Young Feminist Activism
Organizing creatively, facing an increasing threat
Young feminist activists play a critical role in women’s rights organizations and movements worldwide by bringing up new issues that feminists face today. Their strength, creativity and adaptability are vital to the sustainability of feminist organizing.
At the same time, they face specific impediments to their activism such as limited access to funding and support, lack of capacity-building opportunities, and a significant increase of attacks on young women human rights defenders. This creates a lack of visibility that makes more difficult their inclusion and effective participation within women’s rights movements.
A multigenerational approach
AWID’s young feminist activism program was created to make sure the voices of young women are heard and reflected in feminist discourse. We want to ensure that young feminists have better access to funding, capacity-building opportunities and international processes. In addition to supporting young feminists directly, we are also working with women’s rights activists of all ages on practical models and strategies for effective multigenerational organizing.
Our Actions
We want young feminist activists to play a role in decision-making affecting their rights by:
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Fostering community and sharing information through the Young Feminist Wire. Recognizing the importance of online media for the work of young feminists, our team launched the Young Feminist Wire in May 2010 to share information, build capacity through online webinars and e-discussions, and encourage community building.
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Researching and building knowledge on young feminist activism, to increase the visibility and impact of young feminist activism within and across women’s rights movements and other key actors such as donors.
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Promoting more effective multigenerational organizing, exploring better ways to work together.
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Supporting young feminists to engage in global development processes such as those within the United Nations
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Collaboration across all of AWID’s priority areas, including the Forum, to ensure young feminists’ key contributions, perspectives, needs and activism are reflected in debates, policies and programs affecting them.
Related Content
Mujeres indígenas por la defensa de los derechos
Estas defensoras lucharon por los derechos sobre la tierra, de las mujeres y de los pueblos indígenas; haciendo frente a las industrias extractivas, escribiendo poesía y promoviendo el amor. Una de ellas desapareció hace ya 19 años. Únete a nosotras para recordar y honrar a estas defensoras de derechos humanos, su trabajo y su legado, compartiendo los memes aquí incluidos; y tuiteando las etiquetas #WHRDTribute y #16Días.
Por favor, haz click en cada imagen de abajo para ver una versión más grande y para descargar como un archivo.





Snippet FEA Mariama Sonko (FR)
Nous avons le plaisir de vous présenter Mariama Sonko, agricultrice rurale, éco-féministe et défenseuse des droits humains, vivant actuellement à Niaguis, une ville du sud-ouest du Sénégal.
Ayant grandi dans une famille et une communauté rurale d’agriculteur·rices, elle a été témoin du rôle essentiel des femmes dans la production alimentaire et la conservation des semences depuis son plus jeune âge, tout en étant immergée dans le travail de la terre.
Mariama défend les savoirs agricoles locaux et les pratiques paysannes depuis les années 90. En tant que mère de 5 enfants, la nourriture qu'elle cultive elle-même est la principale source de subsistance de sa famille.
Elle est actuellement présidente de Nous Sommes la Solution et s'engage à promouvoir les pratiques agroécologiques et l'agriculture familiale, à encourager la souveraineté alimentaire, la biodiversité et la préservation des semences paysannes, et à exiger un accès équitable aux ressources et à la terre à travers l'Afrique de l'Ouest.
Source: AWID’s Feminist Realities Festival Crear | Résister | Transform - Day 2/ 2ème jour/ 2º día
Juhi
Juhi es una entusiasta de las tecnologías. Posee una licenciatura en Ingeniería Informática de la Universidad Tecnológica de Gujarat y formación de posgrado en Telecomunicaciones Inalámbricas y Gestión de Proyectos del Instituto Universitario Humber. Apasionada de la resolución de problemas y de mantenerse a la vanguardia en el panorama tecnológico en constante evolución, Juhi se ha encontrado recorriendo diversas industrias como técnica en Tecnologías de la Información. Ha tenido oportunidad de aplicar sus competencias técnicas en distintos entornos, siempre abrazando los nuevos desafíos con entusiasmo. Más allá de los códigos y los circuitos, le encantan las aventuras de la vida. Explorar nuevos lugares y culturas es para ella una bocanada de aire fresco. Ya sea que se trate de descubrir alguna joya oculta en la ciudad, de probar algún plato exótico o de embarcarse en algún deporte de aventura, Juhi siempre está predispuesta a vivir nuevas experiencias.
Widad Mitri
Our group, organization and/or movement has not taken or mobilized funding from external funders, should we take the survey?
Yes! We recognize and appreciate different reasons why feminists, in their respective contexts, don’t have external funding: from being ineligible to apply for grants and/or receive money from abroad, to relying on resources generated autonomously as a political strategy in its own right. We want to hear from you regardless of your experience with external funding.
Trans* rights require stronger protection
These transgender women were murdered because of their activism and their gender identity. There are insufficient laws recognizing trans* rights, and even where these laws exist, very little is being done to safeguard the rights of trans* people. Please join AWID in honoring these defenders, 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




