane.
“Without solidarity, without an understanding that the fight that we lead is not done in the interest of a sole disabled people’s organization, but in the interest of all, we will never achieve any results. Each disabled people’s organization to understand that the fight that we lead outweighs the competition and that we have to go forward together to succeed in getting long lasting results,” explained Ndoya Kane in 2010, in a repport produced by AWID
Pooling resources and the self-financing of members
Since February 2010, the organization has established a self-financing fund, which consists of pooling member contributions to allow each one to finance small personal projects and to initiate income-generating activities for its members, mainly focused on small business. The idea to create the fund originated from our members themselves, a vulnerable group with limited economic resources and for which access to credit is nearly impossible.
The Fund for example allowed Marétou Diop, a resident of Guédiawaye, to open a shop in her neighbourhood market and sell foodstuffs. “Now the other women are joining our self-financing fund to receive credit and finance their activities,” highlights Ndoya Kane.
“Group discussions are even more important as they give us the opportunity to meet among women living with disability and build confidence in some to comfortably talk about the issues they face as women. Together we decide which challenges exist and try to engage specialists in addressing the issue,” says Kane.
Género y discapacidad: la lucha contra la discriminación en Senegal
La organización Vie Féminine et Handicap [vida femenina y discapacidad] se afilió a AWID en el año 2008. La Presidenta de la organización, Ndoye Kane, afirma que esto se hizo « con el fin de defender mejor nuestras ideas, mejorar la concientización sobre la discriminación experimentada por las mujeres que viven con discapacidad en África y para dar mayor visibilidad a nuestro trabajo».
Tener en cuenta las necesidades específicas de las mujeres que viven con discapacidad
Vie Féminine et Handicap comenzó a operar en 2008 y su misión es luchar contra la pobreza que sufren las mujeres que viven con discapacidad en Senegal y en todo el mundo –aunque especialmente en el continente africano. En su visión, la discapacidad dejar de ser una barrera para la dignidad o el bienestar de las mujeres. Los principales objetivos de la organización son la lucha contra la pobreza, las infecciones de transmisión sexual y el sida entre las mujeres que viven con diversidad funcional, fortaleciendo su acceso a las nuevas tecnologías de la información.
Vie Féminine et Handicap se creó para abordar cuestiones relevantes a las mujeres con diversidad funcional — desde una perspectiva que toma en cuenta sus necesidades específicas como mujeres y personas que viven con una discapacidad —; para garantizar que su situación económica evoluciona de manera positiva; y para mejorar la sensibilidad social a temas relacionados con la discapacidad, eliminando los prejuicios negativos.
La organización cuenta con 15 integrantes y trabaja, principalmente, en los departamentos de Pikine y Guédiawaye de la región de Dakar. Su tarea incluye crear conciencia y capacitar a mujeres que viven con diversidad funcional; y también hacer incidencia con tomadores de decisión por los derechos humanos de las mujeres que viven con discapacidad, su empoderamiento económico y su salud sexual y reproductiva. «Creamos conciencia sobre el tema de la diversidad funcional en las comunidades, invitando a las autoridades, a la juventud y a las personas sin discapacidades, porque en Senegal y en el contexto africano hay, por lo general, muchos prejuicios negativos en torno a las capacidades diferentes. También participamos en conferencias regionales e internacionales para hablar de la situación de las mujeres discapacitadas en África y en el mundo; y para alinear mejor nuestras estrategias», subraya Kane.
«Sin solidaridad, sin una comprensión de que la lucha que nosotras lideramos no es para una sola organización de personas discapacitadas, sino para todas, nunca lograremos ningún resultado. Cada organización de personas con diversidad funcional debe comprender que la lucha que estamos librando es más importante que la competencia y que debemos avanzar juntas para seguir obteniendo resultados duraderos.», explicó Ndoya Kane, en el 2010 en un informe de AWID.
Recursos combinados y el financiamiento autónomo de la membresía
En febrero de 2010, la organización creó un fondo de autofinanciamiento, que combina los aportes de su membresía para que cada integrante financie pequeños proyectos personales y para iniciar actividades de generación de ingresos, particularmente bajo la forma de pequeños negocios. La idea de crear este fondo surgió de la propia membresía –un grupo vulnerable con recursos económicos limitados y para el que resulta casi imposible acceder al crédito.
Un ejemplo de este trabajo es la historia de Marétou Dio, quien vive en Guédiawaye: el fondo le permitió instalar un puesto en el mercado de su comunidad y vender productos alimenticios. «Ahora hay mujeres que se están sumando a nuestro fondo autofinanciado para obtener crédito y costear sus actividades», indica Ndoya Kane.
«Las conversaciones grupales son todavía más importantes porque abren la oportunidad de reunirnos con otras mujeres que viven con discapacidad y generar relaciones de confianza para hablar cómodamente sobre los problemas que nosotras enfrentamos. Decidimos colectivamente cuáles son los desafíos que afrontamos e intentamos traer especialistas para abordarlos», explica Kane.
