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:
-
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.
-
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.
-
Promoting more effective multigenerational organizing, exploring better ways to work together.
-
Supporting young feminists to engage in global development processes such as those within the United Nations
-
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
Curatorial Note by Rula Khoury
Feminist Art Walk
Curatorial Note by Rula Khoury
As part of our commitment to engage more deeply with artists and the practice of co-creating Feminist Realities, AWID collaborated with an Artist Working Group to advance and strengthen feminist agendas and realities in their communities and movements through their creative expression. Our intention here is to bring feminist creatives together in a powerful and brave space where they grow and live freely, and where they shatter toxic narratives to replace them with transformative alternatives.
This exhibition gathers the work of artists and collectives from across the globe, those who are actively creating the difference that we want to see in the world. These feminist creatives include Upasana Agarwal, Nicole Barakat, Siphumeze Khundayi, Katia Herrera, Ali Chavez Leeds, Colectivo Morivivi, Ika Vantiani, and the curators behind the #MeToo in China exhibition. Their voices stand strong in their refusal to accept the limitations imposed by patriarchy, and amplify their commitments to the communities they are working in and with. In their own way, each artwork represents daily acts of resistance, untold stories and identities, connections to land and ancestry, and most importantly, the solidarity that exists within and amongst feminist movements and struggles. These artists are both inspired by and inspire creative strategies of feminist resistance and initiatives that show us how we can all live in a more just world - a world that centers care and healing.
Miriam Bottassi
資助建議
本頁面為如何資助您參與第14屆AWID論壇提供一些想法和靈感。
在您計劃將要在論壇上開展的活動時,請同時考慮如何為參加論壇提供資金支持。典型的費用支出包括:住宿、旅行、簽證、論壇註冊費等。
重要的是請注意,該論壇將有很多“開放空間”和學習、交流運動的機會,而正式會議的數量則少很多。(請參閱下面的“在籌款中如何描述我們的論壇”,以瞭解在您的宣傳中可使用的語言。)
與您目前的資助者合作:
首先聯繫您當前的資助者:最好的選擇始終是求助於當前的捐助者。
請確保提前準備:我們建議最晚在2020年初與這些資助方聯繫。許多支持女權組織的資助者為論壇旅行分配了一些預算。其他的資助方也可能將其囊括在續訂補助金中或包含在其他旅行基金裡。
如果貴組織有資助者,請告訴他們您想參加AWID論壇並學習、體驗、交流和建立網絡,即使您的活動還未被選中。為了能夠支持您的參與,您的捐助者需要提前了解此事,因此請立即告訴她們吧!(她們已經在決定將在2020年分配哪些資金)。
尋求新的資助者:
如果您目前沒有捐助者的支持或無法獲得論壇旅行的贈款,請考慮與新的捐助者聯繫。
- 您可以在AWID的門戶網站“誰能資助我組織女性的維權?” (In English) 中看到特定資助者的介紹。
- 考慮去接觸國家、區域或全球等層面的女權主義與女性基金會。(In English)
- 探索資助者網絡,例如Candid和歐洲基金會中心 (In English),以獲取您所在地區的資助者列表和機會。
各個資助方的申請截止日期和要求不盡相同,並且撥款審查過程可能需要數月的時間。如果您正在考慮申請新的資金,請盡快開始申請。
有創意的靈感:
女權主義運動長期以來在資助我們自己的行動方面保持著創造力。以下是我們收集的一些想法,用於啟發不同的籌款方式:
- 動員您的社區來支持參與:通過社區晚宴、舞蹈晚會以及本地的表演、活動和遊覽等方式從會員中籌集少量資金。
- 通過使用 gofundme, indiegogo, plumfund, or kickstarter 等各種在線工具組織捐贈圈和眾包來動員網絡。
- 獲得本地的收入來源,包括來自個人捐助者和會費的收入。
- 考慮通過與其他社區和社會正義團體的戰略夥伴關係共同集資。
想瞭解更多靈感,請參閱AWID正在進行的關於自主資源的系列文章,其中包括有關籌集參會資金的具體想法。(in English)
機會補助金:
AWID正在努力使論壇成為一個真正的全球性聚會,保障來自不同運動、地區和年齡層的參會者都可以參與。鑑於此,AWID為參與者調集資源並提供有限數量的機會補助金,以幫助她們支付參加論壇的費用。
AWID的機會補助金將為部分論壇參與者和會議/活動的主持人提供支持。您可以在申請過程中指出是否要申請AWID機會補助金。我們無法保證您能否申請到,所以我們強烈建議您為自己參加會議和論壇尋求其他資助。
即使您已申請了AWID的機會補助金,我們仍鼓勵您繼續探索其他的選擇來資助您參加論壇。機會補助金的申請結果將在2020年6月結束之前得到確認。請記住,這些資源非常有限,我們無法為所有申請人提供支持。
在籌款中如何描述我們的論壇:
當您與資助方或您自己的網絡聯繫時,這裡的一些示例信息可能會有所幫助。您可以隨時以對您有用的任何方式進行調整!
