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Yolanda Santana
Women Human Rights Defenders
WHRDs are self-identified women and lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LBTQI) people and others who defend rights and are subject to gender-specific risks and threats due to their human rights work and/or as a direct consequence of their gender identity or sexual orientation.
WHRDs are subject to systematic violence and discrimination due to their identities and unyielding struggles for rights, equality and justice.
The WHRD Program collaborates with international and regional partners as well as the AWID membership to raise awareness about these risks and threats, advocate for feminist and holistic measures of protection and safety, and actively promote a culture of self-care and collective well being in our movements.
Risks and threats targeting WHRDs
WHRDs are exposed to the same types of risks that all other defenders who defend human rights, communities, and the environment face. However, they are also exposed to gender-based violence and gender-specific risks because they challenge existing gender norms within their communities and societies.
By defending rights, WHRDs are at risk of:
- Physical assault and death
- Intimidation and harassment, including in online spaces
- Judicial harassment and criminalization
- Burnout
A collaborative, holistic approach to safety
We work collaboratively with international and regional networks and our membership
- to raise awareness about human rights abuses and violations against WHRDs and the systemic violence and discrimination they experience
- to strengthen protection mechanisms and ensure more effective and timely responses to WHRDs at risk
We work to promote a holistic approach to protection which includes:
- emphasizing the importance of self-care and collective well being, and recognizing that what care and wellbeing mean may differ across cultures
- documenting the violations targeting WHRDs using a feminist intersectional perspective;
- promoting the social recognition and celebration of the work and resilience of WHRDs ; and
- building civic spaces that are conducive to dismantling structural inequalities without restrictions or obstacles
Our Actions
We aim to contribute to a safer world for WHRDs, their families and communities. We believe that action for rights and justice should not put WHRDs at risk; it should be appreciated and celebrated.
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Promoting collaboration and coordination among human rights and women’s rights organizations at the international level to strengthen responses concerning safety and wellbeing of WHRDs.
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Supporting regional networks of WHRDs and their organizations, such as the Mesoamerican Initiative for WHRDs and the WHRD Middle East and North Africa Coalition, in promoting and strengthening collective action for protection - emphasizing the establishment of solidarity and protection networks, the promotion of self-care, and advocacy and mobilization for the safety of WHRDs;
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Increasing the visibility and recognition of WHRDs and their struggles, as well as the risks that they encounter by documenting the attacks that they face, and researching, producing, and disseminating information on their struggles, strategies, and challenges:
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Mobilizing urgent responses of international solidarity for WHRDs at risk through our international and regional networks, and our active membership.
Related Content
Will the AWID Forum still be in Taipei in light of the COVID-19?
AWID is closely monitoring the global COVID 19 situation and for now anticipates continuing with the Forum as planned.
If at any moment the situation demands something different, we will let you know right away.
The 14th AWID International Forum is scheduled to take place 20-23 September 2021 in Taipei,.
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Amanda Castro
¿Puedo responder la encuesta por fuera de KOBO y compartir las respuestas con ustedes a través de correo electrónico?
Salvo que existan cuestiones de accesibilidad o que respondas la encuesta en otro idioma, alentamos encarecidamente a usar KOBO a los efectos de contar con una recopilación y un análisis de datos estandarizados para la investigación ¿Dónde está el dinero?
L’activisme au Moyen-Orient et en Afrique du Nord
Notre hommage en ligne met à l’honneur cinq défenseuses des droits humains assassinées au Moyen-Orient ou en Afrique du Nord. Ces défenseuses étaient avocates ou militantes et ont œuvré pour les droits des femmes ou pour les droits civils. Leur mort met en évidence les conditions de travail souvent difficiles et dangereuses dans leurs pays respectifs. Nous vous invitons à vous joindre à nous pour commémorer la vie, le travail et l’activisme de ces femmes. 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
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Obiageli “Oby” Nwankwo
Con una carrera jurídica que abarcó más de 30 años, Oby era conocida en toda África y en el mundo como una defensora de la justicia de género y los derechos humanos.
