AWID Forum: Co-creating Feminist Futures
In September 2016, the 13th AWID international Forum brought together in Brazil over 1800 feminists and women’s rights advocates in a spirit of resistance and resilience.
This section highlights the gains, learnings and resources that came out of our rich conversations. We invite you to explore, share and comment!
What has happened since 2016?
One of the key takeaways from the 2016 Forum was the need to broaden and deepen our cross-movement work to address rising fascisms, fundamentalisms, corporate greed and climate change.
With this in mind, we have been working with multiple allies to grow these seeds of resistance:
- Our Seed Initiatives, has helped 20 ideas that emerged at the Forum to grow into concrete actions
- The video “Defending people and planet” and guide “Weaving resistance through action” put courageous WHRDs in the spotlight and present concrete strategies they use to confront corporate power.
- With our animations about the State of Our Feminist Movements and Climate and Environmental Justice, movements now have creative tools to support their advocacy work.
- The compiling artistic expressions of our #MovementsMatter series continues to inspire stronger and more creative organizing around the world.
- Movements can also benefit from new methodologies on Visioning Feminist Futures (Coming up soon!)
And through our next strategic plan and Forum process, we are committed to keep developing ideas and deepen the learnings ignited at the 2016 Forum.
What happens now?
The next AWID Forum will take place in the Asia Pacific region (exact location and dates to be announced in 2018).
We look forward to you joining us!
About the AWID Forum
AWID Forums started in 1983, in Washington DC. Since then, the event has grown to become many things to many peoples: an iterative process of sharpening our analyses, vision and actions; a watershed moment that reinvigorates participants’ feminisms and energizes their organizing; and a political home for women human rights defenders to find sanctuary and solidarity.
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¿Por qué debería responder la encuesta?
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Metzineres
Paseando por el barrio del Raval en Barcelona, puede que te encuentres con Metzineres, una cooperativa feminista por y para mujerxs que consumen drogas y que sobreviven múltiples situaciones de vulnerabilidad.
Imagínate un lugar libre de estigma, donde lxs mujerxs puedan consumir drogas de manera segura. Un lugar que brinda seguridad, apoyo y acompañamiento a mujerxs cuyos derechos son sistemáticamente vulnerados por la guerra contra las drogas y que sufren violencia, discriminacion y represión como consecuencia.
Justo afuera de la entrada, lxs transeúntes y visitantes son recibidxs con una enorme pizarra que describe consejos, trucos, deseos y dibujos de personas que usan drogas. También hay un calendario que cuenta con una serie de actividades auto-gestionadas por la comunidad de Metzineres. Ya sean talleres de peluquería y cosmética, radio, teatro, comidas comunales ofrecidas a la comunidad o clases de defensa personal, ¡siempre hay algo que hacer!
La cooperativa proporciona sitios de consumo seguros, así como servicios que cubren las necesidades básicas de las personas. Hay camas, espacios de almacenamiento, duchas, baños, lavadoras y una pequeña terraza al aire libre donde la gente puede relajarse o hacer un poco de jardinería.
Metzineres opera dentro de un marco de reducción de daños, que intenta reducir las consecuencias negativas del uso de drogas. Pero la reducción de daños es mucho más que un conjunto de prácticas: es una política anclada en la justicia social, la dignidad y los derechos de las personas que consumen drogas.
Lorraine Gradwell
Joanne Kobuthi-Kuria
Joanne est une féministe africaine passionnée par le démantèlement des inégalités de genre sur le continent africain. Elle a travaillé avec un certain nombre d'organisations mondiales, de médias et de think tanks, dont entre autres Amnesty International, Wrthy, le Local Development Research Institute, la BBC et la East African Community (EAC). Elle siège au sein de plusieurs conseils d'administration, dont celui de Freely in Hope, une ONG basée au Kenya et en Zambie, qui souhaite outiller les survivant·e·s et les défenseur·e·s dans leur lutte contre les violences sexuelles, et celui de Msingi Trust, un mouvement d'activistes qui se réunissent à la croisée de la foi et des droits humains. Elle est titulaire d'un master en gestion d’affaires, d'un master en politiques publiques et d'une licence en droit. Elle est accro aux livres, avec un penchant pour la fiction.
Maria do Espírito Santo da Silva
Snippet - WITM Start the survey 1 - EN
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The survey is available in: Arabic, English, French, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish!
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Les soins comme fondations des économies
La pandémie du COVID-19 a mis en évidence la crise mondiale des soins et démontré les échecs du modèle économique dominant qui continue de détruire les services publics essentiels, les infrastructures sociales et les systèmes de soins dans le monde entier.
