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:
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 world is a much different place than it was a year ago, and it will continue to change.
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.
Snippet FEA This is the story of the Nadia Echazú (EN)
A workplace does not have to operate on competition and profit. It does not have to exploit people for the benefit of the owner and a small elite either.
Instead, communities on the margins of formal economies are building cooperative models based on autonomy, cooperation, shared responsibility, self-management and solidarity.
Worker-controlled cooperatives and workplaces have always offered alternative ways of generating employment opportunities, income, social security and savings - while distributing revenues in more communal, sustainable and safer ways.
But it is more than an employment opportunity: it is the making of dreams into a reality, and the building of feminist economies based on solidarity and care for each other. It is about creating a world where our lives, our labor and our communities matter.
This is the story of the Nadia Echazú Textile Cooperative, the first social enterprise managed by and for travesti and trans people in Argentina.
Laura fue una abogada y líder activista que luchó valientemente por la descriminalización del trabajo sexual en Irlanda.
Es recordada como «una combatiente por la libertad de lxs trabajadorxs sexuales, una feminista, una madre para su hija y una amiga necesaria para mucha gente».
Laura promovió el reconocimiento de las personas de la industria del sexo como trabajadorxs merecedorxs de derechos. Presentó demandas por la descriminalización, e inició una revisión judicial en la Corte Suprema de Belfast respecto de las provisiones que criminalizan la compra de servicios sexuales. Declaró que su intención era llevar el caso a la Corte Europea de Derechos Humanos.
Merci d'avoir participé à la création de nos Horizons féministes
Un grand MERCI d'avoir pris part au 13ème Forum international de l'AWID !
Toute l'équipe de l'AWID vous remercie de nous avoir rejoint pour ces quatre jours d'apprentissage et de célébrations, pour envisager, rêver et co-créer nos Horizons féministes.
Nous avons été incroyablement inspiré-e-s et enthousiasmé-e-s par tout ce travail collectif que nous avons accompli ensemble !
Pour plus d'images, d'inspiration et de ressources :
¿Puedo contactarme con alguien si tengo alguna pregunta o duda?
Si tienes alguna pregunta o duda, contáctanos a través del formulario disponible aquí, indicando «Encuesta ¿Dónde está el dinero?» en el título del mensaje. También puede escribirnos a witm@awid.org.
Jusqu’à son décès, à la suite d’une lutte brève mais agressive contre le cancer, Deborah était la directrice de la communication et de la mobilisation au Women’s funding network (le réseau de financement des femmes), WFN.
Entre 2008 et 2017, elle avait également travaillé auprès du Fonds mondial pour les femmes. Deborah était extrêmement appréciée et respectée par le conseil d'administration, l’équipe et les partenaires du Fonds mondial pour les femmes.
Kavita Ramdas, ex-PDG a déclaré, à juste titre, que Deborah était « la combinaison unique d’un être mêlant chaleur, générosité, intelligence et style, avec un engagement passionné pour faire fusionner la beauté et la justice. Elle avait compris le pouvoir des histoires. Le pouvoir de la voix des femmes. Le pouvoir de l'expérience vécue. Le pouvoir de renaître de ses cendres et de dire aux autres que c'était possible. Et nous continuons à nous relever. »
Musimbi Kanyoro, l'actuelle PDG du Fonds mondial pour les femmes, a ajouté: « Nous avons perdu une sœur et sa vie illumine des valeurs qui nous unissent et nous inspirent tou-te-s. Alors que nous sommes tou-te-s réuni-e-s pour pleurer le décès de Deborah, souvenons-nous et célébrons sa vie remarquable, audacieuse et passionnée. »
The search for alternative means of food production based on environmental sustainability is gaining ground across regions. This worldwide search comes with a common characteristic: the need to involve rural people and particularly women, building on their local priorities and knowledge by employing the principle of agroecology.
Definition
Agroecology is a way of practicing agriculture or using technologies that do not harm the environment. It proposes breaking with the hegemonic rural development model based on large landed estates and single-crop plantations that benefit mostly agricultural businesses and entrenches social exclusion.
In family farming, agroecology manifests as a resistance to the current development model and its social, cultural, environmental, and economic problems. It opposes the lack of the farmer’s financial capital autonomy; and it symbolizes a resistance to the current agribusiness model.
Feminist perspective
Efforts based solely on agroecology may not be sufficient to solve all problems of women’s marginalization and invisibility. A feminist perspective is then crucial to analyze the norms associated with the idea of family as currently constituted as the perfect institution, as well as with the condition of women’s subordination.
In simpler terms, it is important to include in this debate a reflection on socially constructed gender roles to advance the emancipatory potential of agroecology.
