Memory as Resistance: A Tribute to WHRDs no longer with us
AWID’s Tribute is an art exhibition honouring feminists, women’s rights and social justice activists from around the world who are no longer with us.
In 2020, we are taking a turn
This year’s tribute tells stories and shares narratives about those who co-created feminist realities, have offered visions of alternatives to systems and actors that oppress us, and have proposed new ways of organising, mobilising, fighting, working, living, and learning.
49 new portraits of feminists and Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRDs) are added to the gallery. While many of those we honour have passed away due to old age or illness, too many have been killed as a result of their work and who they are.
This increasing violence (by states, corporations, organized crime, unknown gunmen...) is not only aimed at individual activists but at our joint work and feminist realities.
The stories of activists we honour keep their legacy alive and carry their inspiration forward into our movements’ future work.
The portraits of the 2020 edition are designed by award winning illustrator and animator, Louisa Bertman.
AWID would like to thank the families and organizations who shared their personal stories and contributed to this memorial. We join them in continuing the remarkable work of these activists and WHRDs and forging efforts to ensure justice is achieved in cases that remain in impunity.
“They tried to bury us. They didn’t know we were seeds.” - Mexican Proverb
The Tribute was first launched in 2012
It took shape with a physical exhibit of portraits and biographies of feminists and activists who passed away at AWID’s 12th International Forum, in Turkey. It now lives as an online gallery, updated every year.
To date, 467 feminists and WHRDs are featured.
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Rapport Annuel 2011

Chaque programme comporte plusieurs volets, y compris le développement et la diffusion de connaissances, la recherche-action, les plaidoyers, l’établissement d’alliances et l’organisation de dialogues stratégiques.
Notre Rapport Annuel 2011 vous proposent un sommaire des principales réalisations pendant l'année, dans le cadre de chacune des programmes de l’AWID.
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Asociación de Mujeres Afrodescendientes del Norte del Cauca
La organización comunitaria de mujeres negras en la región del Norte del Cauca en Colombia se remonta al pasado colonial del país, que está marcado por el racismo, el patriarcado y el capitalismo que sustentaron la esclavitud como un medio para explotar los ricos suelos de la región.
Estas organizadoras son las heroínas de un amplio movimiento por la autonomía negra, que lucha por el uso sostenible de los bosques y los recursos naturales de la región como elementos vitales para su cultura y sustento.
Durante 25 años, la Asociación de Mujeres Afrodescendientes del Norte del Cauca (ASOM) se ha dedicado a impulsar la organización de mujeres afrocolombianas en el Norte del Cauca. Se establecieron en 1997 como respuesta a las continuas violaciones de derechos humanos, la ausencia de políticas públicas, el manejo inadecuado de los recursos naturales y la falta de oportunidades para las mujeres en el territorio.
Han forjado la lucha para asegurar los derechos étnico-territoriales, para poner fin a la violencia contra las mujeres y obtener el reconocimiento del papel de las mujeres en la construcción de la paz en Colombia.
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AWID in 2016: Co-Creating Feminist Futures
AWID is pleased to share our 2016 Annual Report.