AWID論壇是一個聯合創建的女權運動空間,可激發參與者自身的行動積極性,並在多種權利和正義運動中加強與他人的聯繫。參與者可以從希望、能量和激進的想像力中汲取靈感,加深共享的分析和學習,建立跨領域的運動團結,以製定更加綜合的議程並推進聯合戰略。
我們的組織正在尋求資金參加論壇,以便與來自世界各地的其他活動家和運動聯繫在一起,加強我們的戰略並分享工作成果。我們受到過往參與者的啟發,她們描述了這場全球女權主義聚會的力量:
“在四天的時間裡……各種聲音交織在一起,形成了關於性別平等狀況的全球視角。當我說“全球”一詞時,我是指同時翻譯成七種不同的語言……”
“它提醒著我們,我們並不孤單。論壇提供了必要的途徑幫助我們將集體力量轉化為運動。無論是何種意識形態、身份或邊界,我們的力量都體現在我們的願景和對彼此的支持中。”
重要的是請注意,該論壇將有很多“開放空間”和學習、交流運動的機會,而正式會議的數量則少很多。儘管很多與會者不會參加正式的會議,但仍有寶貴的空間來學習、制定戰略和體驗女權運動在行動中的集體力量。
預算的考慮:
在計算花費以及思考需要募集多少款項時,最重要的是要考慮可能出現的成本。以下是要考慮的關鍵項目支出的示例:
- 機票
- 論壇註冊費(請注意,即便AWID授予您機會補助金,您也要自己支付註冊費)
- 簽證費用
- 旅遊健康保險
- 往返機場的本地旅行(出租車或其他交通工具)
- 中途停留的費用,例如飛機需要長時間中途停留時的住宿費和伙食費
- 住宿(如果您旅行很遠,可以給自己一天的恢復時間,無論是在之前或之後)
- 設備(旅行期間需要的WiFi或國際通訊費用,AWID將在論壇期間提供WiFi)
- 論壇上分享或交換的任何材料(可視教具,報告,藝術品!)的材料費
- 雜費和/或包括食物與其他花銷的每日津貼(論壇期間,AWID將提供所有午餐和咖啡/茶歇,外加一頓晚餐)
- 附件,例如可能使您的旅行更加舒適、安全和有重要意義的任何其他支持
我們期待與您在論壇上見面!
論壇是一個協作過程
該論壇不僅僅是一個四天的會議。它更為女權主義現實實踐的運動增強之旅提供了另一個驛站,該旅程早已開始也將在論壇結束後繼續。
Corporalidades Transnacionales | Small Snippet ES HOME
Explora
Corporalidades Transnacionales
Esta edición en alianza con Kohl: una publicación para Body and Gender Research analizará soluciones, propuestas y realidades feministas para transformar nuestro mundo actual, nuestros cuerpos y nuestras sexualidades.
Dorothy Musakanya Mapulanga
Solange Habonimana
Selection of Forum activities

For each AWID Forum we call for contributions from a wide range of feminist and social justice movements to propose activities and create the Forum program.
For the 14th AWID international Forum, we want to make the program truly representative of the diversity of the movements.
That is why we put in place a new and engaging way to choose the proposals that will generate the final Forum program: the Participatory Selection Process (PSP).
What is the Participatory Selection Process (PSP)?
The Participatory Selection Process is the final step in reviewing the activity proposals and selecting those that will be part of the official Forum program.
This is how it works:
- Activity proposals have originally been submitted via our Call for Forum Activities, open to everyone - groups and individuals - interested in presenting their feminist reality at the Forum.
- Out of all the activities submitted, AWID staff pre-selects the ones best reflecting the Forum theme and presenting a creative approach for audience engagement.
- Activities are then reviewed and short-listed by different Forum Committees to ensure a good diversity of regions, movements and ideas.
- The selected proposals are then reviewed and rated by individuals and groups whose proposals have also been short-listed. The proposals which receive the most votes from fellow candidates will become part of the final Forum program.
The whole activity selection process at a glance:
|
Step
|
Step 1: Call for Forum Activities: Application submissions |
Step 2:
|
Step 3:
|
Step 4:
|
| Timeline |
December 2019 - mid.February 2020
|
January-February 2020
|
Summer 2020
|
timeline to be adjusted
|
| People involved | Everyone interested in co-creating the Forum program |
AWID staff
|
AWID staff; Content and Methodology Committee; Access Committee |
Shortlisted applicants
|
| Number of activities involved |
838 activities submitted
|
306 applications selected
|
126 activities selected
|
50-60 most voted activities selected for the final Forum program |
Why did AWID decide to organize a PSP for the 14th AWID Forum activities?
We think a PSP is relevant for the AWID Forum because:
-
It places at the centre of the decision making process the communities who live the feminist realities that will be showcased and discussed at the Forum
-
It is consistent with our identity and our role as a movement support/ accompaniment organization.