Fundó y fue Directora Ejecutiva del Civil Resource Development and Documentation Centre (CIRDDOC), una ONG nigeriana que patrocina capacitaciones y actividades de creación de redes para miembrxs de la sociedad civil, parlamentarixs y otrxs actores clave, para promover los derechos humanos, la buena gobernanza y el acceso a la justicia y el estado de derecho.
Oby es afectuosamente recordada por lxs activistas de Nigeria como una «extraordinaria activista que mostraba energía y pasión por la lucha por la igualdad de género y la justicia de género en Nigeria y en toda África».
Why did AWID decide to change the Forum location from Bali to Taipei?
Events in Indonesia, in late 2019 - in particular, signs of intensifying militarization and backlash against LGBTQ rights - led us to question AWID’s ability to maintain a reasonably safe and welcoming environment for the diversity of participants we aspire to bring together at the Forum.
After careful consideration the AWID Board of Directors decided to change the venue for the 14th International AWID Forum, in November 2019 from Bali to Taipei.
Taipei offers a strong degree of logistical capacities, and is accessible for many travellers (with a facilitated e-visa process for international conferences).
For more details:
Snippet FEA FEMINIST COOPERATIVISM (EN)
FEMINIST
COOPERATIVISM
When work and
solidarity go together
Claudia Pia Baudracco
L’enquête WITM est-elle accessible aux personnes en situation de handicap?
Oui, elle est accessible aux personnes ayant une diversité de capacités d’audition, de mouvement, de vision et cognitives.
Advancing Movements
6 Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRDs) across Western and Southeastern Europe have in their lifetime researched, campaigned, participated in and advanced peace and women’s rights movements be it through political and social activism or through dance. We are grateful for the legacy they have left. Please join AWID in honoring these women, their activism and legacy by sharing the memes below with your colleagues, networks and friends and by using the hashtags #WHRDTribute and #16Days.
Please click on each image below to see a larger version and download as a file
Asma Jahangir
Asma était une militante pakistanaise des droits humains, une critique courageuse de l'ingérence de l'armée dans la politique et une défenseure acharnée de la primauté du droit.
Elle a été la présidente fondatrice de la Commission des droits de l'homme du Pakistan, un groupe indépendant ainsi qu’administratrice de l'International Crisis Group. Elle a remporté des prix internationaux et a été rapporteuse des Nations Unies sur les droits de l'homme et les exécutions extrajudiciaires.
Ses collègues et ami-e-s de l’AWID se souviennent d'elle avec affection
« Grâce à sa vie, Asma a réécrit l'histoire que beaucoup d'entre nous ont racontée en tant que femmes. Asma a changé le monde. Elle l'a changé au Pakistan et elle l'a changé dans notre imaginaire. »
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EN CIFRAS
Dora Alicia Recinos Sorto
Do I have to respond to all questions at once or can I come back to complete it later?
If you wish to save your responses and come back to the survey later, you are able to do this whenever needed. KOBO will save your draft responses on the top left corner of the survey page and reload your record when you return to the survey. Just make sure to continue from the same computer and browser.
2. Frame your research
A framework for your research will guide throughout your research process, and the framing document you develop can also serve as a concept note to advisors and partners, and a funding proposal to potential donors.
Before conducting any research:
- Set the goals of your research
- List the key questions you want your research to answer
- Write out the type of data you will need to obtain and review to answer your key questions
- Define the final products you will produce with your research
Your research framing may evolve over time as you refine your questions and gather new information. However, building an initial research framing will allow you to work from a solid foundation.
Goals
To create a strong foundation for your WITM research, it is important to clarify what you hope to accomplish.
For example, one goal of AWID’s WITM global research was to provide rigorous data to prove what we already knew anecdotally: that women’s rights organizations are discrepantly underfunded. With this data, we felt we would be better positioned to influence funders in their decision-making.
Your goals could be to:
- Generate hard data on funding realities and trends to prove or disprove existing myths.
- Gain deeper insight into differences between the perspectives of donors and women’s rights organizations.
- Influence donors in grant-making.
- Add crucial input to key funding debates.
- Explore collaboration between donors and women’s rights organizations on issues that emerge from the research.
Key questions
Frame your research process with key questions that only your research can answer and limit those questions to a specific time frame (e.g. past five years, past year, etc.).