2016 was an incredible year for AWID, we convened the 13th International AWID Forum in Bahia, Brazil, a space for strategizing and alliance building with feminists and other justice movements, which was attended by over 1800 participants from 120 countries and territories across the globe.
We know that women’s rights and feminist movements are key actors in creating sustainable transformative change. Within our movements, organizing, resisting and responding to the challenging context is sharpening, and in our increasingly connected world, the potential for collective action across diverse movements has dramatically grown.
This is the crucial work that AWID seeks to amplify and support every day.
What we achieved in 2016
We expanded solidarity and joint action across diverse movements
A highlight of 2016 was our ground-breaking 13th International Forum with the theme: “Feminist Futures: Building Collective Power for Rights and Justice”, where we harnessed the thinking and energy of nearly 500 partners, presenters, panelists, moderators, artivists, writers, facilitators, IT innovators, and performers, many of them leaders in their movements. We also supported the convening of the first and historical Black Feminisms Forum (BFF) organised by a working group of Black Feminists from across the world.
We strengthened knowledge of issues and strategies
- On challenging corporate power - we produced ‘Challenging corporate power: Struggles for women’s rights, economic and gender justice’ with the Solidarity Center, revealing the scale and scope of corporate power and outlining how corporations in collusion with elites and other powerful actors, are impacting the lives of women and oppressed peoples.
- On feminist economies - we released ‘Feminist Propositions for a Just Economy’ with the Center for Women’s Global Leadership (CWGL) and the African Women’s Development and Communication Network FEMNET.
- On Young Feminist Activism - we published ‘Brave, Creative, Resilient: The Global State of Young Feminist Organizing’, a young feminist mapping project.
We contributed to collective advocacy
AWID, in partnership with other feminist and women’s rights organisations, engaged in advocacy and dialogue to explore better solutions for women’s rights agendas including our work with the Count Me In! consortium .
We increased the visibility of movements
The experiences of women with disabilities, Black and Afro-descendant women, sex workers, Indigenous women, trans and intersex people, domestic workers and how their lives are impacted by multiple oppressions and violence were placed front and center of the Forum process.
We also launched the 2016 WHRD Tribute to commemorate defenders who are no longer with us, during the 16 Days of activism, and thanks to the contributions from our members,
We drove attention to groups and issues that do not usually receive adequate mainstream media coverage through our partnership with The Guardian and Mama Cash.
Our members

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MANO CAMBIADA
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Terme des communautés noires du Cauca du Nord pour la minga, le travail collaboratif dans les fermes, basé sur l'entraide et la solidarité.
Nelly Amaya
WITM - Refreshed INFOGRAPHIC 3 FR
Comment les féministes s’autofinancent ?
Les organisations féministes et de défense des droits des femmes ne dépendent pas uniquement des financements institutionnels, elles s’autofinancent. Nos mouvements sont animés par la passion, la solidarité, l’engagement politique et le soin collectif.
Ces ressources autonomes et autogénérées sont souvent invisibles dans les budgets, mais elles sont le pilier de notre action collective.
2021: Feminist Power in Action
In 2021, AWID, along with many other organizations, was coming to grips with the implications of the on-going global pandemic for how we work and our role in this particular time. The year taught us three critical lessons about navigating this moment as a global feminist movement-support organization.
Download the full 2021 Annual review

Through dialogue and exchanges critical to their work, AWID connected thousands to feminists from around the world.
Our experience in 2021 reaffirmed the importance of building and sustaining a global feminist community, and AWID’s core mission to support feminist movements as a whole. We believe that at this moment, a strong community bound by a shared vision and collective care is the foundation of all social change and transformation.
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Since its foundation,
Metzineres has supported over:
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383 people |
Lesbia Yaneth Urquía Urquía
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Démocratie radicale et justice climatique - le débat absent de la COP30
Modèles de gouvernance alternative comme moyens de sortir de la crise climatique.
📅 Mercredi 12 novembre 2025
📍 Seminario Mar Nossa Sra Da Assunção, Pará, Brésil
Site web en anglais
Lucy O.
With over ten years of finance experience, Lucy has devoted her career to for profit and furthering nonprofit missions. She also worked and volunteered at non-for-profit organizations. From the fast-paced world of Finance, Lucy has passion for staying tuned with tech skills in the finance field. Lucy joined AWID in 2014. During her spare time she enjoys music, traveling, and variety sports.
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Metzineres provides the following kinds of support, known as
Environments of Shelter:
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Production and entrepreneurship |
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Gloria Capitan
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Resistance Hubs for Climate Justice
Kasia Staszewska
Kasia viene apoyando la labor de los movimientos feministas y por la justicia social desde hace 15 años. Antes de sumarse a AWID, se lideró las acciones de política e incidencia ActionAid y Amnistía Internacional, a la vez que participaba en procesos de organización feministas y de distintas agrupaciones por la justicia social en Polonia, en pro del acceso al aborto y contra la violencia en las fronteras europeas. Es una apasionada del financiamiento para la movilizaciónfeminista en toda su audacia, riqueza y diversidad. Reparte su tiempo entre Varsovia y su aldea comunitaria de trabajo artesanal en el bosque. Le encanta tomar saunas y adora con locura a su perro Wooly.
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