-
It is in line with our vision of the Forum as co-created with different feminist and social justice movements, who shape the Forum through their participation in committees (content and methodology, access, artivist and host country), creating and facilitating activities as partners with AWID and also making decisions about the Program through the PSP.
-
It allows for greater diversity in the textures that will make up the Forum fabric (or in the voices that will compose the Forum song). It ensures we go beyond AWID itself and the movement partners that we already know and work with. It opens the door to the unexpected.
How did AWID come up with this PSP idea?
This is the first time AWID is considering such a process.
The initial idea came from AWID’s Co-EDs and staff. Before committing to a decision, we consulted some of the community funds that have been implementing participatory selection processes for years. These included FRIDA: The Young Feminists Fund, the International Trans Fund, UHAI - East Africa’s fund for sexual minorities and sex workers - and the Central American Women’s Fund. We consulted them to learn from their extensive experiences and get their feedback.
Pre-selected activities
-
Financial autonomy, breaker of silence
ORGANISATION DES FEMMES AFRICAINES DE LA DIASPORA (OFAD) ASSOCIATION LES PETITES MERES PRODADPHE ASSOCIATION AMBE KUNKO (AAK) -
Contribution of feminist organisations to the fight against violent extremism in Niger
Femmes Actions et Développement (FAD) -
Self-financing: home banking for women
Rassemblement des Femmes pour le développement endogène et solidaire RAFDES -
Food and food sovereignty for rural women
Association Song-taaba des Femmes Unies pour le Développement (ASFUD) -
Feminist leaders, investing in positive masculinity, creating a new balanced social order: how to change mentalities?
Une societe cooperative, la chefferie traditionnelle des localites, les autorites administratives et les autres associations feminines ONG Centre Solidarite "Investir dans les Filles et les Femmes -
Co-creating the sponsorship methodology.
NEGES MAWON -
Millennium of opportunities to save the earth (MOST) by supporting climate justice for local and Indigenous communities in Congo Basin.
Jeunesse Congolaise pour les Nations Unies (JCNU), Association Genre et Environnement pour le Développement (AGED) -
Envisioning an Asian Queer Feminist Politics
ASEAN Feminist LBQ Womxn Network Sayoni -
Supporting the Self-Managed: Abortion Doulas, Acompanantes, and Radical Networks of support
inroads -
Online Feminisms: How Women Are Taking Back The Tech
Feminism In India -
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Sex Workers
Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers (APNSW), The International Women's Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific (IWRAW AP) -
Sustainable Feminist Leadership and Organizing - Personal and Collective Experiences
HER Fund, Institute for Women's Empowerment (IWE) ,Kalyanamita, AAF -
Caribbean Realities: Black Sauna Radio
WE-Change Jamaica -
Telephone Helplines Care and Women Experience
Generation Initiative for Women and Youth Network (GIWYN),Youth Network for Community and Sustainable Development (YNCSD), Community Health Rights Network (CORENET) -
Sensuality as resistance; body movement workshop
UHAI EASHRI -
Lesbian Disco Eastern European Style
Sapfo Collective -
FitcliqueAfrica Feminist Utopia Installation, Trauma Healing and Self Defense Camp
FitcliqueAfrica (Fitclique256 Uganda Limited) -
Queering Communications for an Open Internet
Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice -
Is the Way you Think about Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRHR) Ableist? Good Practices for Disability Inclusive SRHR Programmes and Advocacy.
Asia Pacific Network of Women with Disabilities and Allies -
Decolonizing Non-Violent Communication
API Equality-LA, Sayoni, ASEAN Feminist LBQ Womxn Network -
Feminist centred approaches to prosecuting sexual harassment in the world of work
Women's Legal Centre -
Women in Conflict in Myanmar
Women's League of Burma, Rainfall -
Caribbean Feminist Spaces, Creative Expressions & Spiritual Practices for Community Transformation
CAISO: Sex and Gender Justice -
POP-UPS: Just Power: Popular Education Tools for a Feminist Future
JASS/Just Associates -
UnAnonYmous: Queering Black African Diaspora Feminist Practices Sobriety
-
Digital Witchcraft: Magical Thinking for Cyberfeminist Futures
The Digital Witchcraft Institute -
Building Womanifestos: Grassroot Women's Agenda for Change in Asia Pacific
Asia Pacific Forum on Women Law and Development -
Designing your astral travels
EuroNPUD, narcofeminists as a loose group -
Collective Care
RENFA Rede Nacional de Feministas Antiproibicionistas -
Music of our movements
Radical imagination -
From waste to Ecofriendly coal
KEMIT ECOLOGY SARL -
Collective care and insurgency of feminist antiracist movements under authoritarian and violent contexts
CFEMEA - Feminist Center of Studies and Advisory Services, CRIOLA - black women`s organization, Iniciativa Mesoamericana de Mujeres Defensoras -
Breaking Patriarchal Religion's Stranglehold on Family Laws that Affect Our Lives #FreeOurFamilyLaws
Musawah -
Feminist approach to claim and control over lands within investment
Badabon Sangho, APWLD -
Women's Global Strike: Our resistance, our future
Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law & Development, ESCR-Net, Women's March Global -
Towards an Inclusive ‘Mother Earth’
Disability Rights Fund, Open Society Foundation -
From Inclusion to Infiltration: Strategies for Building Intersectional Feminist Movements
