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Special Focus

AWID is an international, feminist, membership organisation committed to achieving gender equality, sustainable development and women’s human rights

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.

Visit the online exhibit

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.

Visit the online exhibit

Related Content

Snippet Video C&H (ES)

Snippet - CSW68 - Responding to Anti-rights - FR

Répondre aux évolutions antidroits

in Multilateral and Regional Spaces

✉️ Sur invitation uniquement
📅Mardi 12 mars
🕒14 h - 15 h 30 HNE

Organisateur : Consortium de l'Observatoire sur l'universalité des droits (OURs)
🏢Blue Gallery, 222 E 46th St, New York

Seismic shifts: A year of completion, transition and reflection | Annual report 2017

The past five years have been huge for AWID.

We have contributed to some major victories, like expanding the women’s rights funding landscape with ground-breaking, far-reaching research and advocacy. At the same time, we have experienced some devastating setbacks, including the assassination of Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRDs) like Berta Cacares of Honduras, Gauri Lankesh of India and Marielle Franco of Brazil, as well as the rise of anti-rights mobilizing in human rights spaces.

Five years ago, we committed to our movement-building role by producing knowledge on anti-rights movement trends, as well as on issues that feminists often engage with less, like illicit financial flows. We advocated side by side with our movement partners, strengthening young feminist and inter-generational activism, and expanding the holistic protection of WHRDs. As we close out the strategic plan, we are proud of our accomplishments and our growth as an organization. We end 2017 with renewed commitment, insights and learning for the continued struggle ahead!

 

About the AWID International Forum

More than an event!

The AWID International Forum is a truly global space that gives participants an opportunity to network, build alliances, celebrate, and learn in a stimulating, emotive and safe atmosphere. 

AWID International Forum in Costa de Sauipe, Brazil, 2016

More and more, we are trying to bring the Forum process outside of the convening’s borders. Engaging with partners and deepening relationships all year round, connecting with local movements to better understand problems and co-create solutions. The Forum event itself, held every three to four years in a different region of the world, is just a crystallization of all these alliances that we are building as part of our work.

The AWID Forum dissolves our inner and external boundaries, fosters deep discussion, personal and professional growth, and strengthens our movements for gender justice and women’s rights.

As a convening, it is a response to the urgency to promote stronger and more coordinated engagement and action by feminists, women’s rights and other social justice advocates, organizations and movements. We also believe that the Forum is more than just an event – it can facilitate a process to influence thinking and set agendas for feminist movements and other related actors.

Evolving from a national conference of around 800 people, the event now brings together around 2000 feminists, community leaders, social justice activists, and donor agencies from around the world. 

The 14th AWID International Forum will take place 11-14 January 2021 in Taipei, Taiwan.

Find out more!


The past Forums

2016 - Feminist Futures: Building Collective Power for Rights and Justice (Costa de Sauipe, Brazil)

Participants at the Black Feminisms Forum in Brazil, 2016

Given the complex world that we face today, the 2016 AWID Forum did not focus on a particular “issue”, but rather on creating more effective ways of working together!

Despite the challenging contexts in which the 2016 Forum took place (the Zika epidemic, a strike by Brazilian foreign-service workers, the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff and subsequent turmoil), it succeeded in bringing together over 1800 participants from 120 countries and territories across all regions of the world.

What happened at the 13th AWID international Forum:

  • For 96% of participants who responded to the post Forum evaluation survey, the Forum was a major source of inspiration and energy.

  • 98% of participants considered it an important convening space for feminist movements and expressed hope that AWID continues to organize forums.

  • 59% of Forum evaluation survey respondents declared to be very satisfied with the Forum and 34% somewhat satisfied.

  • Over 150 sessions were delivered in different formats on a variety of topics ranging from bodily integrity and freedoms, to gender-based violence in the workplace, to strategies for building collective power.

  • The first-time Black Feminisms Forum (BFF), held just before the main AWID Forum, brought together 250 Black feminists from all over the world to co-create a powerful space to build and strengthen ongoing, intergenerational, transnational connections

Read more about what the 2016 AWID Forum achieved:

Download the Forum evaluation report


2012 - Transforming Economic Power to Advance Women's Rights and Justice (Istambul, Turkey)

AWID International Forum, in Cape Town, South Africa, 2008

The 12th AWID Forum was the largest and most diverse AWID Forum to date, bringing together 2239 women’s rights activists from 141 countries. Of these participants, around 65% were from the Global South and close to 15% were young women under 30, and 75% attended an AWID Forum for their first time.