Sue was an artist, activist and teacher born in 1936 in Maryland, USA.
Sue created art for women, about women. As a lesbian feminist, and for a time, a separatist, she was committed to creating women-only spaces. In 1976 she purchased land that is still held by women who visit to make art. Sue took a fierce stand on the protection of women and girls.
With her groundbreaking futuristic, classical and anthropological approach, she filled any room she entered with intellect, authentic eccentricity, unforgiving wit, and humor. Her ideas about consciousness and creativity continue to inspire many people.
Member states and women's rights advocates and organisations are gathering at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from 13 - 24 March for the 61st Commission on the Status of Women to address ‘women’s economic empowerment’ in the context of Sustainable Development Goal 5.
Whilst AWID is looking forward to physically meeting those of you who will be in New York, we want to engage with all those who cannot attend CSW, and as much as possible, amplify your voices in relevant spaces.
Continue reading to find out how to engage with AWID around CSW, whether you are attending physically or not.
Participate in an artistic takeover!
We are thrilled that AWID member Nayani Thiyagarajah is attending CSW this year and will take over the AWID Instagram. She will be available onsite to connect with other members for a possible feature on our Instagram. She will also explore possibilities of including some AWID members in a short film on the theme, ‘The personal is political’, a story of Nayani’s participation in this year’s CSW.
Nayani Thiyagarajah
Who is Nayani?
Nayani Thiyagarajah is a director, producer, and writer, dedicated to stories for the screen. A daughter of the Tamil diaspora, she calls Toronto home. For over 10 years, Nayani has worked in the arts and cultural industries. Her first independent feature documentary Shadeism: Digging Deeper (2015) had its World Premiere at the 2015 Zanzibar International Film Festival, where it won a Special Jury Prize. Nayani recently launched [RE]FRAME, with her producing partner Camaro West, a production company based out of Atlanta and Toronto, focused on re-framing the narratives around Black, Indigenous, and other people of colour through storytelling on screen.
On a more serious note, it should be noted that Nayani has a strange laugh, she's quite awkward, and her head is always in the clouds. She feels blessed beyond belief to create stories for the screen and play make believe for a living. Above all else, she believes in love.
Interested in meeting Nayani and being considered for inclusion in the film?
Send an email to membership@awid.org with the subject line “CSW Artistic Takeover”
By 13 March 2017
Please include your full name and country information.
Can't attend? Voice it!
If you are not able to attend CSW61 because of a travel ban, either due to the one imposed by the Trump administration or one you are facing from your own government, please share your story with us.
Send us messages you want heard in the United Nations spaces concerning funding, the impact of the reinstatement of the Global Gag Rule, and the need to push back against all types of religious fundamentalisms. You can send these in the following formats:
Video: no longer than two minutes and sent through a file sharing folder (for example dropbox, google drive)
Audio: no longer than two minutes and sent through a file sharing folder (for example dropbox, google drive)
Image: you can share a photo or a poster of your message
Text: no longer than 200 words and sent in the body of an email or in a word document
AWID members tell us that connecting with other members at CSW is valuable. In such a huge advocacy space, it is useful to connect with others including activists working on similar issues, or originating from the same country or region. Recognising the importance of connecting for movement building, we invite you to:
Interested in connecting with other members @CSW61?
If you are attending the CSW, we’d love to see what’s going on through your eyes!
Show us by capturing a moment you find speaks to the energy in the CSW space, be it on or off site. We hope to publish some of your ‘images’ on our social media channels and share on awid.org.
You can send us:
colour and/ or black and white photographs with a title (if you wish) and
a caption (no longer than 100 words) about the story your image tells.
Please also include:
your full name and country of origin and
let us know if we can publish the information you shared (in part or in full).
During the whole CSW or shortly after until Tuesday 28 March 2017.
Snippet - WITM Why now_col 1 - PT
Por que devo responder à pesquisa agora?
Os movimentos feministas, de direitos das mulheres, de justiça de género, de LBTQI+ e de aliados em todo do mundo encontram-se num momento crítico, e enfrentam uma forte retaliação contra direitos e liberdades conquistados anteriormente. Os últimos anos trouxeram o crescimento rápido do autoritarismo, a violenta repressão da sociedade civil e a criminalização dos defensores dos direitos humanos das mulheres e de pessoas de género diverso, o aumento da guerra e do conflito em várias partes do nosso mundo, a perpetuação contínua de injustiças económicas e crises de saúde, da ecologia e do clima interligadas.
Snippet FEA Get Involved Story 3 (EN)
GET INVOLVED!
Follow the cooperative's work on Facebook and Instagram, share their campaigns and stay tuned to their actions and fundraising events!