Mobility International USA (MIUSA) -
The hidden stories of women with invisible disabilities: Art in action
The Red Door, Merchants of Madness, Improving Mental Wellbeing through Art -
Public-Private Partnership and Women´s Human Rights: learnings from case studies in the Global South
Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN) -
The Interconnected Journey: Our Bodies, Our Sci-Fi! <3
The Interconnected Journey Project, Laboratorio de Interconectividades -
Compiling and Building: Alternative feminist vision to challenge the dominant world economic order
IWRAW Asia Pacific -
Self-publication as a feminist act
International Women* Space -
Good Practices of legal protection for gender & sexual minorities in Pakistan and their Intersectionality
Activists Alliance Foundation, Khawja Sirah Society, Wajood Society, Wasaib Sanwaro -
Feminist Approaches to Counter Trafficking
IWRAW Asia Pacific, Business & Human Rights Resource Center -
Critiquing individualism and state policies: transnational organizing against targeted violence
Masaha: Accessible Feminist Knowledge -
Decolonizing Intimacy: How Queer Identities Challenge Heteronormative Family Structures
WOMANTRA -
Yeki Hambe - Sex worker theatre
Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Task Force -
Creating the Indigenous feminist reality: honoring the sacred feminine and building new paths for Indigenous women
Cultural Survival, International Funders in Indigenous Peoples -
Eyes on Anti-prohibitionism by Brazillian Women
Mulheres Cannabicas, Tulipas do Cerrado -
Black Feminist Truth Commission: Addressing Injustices to Revolutionize Intersectional Feminism as the New Reality
Black Women in Development -
Community care is self care: true stories are told in safer spaces
Eurasian Harm Reduction Association, Metzineres, Urban Survivor’s Union, Salvage women and children from drug abuse -
NO MOVES BARRED:Dancing connections between Disability,trans & sexual rights against violence
National Forum of Women with Disabilities, Autonomy foundation, Nazyk kyz -
The Impact of Corporate Capture on Feminist Realities: Developing Tools for Action
ESCR-Net | Economic, Social, Cultural Rights Network -
Reimagining AIDS: building a feminist HIV response
Frontline AIDS, Aidsfonds, IPPI (Indonesian Network of Women Living with HIV), UHAI-EASHRI (East African Sexual Health and Rights Initiative) -
Advancing Economic Justice towards Realizing Our Vision of a Feminist Planet
International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, ESCR-Net -
Sex Workers Cafe
Hydra e.V. -
Adopting an ecofeminist approach in dealing with climate change and food security
Umphakatsi Peace Ecovillage, Human Rights Educational Centre -
Connecting the grassroots with the international: experience from creative sex worker mobilisation in Europe
International Committee on the Rights of Sex Workers in Europe, STRASS - French Sex Worker Union, APROSEX, Red Edition -
Experiment with how innovative tech can help us feel safer when navigating our cities
Soul City Institute for Social Justice, Safetipin, Womanity Foundation -
question “Are hierarchies within organisations UNfeminist?”
Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya National, Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission -
We all are different, but we do have joint shared values
UNWUD (Ukrainian network of women who use drugs), JurFem Association, Women's Prospects -
A World Without Class
Bunge La Wamama Mashinani (Grassroots Women's Parliament) -
Women Empower the Community
Institute for Women's Empowerment (IWE), Solidaritas Perempuan, ASEC Indonesia, Komunitas Swabina Pedesaan Salassae (KSPS) -
Feminist Organizing: Transformational Leadership - Women Workers in Latin America Creating a Feminist Labor Movement and a Feminist World of Work
Solidarity Center -
Acting Out, Acting Up : Disability-Feminism decolonising narratives of Stigma thro' Participatory theatre
Rising Flame, National Indigenous Disabled Women Association, Nepal, The Spectrum & Union of Abilities, The Red Door -
Valuing and centering rest, pleasure and play
ATHENA Network -
The African feminist judgment project
The Initiative for strategic Ligation in Africa (ISLA) -
Voices from the frontlines: Bolstering collective power to end the incarceration of women worldwide
International Drug Policy Consortium, Equis Justicia para las Mujeres, National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, Women and Harm Reduction International Network -
Queer Youth Organising: imagining in an era of human rights and sustainable development
African Queer Youth Initiative, Success Capital Organisation -
Our Struggles Our Stories Our Strengths
Oriang Lumalaban, Pambansang Koalisyon ng Kababaihan sa Kanayunan -
Breaking barriers for collective Indigenous climate action in Southeast Asia
Cuso International, Asia Indigenous Peoples' Pact -
Love Positive Women: Going beyond romantic love to deep community love and social justice
Eurasian Women's Network on AIDS -
Intersex and Feminism
Intersex Russia -
Understanding the reproductive health experiences and needs of transgender and gender diverse people
Asia Pacific Transgender Network (APTN) -
Because She Cares: Critical conversations on HIV activism as (un)caring work
Because We Care Collaborative -
The Mississippi Food Systems Manifesto
Center for Ideas, Equity & Transformative Change, National Council of Appropriate Technology - Gulf South, MS Food Justice Collaborative, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement -
Kurdish Women's Movement co-presidency experience as an example of a radical feminist realization: Co-presidency is our PURPLE line!