Snippet FEA Bio fertilizer and Sum-Pack (EN)

Patience Chabururuka
Patience est une professionnelle internationale des ressources humaines avec plus d'une décennie d'expérience dans la gestion des ressources humaines (RH) dans le secteur non lucratif. Elle a travaillé auparavant chez Mercy Corps en tant que responsable générale des ressources humaines pour l'Afrique. Elle y a appuyé le cycle de vie complet des employé·e·s expatrié·e·s dans la région de l'Afrique de l'Est et de l'Afrique australe et fourni des conseils techniques RH aux responsables des ressources humaines dans les bureaux nationaux de la région africaine. Avant de rejoindre l'équipe internationale des ressources humaines, elle agissait en tant que point focal national ressources humaines et protection, et faisait partie de l'équipe de direction qui traitait de toutes les questions de ressources humaines et de protection. Avant de rejoindre Mercy Corps, elle dirigeait le département des ressources humaines et des opérations de l'organisation de développement des Pays-Bas SNV et était membre de l'équipe de direction nationale. Elle possède également une expérience de consultance en ressources humaines qu'elle a acquise alors qu'elle étudiait encore pour sa licence spécialisée en gestion des ressources humaines. Elle est passionnée de RH, aime travailler avec les gens et considère le bien-être et la protection dans ses valeurs fondamentales et son travail professionnel. Amatrice de sport, Patience peut également être aperçue sur un terrain de basket, un court de tennis ou encore un terrain de football.
Luz Yeni Montaño
Cecilia Loria
¿Cuáles son los idiomas oficiales de ¿Dónde está el dinero?
Por el momento, la encuesta en KOBO está disponible en árabe, español, francés, inglés, portugués y ruso. Tendrás oportunidad de seleccionar el idioma de preferencia al inicio de la encuesta.
1. Gather your resources
This section highlights key resources recommended by AWID so you can conduct your own WITM research.
In this section
People needed
- 1 or more person(s) to lead overall implementation of research methodology and ensure all key pieces are on track (Sections 2-11)
- 1 or more person(s) to conceptualize the key research objectives and guiding questions
- 1 or more person(s) to refine and conduct the research methodology, including collecting data
- 1 or more person(s) to conduct relevant qualitative and quantitative analysis of collected data
- 1 or more person(s) to document and package research findings for desired audience(s)
- 1 or more person(s) to serve as an editor to your final products
- 1 or more person(s) to conduct outreach to spread the word about your survey and advocacy using your research results
Potential expenses
- Staff and/or consultant salaries
- Data analysis software if conducting analysis of large dataset in-house. Options:
- SPSS
- Stata
- R (this is free) - Cost of producing publications and research products
- If desired, incentive prize that survey participants can win if they complete the survey
- If desired, incentives to offer your advisors
Estimated time
- For research process: 6 to 18 months, depending on size of dataset(s) and staff capacity
- For advocacy: 1-2 years, as determined by your organizational goals
Resources needed
- List of advisor organizations, donors and activists
- List of online spaces and events/networks to distribute your survey and present your survey results
- List of donors, activists, and women’s rights organizations to interview
- Prepared interview questions
- List of publication sources to use for desk research
Resources available
- Sample 1 of Research Framing
- Sample 2 of Research Framing
- Example: 2011 WITM Global Survey
- Sample WITM Global Survey
- Sample letter to grantmakers requesting access to databases
- AWID Sample Interview Questions: Donors
- AWID Sample Interview Questions: Activists & Women’s Rights Organizations
- Sample Advocacy Plan
Online tools
- Survey Monkey: Free
- Survey Gizmo: Converts to SPSS for analysis very easily
- Tutorial: Gentle Introduction to Cleaning Data
- Visualization Tools
- “Ready to Go?” Worksheet
Once you gather these resources, you can estimate the costs for your research using our “Ready to Go? Worksheet”
Previous step
Next step

