9 February 2011, World Social Forum, Dakar, Senegal: In this year, 2011, the World Social Forum joins with the peoples of Africa for the third time, following Mali in 2006 and Kenya in 2007. We, women from different parts of the world who have gathered in Dakar, recognizing that uniting our strengths will eventually bring change, confirm our solidarity and our admiration for the struggles of Senegalese women, African women, and women of the world.

FRIDAY FILE: The Third African Feminist Forum was held in Dakar in towards the end of October 2010. In this Friday File article we offer some reflections on the meeting.

By Kathambi Kinoti

AWID - Civil society organisations (CSOs) have been hit hard by the global economic crisis, not only because it has restricted their access to money, but also because the demand for their services has increased as a result of the crisis. In the light of a report commissioned by the United Nations secretariat, we reflect on the global economic crisis and what it means for civil society organisations.

Access to money

FRIDAY FILE - Not so long ago few people knew of the issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (#MMIW) in Canada. But in a short span, No More Silence, Families of Sisters in Spirit, Native Youth Sexual Health Network (NYSHN) and other initiatives have contributed to building such momentum that the crisis of MMIW has finally entered mainstream media and public consciousness.

FRIDAY FILE – In January this year the United Nations declared 2015-2024 The International Decade for People of African Descent. AWID spoke to Vicenta Camusso Pintos, coordinator of the South Cone Region for the Red de Mujeres Afrolatinoamericanas, Afrocaribeñas y la Diáspora, to learn more about Afro-descendant women’s organizing in Latin America over the past two decades.

By Gabby De Cicco

FRIDAY FILE: On September 5, 2013 the Domestic Workers Convention (C189), adopted by International Labour Organization (ILO) in 2011, entered into force. A year later, AWID spoke to Andrea Londoño S., Coordinator of the citizens' initiative Hablemos de Empleadas Domésticas (Let's Talk About Women Domestic Workers) from Medellin, Colombia, who outlines the legal landscape, how women domestic workers are organizing, and the challenges they face.

FRIDAY FILE - On August 1, 2014, the constitutional court of Uganda overturned the discriminatory anti-gay law passed through parliament on December 20, 2013. However, the decision was based on procedural technicalities rather than on the substance of the law, which goes against freedom of sexual orientation and gender identity.

By Mégane Ghorbani

FRIDAY FILE : Abortion is illegal in Argentina, with three exceptions: when the pregnancy was the result of a rape or abuse against a woman with a mental disability and when the pregnant woman’s life or health are at risk. However, even these cases often end up before the Courts and women continue to undergo surgical clandestine abortions that put their lives at risk.

FRIDAY FILE: A Constitutional reform was passed in Nicaragua on January 27, 2014 and entered into force on February 10th, which will allow consecutive presidential re-election as well military personnel to hold government posts. AWID spoke to Azahalea Solís, from Movimiento Autónomo de Mujeres de Nicaragua (MAM- Autonomous Women’s Movement) about the reform, women´s rights and the recent repression during the International Women’s Day (March 8th) demonstration.

FRIDAY FILE – This year’s negotiations at the 58th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW58) saw women’s rights advocates, organisations and movements working extremely hard to retain existing human rights language, obligations and commitments, and attempting to push forward language that contained clear commitments for gender equality and women’s human rights; but present also, were strong fundamentalist forces pushing back on any, and all, advancement of rights language.