The Free Women’s Movement (TJA) -
WOES -"Walking on Egg Shells"
Eldoret Women For Development (ELWOFOD), Mama Cash, Young women against Women Custodial Injustices Network -
FREEDOM
-
Prison Isn’t Feminist: Exploring the impact and alternatives to reliance on police and incarceration
Migrant Sex Workers Project, Showing Up For Racial Justice -
Bondo without Blood: A Feminist Reimagining of Sierra Leonean Rites of Passage
Purposeful -
Liberated Land & Territories: A Pan-African Conversation
Thousand Currents (USA), Abahlali baseMjondolo (South Africa), Nous Sommes la Solution (west Africa/regional), Movilización de Mujeres Negras por el Cuidado de la Vida y los Territorios Ancestrales (Colombia), and Articulation of Black Rural Quilombola Communities (Brazil) -
Popular Education and Organizing for a Feminist Economy
Jamaica Household Workers Union (JHWU), United for a Fair Economy, Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en la Lucha (CTUL) -
So You Wish To Mobilise With An Empty Wallet? Let’s Make It Happen!
Breakthrough India -
Experience sharing establishing a network for women human rights defenders in East Africa: Ugandan perspective
Women Human Rights Defenders Network Uganda -
Tech clinic
Stichting Syrian Female Journalists Netowrk -
Building Inclusive Movements: Going Beyond Tokenism
Rising Flame -
Justice & Healing for Survivors of GBV: an interactive debate on restorative justice and the anatomy of an apology
One Future Collective -
Collective actions to ending transphobia through a feminist lens
Asia Pacific Transgender Network, Iranti, Transgender Europe -
LBQ women & Asylum
Sehaq -
Abortion and Disability: Towards an Intersectional Human Rights-Based Approach
Women Enabled International -
Learn how to support the self-organizing of undocumented, migrant, and criminalized and sex workers communities
Buttrerfly (Asian and Migrant Sex Workers Support Network) -
Self Care: A Fundamental Tool for Sustaining LGBTQI & Feminist Organizing
United and Strong Inc., S.H.E Barbados, Lez Connect -
Reclaiming Young African Feminist VOICES-REALITIES-POWER for climate justice
Young Feminist organization Gasy Youth Up, Young African Feminist Dialogues -
Women in action & solidarity: performing our realities (Asia & Africa)
Young Feminist organization Gasy Youth Up ( co-founder) , Young African Feminist Dialogues ( member) -
Women in action & solidarity: performing our realities (Asia & Africa)
Women Performing the World (Asia/Africa) -
Challenging patriarchy: Workers in entertainment sector
Women Forum for Women in Nepal (WOFOWON) -
The non-citizens: issues of women's citizenship in the context of migrant, vulnerable communities in South Asia
NEthing -
Visioning for voice in migration and climate crises
Women's Refugee Commission, The Feminist Humanitarian Network, ActionAid -
In It Together: Women's Funds and Feminist Movements Co-Creating Feminist Realities
Mama Cash, Global Fund for Women, Urgent Action Fund - Africa -
Co-creating magic with young feminist movements - participatory practices that spark joy
Feminist organizing, FRIDA The Young Feminist Fund (Community), Teia -
Protection right of woman’s in difficult realities 3 organizations of women from marginally communities
NGO Asteria, Ermolaeva Irena and Bayazitova Renata. NGO Ganesha Musagalieva Tatiana. NGO Ravniy Ravnomu Kucheryavyh Tanya -
Feminnale - traditions against art and expression
Bishkek Feminist Initiatives -
Resistance through knowledge, arts and activism: creation of a feminist library in Armenia
FemHouse, Armenia -
Conquering the UN System with Feminist Strategies (You Don’t Need to be a Lawyer to Have Fun)
Kazakhstan Feminist Initiative "Feminita", IWRAW Asia Pacific, ILGA World -
Data. Huh. What is it good for? Feminist data and organizing for feminist outcomes
International Women's Development Agency, Women's Rights Action Movement, Fiji Women's Rights Movement -
Criminalized Women’s voice, leadership and influence on laws, policies and practices in Kenya
Keeping Alive Societies Hope-KASH, Katindi Lawyers and Advocates, Vocal Kenya -
From Colombia to the world, African women's changing force
Proceso de Comunidades Negras en Colombia -PCN, Solidarité Féminine por la Paix el le Develppment Integral -SOFEPADI, -
Afro Queer Listening Lounge and Story-Telling Booth
AQ Studios, None on Record, AfroQueer Podcast -
Reclaiming Bodily Integrity
GBV Prevention Network : Coordinated by Raising Voices -
Learning from diversity
Circulo de Mujeres con Discapacidad -CIMUDIS, Alianza Discapacidad por nuestros Derechos -ADIDE, Fundación Dominicana de Ciegos -FUDCI, Filial Puerto Rico de Mujeres con Discapacidad -
Football as a feminist tool
Fundación GOLEES (Género, Orgullo, Libertad y Empoderamiento de Ellas en la Sociedad) -
Migratory constellations
LasVanders -
Ecofeminist dialogues to defend territories
CIEDUR (Centro Interdisciplinario de Estudios sobre el Desarrollo), Equit, Foro permanente de Manaos y Amazonia -
La Frida BikesMoviment
La Frida Bike -
Witchcraft, shamanism and other insurgent knowledge against patriarchy.