Previous step
Next step
The Ready to Go? Worksheet helps you estimate resources, staff and budget needed for your research
Snippet FEA FEMINIST COOPERATIVISM (ES)
Cooperativismo
Feminista
Cuando el trabajo y
la solidaridad van juntos
Ȃurea Mouzinho
Ȃurea Mouzinho is a feminist economic justice organizer from Luanda, Angola, with a 10-year career in research, grant-making, advocacy, and movement-building for women's rights and economic justice across Africa and the global south. Currently the Program Manager for Africa at Thousand Currents, she also serves on the Feminist Africa Editorial Board and is a member of Ondjango Feminista, a feminist collective she co-founded in 2016. A new mom to a Gemini boy, urea enjoys slow days with her young family and taking long strolls by the beach.
She occasionally tweets at @kitondowe.
Leticia Eulalia Mary Mukasa- Kikonyogo
Leticia fue una abogada y jueza de Uganda.
Antes de retirarse, ocupó muchas posiciones de alto perfil, como por ejemplo miembrx de la Corte de Apelaciones de Uganda y Presidenta Adjunta de la Corte Suprema de Uganda. Fue la primera mujer ugandesa en ocupar el cargo de Primera Magistrada entre 1973 y 1986, y la primera mujer en ser nombrada jueza de la Corte Suprema en 1986.
Fue una de las primeras mujeres investidas como “Caballero Papal” de la historia de la Iglesia Católica en África. Murió de un paro cardíaco.
Diana Staubli
Y a-t-il une préparation particulière à suivre avant de répondre aux questions de l’enquête?
L’enquête WITM portant sur les réalités du financement des organisations féministes, la plupart des questions traitent du financement de votre groupe entre 2021 et 2023. Vous aurez besoin de disposer de ces informations pendant que vous répondez aux questions de l’enquête (vos budgets annuels et principales sources de financement, par exemple)
5. Conduct interviews
Interviews produce in-depth information that you cannot easily obtain from surveys. While surveys focuses mainly on quantifiable data and closed questions, interviews allow for expert opinions from activists and donors, and open-ended questions which can provide context to survey data results.
In this section
- General tips
1. Before conducting your interviews
2. During the interviews- Specialized interviews
1. Donor interviews
2. Women’s rights organizations and activists interviews- Preliminary findings
General tips
1. Before conducting your interviews
Send the interviewees a concept note with your objectives for the interview and for your overall research, as well as a list of questions.
This allows them to prepare answers for more complicated questions and look up information that they may not have immediately on hand.
2. During the interviews
- You can conduct interviews while your survey is running, in order to save time.
- Try to keep your interviews as consistent as possible in order to facilitate systematic analysis of results. This means asking the same questions. Coding identical responses to each question will allow you to uncover hidden trends.
- The interviews can also be used to flesh out some of the survey findings
Do not base your questions on assumptions about your interviewees’ knowledge.
Instead, first clarify what they know – this will reveal information as well.
- DON’T: “Given the current funding trends in Switzerland, do you know of any opportunities for collaboration? This question assumes that the interviewee knows current funding trends and that their understanding of funding trends matches yours.
- DO: First ask “What is your understanding of current funding trends in Switzerland?”, followed by “Do you know of any opportunities for collaboration?” This will reveal what their understanding is, giving you even more information than the first question.
Specialized interviews
1. Donor interviews
Interviews with donors will allow you to build deeper relationships with them, which will be useful when you conduct post-research advocacy. They will also provide you with deeper insight into funders’ decision-making processes.
Suggested topics of focus for donor interviews:
- What are their funding priorities? Why and how did they select those priorities? For example, why do they choose project-funding over core support or vice versa?
- What are annual amounts allocated to the advancement of women’s human rights? This will strengthen overall reliability of data collected.
- Have they noticed any funding trends, and what do they believe are the origins and politics behind these trends?
- What is their theory of social change and how does that impact their relationships with women’s rights organizations?
View samples of donor interviews
2. Women’s rights organizations and activists interviews
Interviews with women’s rights organizations and activists will provide you with insight into their on-the-ground realities. Again, these interviews will allow you to build deeper relationships that can be incorporated into your advocacy, particularly to encourage collaboration between donors and activists.
Suggested topics of focus for women’s rights organizations and activist interviews:
- Long-term funding priority trends noted by women’s organizations and their impact.
- Successful examples of feminist and collaborative resource mobilization strategies that build strong and complementary movements.
- “Making the case” for why it is important to support women’s organizations and organizing.
- How different actors understand the social change process and their role in advancing/achieving gender equality and women’s rights.
View samples of women’s organizations and activists interviews
Preliminary findings
Through the course of your WITM research, we recommend analyzing your preliminary findings. Presenting your preliminary findings opens up opportunities to conduct more interviews and get feedback on your research process and initial results. This feedback can be incorporated into your final research.
AWID conducts “WITM convenings” to share preliminary results of survey data and interviews. These gatherings allow participants (activists, women’s rights organizations, and donors) to debate and discuss the results, clarifying the context, creating more ownership amongst members of the movement, and providing more input for final research.
For example, the Resource Mobilization Hub for Indigenous Women’s Rights at the World Summit on Indigenous Philanthropy was used as a space to debut preliminary results.
Previous step
4. Collect and analyze your data
Next step

Estimated time:
• 1.5 - 3 months
People needed:
• 1 or more research person(s)
Resources needed:
• List of donors and women’s rights organizations and activists to interview
• Prepared interview questions
• Concept Note (You can use the research framing you created in the “Frame your research” section)
Resources available:
• AWID Sample Interview Questions: Donors
• AWID Sample Interview Questions: Activists & Women’s Rights Organizations
Previous step
4. Collect and analyze your data
Next step
Ready to Go? Worksheet
Snippet FEA In numbers (FR)
EN CHIFFRES