Consider the following points:
- What exactly do you want to learn more about and what is the hypothesis you would like to test? Writing this out will assist you in your thought process.
- Is there existing research on this? If research already exists, it may not make sense to conduct new WITM research unless you feel like the existing research is not extensive or specific enough.
- What time frame do you want to cover in your analysis? For example, will your research analyze only the past year, or several previous years, such as the past five years?
- Are you planning to repeat your survey to collect data in the future?
Choosing a specific timeframe for your research can result in more precise findings than working with an open-ended timeframe. Also, deciding whether you will repeat this research at regular intervals will allow you to set up data collection benchmarks for easy replication and comparison over time.
These were the key questions that guided AWID’s WITM research process:
- What is the current state of women’s organizations’ financial sustainability across the world?
- What external and internal trends are impacting donors’ funding decisions to support women’s organizations and movements?
Type of data
Now that you determined your key questions, you can determine what kind of data will help you answer your key questions. This will allow you to plan the rest of your schedule for your WITM research.
For example, will you conduct a survey that covers an extensive portion of your priority population? Will you analyze the applications that funders are receiving from a certain region? Will you also conduct interviews (recommended)? By determining the types of data you need, you can reach out to external parties who will provide this data early on, and plot out your full schedule accordingly. Some suggested sources of data could be:
- Surveys you create for women’s rights organizations and donors
- Application and grantmaking data from donors funding cycles
- Interviews of prominent activists, organizations, and donors
- Donor data from membership organizations and networks, such as the Foundation Center, regional or national donor affinity groups.
Diverse data sets are a great way to create robust and rich analysis.
The data from AWID’s 2011 Global Survey formed the backbone of our analysis in Watering the Leaves, Starving the Roots report. However, we also collected data from interviews and interactions with several actors in the field, ranging from donors to activists and women’s rights organizations.
Final products
In addition to allowing you to set your schedule, creating an initial plan of what products you will develop will also allow you to work out what resources you need.
For example, will you only produce a long research report or will you also create infographics, brochures and presentations? Depending on your products, you may need to hire a design firm, plan events and so on.
These products will also be the tools you use to achieve your goals, so it is important to keep those goals in mind. For example, is your WITM research exclusively intended as an advocacy tool to influence funders? In that case, your products should allow you to engage with funders at a deep level.
Some sample products:
- Long report for dissemination with key funders and organizations.
Historically, AWID WITM research has centered on a long report, from which AWID distilled other smaller products - see rest of list. - Infographic for viral distribution online
- Short animation demonstrating key findings
- Short brochure(s) distilling your findings and messages
- Articles and blog posts on key findings to draw interest to your larger report
- Seminars or webinars presenting key findings.
Conclusion: Framing your research will give you the big picture
Framing your research to cover goals, key questions, types of data, and final products will allow you to create a well-planned schedule, prepare your resources in advance, and plan a realistic budget.
This will make interactions with external partners easier and allow you to be nimble when unexpected setbacks occur.
Previous step
Next step
Estimated time:
• 1 month
People needed:
• 1 or more Research person(s)
Resources available:
• AWID Research Framing: sample 1
• AWID Research Framing: sample 2
Previous step
Next step
Ready to Go? Worksheet
Deborah Holmes
At the time of her death, following a short but aggressive battle with cancer, Deborah was the Chief Communication and Engagement Officer at the Women’s Funding Network (WFN).
Deborah also worked for the Global Fund for Women from 2008 to 2017. Deborah was extremely loved and respected by board, staff, and partners of Global Fund for Women.
Kavita Ramdas, former CEO of the Global Fund for Women aptly noted that Deborah was “a small package exploding with warmth, generosity, intelligence, style, and a passionate commitment to fusing beauty with justice. She understood the power of story. The power of women’s voice. The power of lived experience. The power of rising from the ashes and telling others it was possible. And, still we rise.”
Musimbi Kanyoro, the present CEO of the Global Fund for Women, added, “We have lost a sister and her life illuminates values that unite and inspire us all. As we all come together to mourn Deborah’s passing, let us remember and celebrate her remarkable, bold, and passionate life.”