Colectiva Feminista MAPAS-Mujeres Andando Proceso por Autonomías Sororales -
Experiences, learnings and challenges in managing holistic security of horizontal feminist organisations and of gender-dissidence in times of social and political crisis. The experience of the popular uprising in Chile of 18 October.
Fudación Comunidades en Interfaz -
Food that we all know about
Las Nietas de Nonó, Parceleras Afrocaribeñas por la Transformación barrial (PATBA) -
Practices of resistance against climate change of Indigenous women in Peru and Guatemala
Thousand Currents, Red de Mujeres Productoras de la Agricultura Familiar, Asociación de Mujeres Ixpiyakok (ADEMI, Ixpiyakok Women's Association) -
Building Feminist Cities
CISCSA, Articulacion Feminista Marcosur -
Stand in my place
Alianza Discapacidad por nuestros Derechos - ADIDE, Circulo de Mujeres con Discapacidad -CIMUDIS -
Clearing the way for women's fullness of life, healing collective and historical traumas
Grupo de Mujeres Mayas Kaqla -
Zapoteca Indigenous women challenged by nature
-
Houses of Care and Healing for Women Human Rights Defenders as part of Integral Feminist Protection: A Feminist Reality
Iniciativa Mesoamericana De Defensoras de Derechos Humanos, Consorcio Oaxaca para el Diálogo Parlamentario y la Equidad A.C, Red Nacional De Defensoras De Derechos Humanos en Honduras, Coletivo Feminista de Autocuidado -
Healing your unicornix voice: Weaving ancient and digital technologies to sharpen the tongue
-
Feminist trajectories for an assisted motherhood protocol for women with disabilities
Circulo emancipador de mujeres y niñas con discapacidad de Chile, CIMUNIDIS, WEI -
School for trans feminist children
Fundación Selena -
REDTRASEX: Experience of Organization and Struggle for the Rights of Women Sex Workers in Latin America and the Caribbean
RedTraSex Red de mujeres trabajadoras sexuales LAC -
Gender based violence and the world of sex work in Mexico
Brigada Callejera de Apoyo a la Mujer, "Elisa Martínez", A.C., Red Mexicana de Organizaciones Contra la Criminalización del VIH. Red Mexicana de Trabajo Sexual -
Migration forces us to draw the path as we walk
Asociación de Trabajadoras del Hogar a Domicilio y de Maquila. ATRAHDOM -
New narratives for Black women: body, healing and pleasure
-
Weaving memories and networks - Black Feminists strengthening Black feminisms in LAC
Red de Mujeres Afrolatinoamericanas, Afrocaribeñas y de la Diáspora, Articulação de Organizações de Mulheres Negras Brasileiras (AMNB), Voces Caribeñas
Ajoutez vos propres propositions
Merci de bien vouloir parcourir les propositions existantes avant de soumettre vos idées. Quelqu'un pourrait déjà avoir pensé à une proposition similaire! Envoyez votre proposition à contribute@awid.org.
Nous examinerons et inclurons les nouvelles propositions qui nous parviendront au fur et à mesure sur cette page Web.
Mary Rivera
Anatomy of a Survivor's Story
Maryum Saifee (@msaifee), New York, USA
When you do a search for “Female Genital Mutilation” or “FGM” online, an image of four line-drawings of the female anatomy pop up next to its Wikipedia entry. It illustrates four types of violence. The first being a partial cut to the clitoris. The second, a more invasive cut with the entire clitoris removed. The third is progressively worse with the removal of the clitoris, labia majora and minora. And the fourth box illustrates a series of hash marks to symbolize stitches over the vaginal opening to allow only for urination and menstruation.