The Forum program focused on transforming economic power to advance women’s rights and justice and featured over 170 different kinds of sessions including feminist economics toolbox skills-building sessions, breakout sessions representing all 10 Forum themes, in-depth sessions, and solidarity roundtables. 

Building on the momentum of the 2012 Forum, we transformed the website into a resource and learning Hub, which builds on the content generated by participants by featuring multi-media resources on all Forum components. 

Visit the 2012 Forum web archive


All AWID Forums

  • 2016: Feminist Futures: Building Collective Power for Rights and Justice (Costa de Sauipe, Brazil). Read the 2016 Forum Evaluation report
  • 2012: Transforming Economic Power to Advance Women's Rights and Justice (Istanbul, Turkey)
  • 2008: The Power of Movements (Cape Town, South Africa). Read our 2008 Forum Report
  • 2005: How does change happen? (Bangkok, Thailand)
  • 2002: Reinventing Globalization (Guadalajara, Mexico)
  • 1999: Leading Solutions for Equality and Justice (US)
  • 1996: Beyond Beijing From Words to Action (US)
  • 1993: Joining Forces to Further Shared Visions (US)
  • 1991: Working Together/Learning Together: A South North Dialogue (US)
  • 1989/1990: Global Em-Powerment for Women (US)
  • 1987: Moving Forward: Innovations in Development Policy, Action and Research (US)
  • 1985: Women Creating Wealth; Transforming Economic Development (US)
  • 1983: ‘Women in Development’ (Washington D.C, US)

Snippet FEA FIGHT LIKE SOMEONE WHO CARES (FR)

São Paulo, Brésil

COZINHA OCUPAÇÃO 9 DE JULHO

Lutte comme quelqu'un·e qui

PREND SOIN

Snippet - CSW68 - Follow Socials - EN

Follow us!

Through in-person events, lives on our socials, an exhibit booth and more; we are showing up to convene, amplify and support the voices and participation of our members, partners and allies.

Together we will Reclaim Feminist Power by uplifting feminist alternatives and visions around economies that center collective systems of care and nurture both the planet and people.

Follow us on social media for more details on how to participate! Be part of the conversations using the hashtags #AWIDatCSW68 and #ReclaimFeministPower.

Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn | X (Twitter)

2020: Annual Report

For many of us, 2020 was an especially challenging year due to the global health pandemic. Feminists and activists rose to the new challenges meeting community needs in innovative ways. Here are 5 highlights of how AWID contributed to feminist co-creation and resistance.


Watch our Annual Report Video below

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Snippet FEA Introducing Carmen Silva Ferreira (EN)

We have the pleasure to introduce you to Carmen Silva Ferreira.

She was born in Bahia, the Northeastern part of Brazil. She is an immigrant, a social activist and a mother of 8 children.

Carmen experienced homelessness at the age of 35, after migrating to Sao Paulo on her own. This led her to become a fierce advocate for vulnerable, marginalized and invisibilized communities most affected by the housing crisis. She eventually became one of the founders of MSTC in 2000.

As a visionary political organizer and the current leader of the MSTC, Carmen’s work has laid bare the city's housing crisis and provided inspiration to others on different ways to organize and manage occupations. She stood strong on the forefront of several occupations. One of them is the 9 de Julho Occupation, which now serves as a stage for direct democracy, and a space where everyone can be heard, seen, appreciated and work together.

Carmen has been long celebrated for her boldness in giving life back to abandoned buildings in the heart of São Paulo.

To know more about her life, you can follow her on Instagram!

Snippet - WITM To share - EN

To share your lived experience with mobilizing funding for your organizing

Lutter pour les droits humains et affronter l'injustice en Amérique latine et dans les Caraïbes

Cette année, nous rendons hommage à dix-neuf défenseuses des droits humains originaires de la région Amérique latine et Caraïbes. Parmi elles, seize ont été assassinées, dont six journalistes et quatre défenseuses des droits des personnes LGBT*QI. Nous vous invitons à vous joindre à nous pour commémorer la vie et le travail de ces femmes. Faites circuler les mèmes figurant ci-dessous 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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Snippet FEA ASOM (ES)

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.