Cozinha Ocupaçao 9 Julho, de l’Association des Femmes Afro-Descendantes du Cauca du Nord (ASOM) et Metzineres ne sont que quelques exemples d'économies des soins qui se concentrent sur les besoins des personnes marginalisées et de la Nature, ainsi que sur le travail de soins, le travail reproductif, invisible et non rémunéré nécessaire pour assurer la pérennité de nos vies, de nos sociétés et de nos écosystèmes.
Christine Loudes
Veena Singh
Veena Singh is a Fiji Islander, feminist, and woman of colour. Born and raised in a small rural town in Fiji, she draws strength from her rich mixed heritage (her mother is an Indigenous Fijian woman and her father is Fijian of Indian descent). Veena’s identity and lived experiences deeply inform her commitment to justice, equity, and inclusion. With over two decades of experience in human rights, gender equality, community development, and social inclusion, Veena is a passionate advocate for shifting power to create transformative change and for building an “economy of kindness”. Her work spans diverse areas including community development; women, peace and security; social policy; human rights; and policy advocacy.
Veena is deeply committed to advancing inclusion, peace and justice, sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), climate justice, transitional justice, and human rights. She brings a wealth of experience working across grassroots networks, international organizations, and government institutions, always centering community and locally led approaches and feminist principles.
Outside of her ‘office life’, Veena is an environmental advocate, mental health champion, and writer. She is a mum to 11 cats, a saree wearer, and a lover of snail-mails and postcards. A thoughtful observer of feminist movements in Fiji and the Pacific, Veena is on a personal journey to “decolonise the mind and the self through radical self-reflection.” Above all, she is driven by a desire and dream to produce relatable, resonant writing that connects with the Pacific diaspora and amplifies voices from the margins.
Myriam Merlet
Snippet - WITM about research - ES
Acerca de la investigación ¿Dónde está el dinero?
La encuesta mundial ¿Dónde está el dinero? es un pilar fundamental de la tercera edición de nuestra investigación orientada a la acción: ¿Dónde está el dinero para las organizaciones feministas? (abreviadamente, ¿Dónde está el dinero? y WITM). Los resultados de la encuesta se desarrollarán y analizarán en mayor profundidad mediante conversaciones exhaustivas con activistas y donantes, y se contrastarán con otros análisis e investigaciones disponibles acerca del estado del financiamiento para las organizaciones feministas y por la igualdad de género en todo el mundo.
El informe completo ¿Dónde está el dinero para las organizaciones feministas? se publicará en 2026.
Para conocer más información acerca de cómo AWID ha arrojado luz sobre el dinero destinado en favor y en contra de los movimientos feministas, consulta nuestra historia ¿Dónde está el dinero? y nuestros informes anteriores aquí.
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La Couverture
Soin et guérison
Betty Tebbs
Christine Hayhurst
Con más de 30 años de experiencia en finanzas, Christine ha dedicado su carrera a fomentar misiones sin fines de lucro en todo el mundo. Sus contribuciones incluyen desempeñarse como tesorera en la junta de una ONG . Se sumó a AWID en 2007 como Fiscalizadora y, en 2023, asumió el rol de Directora de Finanzas. En su tiempo libre, disfruta de viajar, la jardinería y el senderismo.
Milagros Barahona Portocarrero
What is the purpose of the WITM survey?
The key objective of the WITM survey is to shine light on the financial status of diverse feminist, women’s rights, gender justice, LBTQI+ and allied movements globally. Based on this, we hope to further strengthen the case for moving more and better money, as well as shift power, to feminist movements.
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LAND AND
AGROECOLOGY
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Ekaete Judith Umoh
Ekaete Judith Umoh is an international disability rights advocate and inclusive development expert with astute analysis of issues regarding gender, disability and inclusive development. Her dream is to see increased visibility of women and girls with disabilities in the global feminist movement, as well as in all development efforts around the world.
Ekaete enjoys activism and politics, and went on to become the first elected female President of the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD) in Nigeria, where she led Organizations of Persons with disabilities in the struggle to sign the Nigerian Disability Bill into Law in 2019, after over 17 years of consistent advocacy. Thereafter, she joined CBM Global as a pioneer Country Director and led her team for about 3 years, contributing towards ending the circle of poverty and disability in Nigeria. Aside from disability activism, Ekaete has served as consultant to several development agencies, providing technical assistance on disability inclusion in program and project design.