As a survivor of FGM, most questions about my story fixate on the physical. The first question I usually get asked is what type of FGM I underwent. When I told a journalist once that I went through Type 1, she said “oh, that’s not so bad. It’s not like type three which is far worse.” She was technically right. I had the least invasive form. And for many years, I gaslighted myself into feeling a sense of relief that I was one of the lucky ones. I comforted myself noting that I could have been less fortunate with all of my genitalia gouged out, not just the clitoral tip. Or worse I could have been one of the ones who didn’t survive at all. Like Nada Hassan Abdel-Maqsoud, a twelve year old, who bled to death on a doctor’s operating table earlier this year in Upper Egypt. Nada is a reminder to me that for every data point -- 200 million women and girls who live with the consequences of FGM globally -- there is a story. Nada will never be able to tell hers.
As much as I find the label “survivor” suffocating at times -- I also realize there is privilege embedded in the word. By surviving, you are alive. You have the ability to tell your story, process the trauma, activate others in your community and gain insights and a new language and lens to see yourself through.
The act of storytelling can be cathartic and liberating, but it can also shatter the storyteller in the process.
Without integrating the psychosocial support of trained clinicians into storytelling and healing retreats, well-intentioned interventions can result in more trauma. This is all the more important as FGM survivors navigate the double pandemic of their own PTSD from childhood trauma, and the indefinite COVID-19 global shutdown.
In many anti-FGM advocacy spaces, I have seen this insatiable hunger to unearth stories -- whatever the cost to the storyteller. The stories help activate funding and serve as a data point
for measuring impact.
Survivor stories then become commodities fueling a storytelling industrial complex. Storytellers, if not provided proper mental health support in the process, can become collateral damage.
My motivation in writing this piece is to flip the script on how we view FGM survivors, prioritizing the storyteller over the story itself.
FGM survivors are more than the four boxes describing how the pieces of our anatomy were cut, pricked, carved, or gouged out. In this essay, I’ll break down the anatomy of an FGM survivor’s story into four parts: stories that break, stories that remake, stories that heal, and stories that reveal.
Type 1: Stories that break
I was sitting in the heart of Appalachia with a group of FGM survivors, meeting many for the first time. As they shared their traumas, I realized we all belonged in some way or another to the same unenviable club. A white Christian survivor from Kentucky - who I don’t think I would have ever met if we didn’t have FGM survivorship connecting us - told the contours of her story.
There were so many parallels. We were both cut at seven. She was bribed with cake after her cut. I was bribed with a jumbo-sized Toblerone chocolate bar when mine was over. Absorbing her trauma overwhelmed me. And I imagine when I shared my story, others in the circle may also have been silently unraveling. We didn’t have a clinician or mental health professional in a facilitation role and that absence was felt. The first night, I was sharing a room with six other survivors and tried hard to keep the sounds of my own tears muffled. By the last day, I reached breaking point. Before leaving for the airport, my stomach contracted and I convulsively vomited. I felt like I was purging not only my pain, but the pain of the others I’d absorbed that week. We all dutifully produced our stories into 90 second social media friendly soundbites with narration and photos. But at what cost?
Type 2: Stories that remake
On February 6, 2016, the Guardian published my story as a survivor. The second it was released, I was remade. My identity transformed from nondescript, relatively invisible mid-level Foreign Service Officer to FGM survivor under a public microscope. That same day, then-U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power tweeted my story with the introduction: “I was seven years old” before linking to the article. The tweet symbolized a moment for me where my personal and professional worlds collided. Since then, they have been forever intertwined.
Even though I spent ten years of my career as a diplomat focused on other issues -- I lived in Cairo during the early days of the Arab Spring in 2011 and served in Baghdad and Erbil when the Syrian revolution turned from an uprising to civil war -- all of those past experiences that began to make mefeel erased. When I spoke on panels, my identity would be reduced to “survivor.” Like other survivors, I have worked hard to rewrite the script on how others see me.
I reinsert pieces of my other identities when speaking to underscore to the broader public that while yes, I am a survivor of childhood trauma and while my FGM story may have remade a part of my identity, it doesn’t define me.
Type 3: Stories that heal
With the guidance of a mental health expert, I have spent the last few months doing a deep dive into my FGM survivor story. I have told and retold my story over dozens of times in public venues. My goal is to break the culture of silence and inspire action. At this point, the telling of my story has almost become mechanized, as though I am reciting a verse from the Quran I memorized as a kid. I would always start with: “I was sitting an anthropology class when a fellow student described her research project on Female Genital Mutilation. And that’s when I had the memory jolt. A memory I had suppressed since childhood came flooding to the foreground.” I go into the details of what happened in granular detail -- the color of the floor, the feelings of confusion and betrayal in the hazy aftermath. And then I go on to talk about the afternoon I confronted my mother about the summer she and my father shipped my brother and off to India to stay with my aunt. The summer it happened. I later found out my aunt cut me without my parents’ consent. In my years of telling and retelling this story, I would have moments I felt nothing, moments I would break down, and moments of relief. It was a mixed bag, often contradictory emotions happening all at once.
When I began to take apart the story, I discovered the core moment where I felt most gutted. It wasn’t the cut itself. It was the aftermath. I remember sitting in a corner alone, feeling confused and ashamed. When I looked at my aunt on the other side of the room, she was whispering to my cousin and they both pointed and laughed at me. Unearthing the moment of shame - the laughter - has haunted me since childhood. The piece that was carved out of me is called “haram ki boti” which translates into sinful flesh. Over time, the physical scar healed. But for many FGM survivors, the psychological wounds remain
Type 4: Stories that reveal
Last year, I decided to take a sabbatical from the Foreign Service. I was burning out on both ends -- I had just completed a really tough assignment in Pakistan and was also doing anti-FGM
advocacy in my personal capacity. When I came home, an acquaintance from graduate school approached me to capture my story on film. As part of the process, she would send a camera
crew to shadow me. Sometimes while giving speeches, other times filming mundane interactions with friends and family. On a visit to my home in Texas, I’ll never forget the moment where my mom told me her story of survival. As part of the film, we went on a roadtrip to Austin to visit the university where I first had the memory jolt. My mom is patiently waiting for the cameraman to set up his tripod. My father is standing next to her.
In the end, we eventually had the conversation I never had the courage to have with either of my parents face to face. Looking them both in the eye, retelling my story with a camera as witness, we discussed how FGM ripped our family apart (specifically my dad’s relationship with his sister). For the first time, I heard my mom talking about her own experience and the feeling of betrayal when she discovered my aunt cut me without her consent. When I later told her that FGM was actually indigenous to the U.S. and Europe and that it was a cure for hysteria (prescribed by doctors) up until the 19th century, my mother exclaimed “that’s crazy to me, this was a cure for hysteria. I’m going to educate other doctors to speak out.” And in that moment, my mother, a survivor who had never shared her story before, became an activist.
My story, intertwined with her story, revealed a tightly woven fabric of resistance. With our voices, we were able to break the cycle of intergenerational structural violence. We were able to rewrite the stories of future generations of girls in our own family and hopefully one day, the world.
“Dreams”
by Neesa Sunar (@neesasunar), Queens, USA
This is a woman breaking free from her mundane reality, devoid of color. She dreams in a colorful, "nonsensical" way that people in her life would not understand. She could be considered insane, yet her dreams are more vivid and imaginative than actual life. This is frequently how schizophrenia occurs to me, more engaging and exciting than real life.

< United against the violence, by Karina Ocampo
Freeing the Church, Decolonizing the Bible for West Papuan Women, by Rode Wanimbo >
Snippet Festival Day 2,3 (EN)
Manuela Martha Solís Contreras
Principles of Engagement
Welcome to Crear | Résister | Transform: a festival for feminist movements!
Principles of Engagement
AWID is committed to creating an online space that invites and challenges us all to operate from a place of courage, curiosity, generosity and shared responsibility.
We invite you to co-create spaces with us that are free of harassment and violence, where everyone is respected in their gender identity and expression, race, ability, class, religion, language, ethnicity, age, occupation, type of education, sexuality, body size, and physical appearance. Spaces where we recognize inequalities in our world and strive to transform them in our own interactions with each other.
We want to create a space where ...
- we can all be present
This means that we are able to listen, understand and relate to each other. To feel close, in spite of it all being virtual. For this, we will make interpretation available and open channels (like chat and other tools) for you to react and share. To hear each other better, we invite you to wear headphones during the conversation. If it is possible for you , we suggest that you close your email and any other likely source of distraction while you are in the conversation.
- all forms of knowledge are valued
Let us celebrate the multiple ways in which knowledge shows up in our lives. We invite you to approach the conversation with curiosity and openness to learn from others, allowing ourselves to unlearn and relearn through the exchange, as a way to start collectively building knowledge.
- all of us feel welcome
We are committed to holistically approaching accessibility by being mindful of different physical, language, mental and safety needs. We want a space that is welcoming of folks from various backgrounds, beliefs, abilities and experiences. We will be proactive but we also ask that you communicate your needs with us, and we will do our best within our capacity to address these needs.
- all of us feel safe and respected:
We all commit individually and collectively to respect each other’s privacy and to seek people’s consent before sharing any images or content generated during the conversation that involves them.
Creating a safer, respectful and enjoyable environment for the conversations, is everybody's responsibility.
Reporting
If you notice that someone is behaving in a discriminatory or offensive manner, please contact the reference person who will be indicated at the beginning of the session.
Any participants that express oppressive language or images, will be removed from the call and will not be readmitted. We will not engage with them in any way.
Snippet Elimination of Discrimination_Fest (ES)
La eliminación de la discriminación contra lxs trabajadorxs sexuales
Kay Thi Win, Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers (APNSW)
Thin Pa Pa Htun, Aye Myanmar Association
Xiao Shuang, Northeast Transgender Support Network
Cathy Ketepa, Friends Frangipani Inc. PNG
Rajeshwari Prajapati, Society for Women Awareness Nepal (SWAN)

