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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

Protection of the Family

The Issue

Over the past few years, a troubling new trend at the international human rights level is being observed, where discourses on ‘protecting the family’ are being employed to defend violations committed against family members, to bolster and justify impunity, and to restrict equal rights within and to family life.

The campaign to "Protect the Family" is driven by ultra-conservative efforts to impose "traditional" and patriarchal interpretations of the family, and to move rights out of the hands of family members and into the institution of ‘the family’.

“Protection of the Family” efforts stem from:

  • rising traditionalism,
  • rising cultural, social and religious conservatism and
  • sentiment hostile to women’s human rights, sexual rights, child rights and the rights of persons with non-normative gender identities and sexual orientations.

Since 2014, a group of states have been operating as a bloc in human rights spaces under the name “Group of Friends of the Family”, and resolutions on “Protection of the Family” have been successfully passed every year since 2014.

This agenda has spread beyond the Human Rights Council. We have seen regressive language on “the family” being introduced at the Commission on the Status of Women, and attempts made to introduce it in negotiations on the Sustainable Development Goals.


Our Approach

AWID works with partners and allies to jointly resist “Protection of the Family” and other regressive agendas, and to uphold the universality of human rights.

In response to the increased influence of regressive actors in human rights spaces, AWID joined allies to form the Observatory on the Universality of Rights (OURs).  OURs is a collaborative project that monitors, analyzes, and shares information on anti-rights initiatives like  “Protection of the Family”.

Rights at Risk, the first OURs report, charts a map of the actors making up the global anti-rights lobby, identifies their key discourses and strategies, and the effect they are having on our human rights.   

The report outlines “Protection of the Family” as an agenda that has fostered collaboration across a broad range of regressive actors at the UN.  It describes it as: “a strategic framework that houses “multiple patriarchal and anti-rights positions, where the framework, in turn, aims to justify and institutionalize these positions.”

 

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Snippet FEA ASOM’s activists in encounters (ES)

 
Black woman in a white headscarf and gray t-shirt, she is smiling and is holding a vessel above her head
People demonstrating and holding a long blue poster
Black woman speaking in a mic, there is a black girl standing next to her and a man sitting at the table
Photo of five black women in the front on a demonstration, wearing facemasks and holding posters
Photo of three women sitting around the table and talking in mics.

Activistas de ASOM en encuentros, desfiles y eventos

Membership why page - Paz Romero

"This community is a place for connections, to understand our individual fights as part of global struggles, and sometimes even dance! There aren’t places like this online where you can meet real grassroots activists from all over the world and build solidarity and sisterhood."

- Paz Romero, Argentina

Leila Hessini

Biography

Leila est une dirigeante, défenseuse et conseillère féministe transnationale qui compte plus de 25 ans d'expérience dans la promotion des droits humains, de l'égalité des genres et de la santé et des droits sexuels et reproductifs, ainsi que de la justice au niveau local et mondial. Née en Algérie, Leila a fait ses études aux États-Unis, en France et au Maroc. Au cours de sa carrière professionnelle, elle a vécu et travaillé en Afrique, en Europe et aux États-Unis.  

Elle a occupé le poste de vice-présidente des programmes au Fonds mondial pour les femmes (GFW) pendant plus de cinq ans, où elle a supervisé son octroi de subventions stratégiques, le renforcement des mouvements, le plaidoyer mondial et les collaborations philanthropiques.  Au sein du GFW, elle a doublé le montant de ses subventions pour atteindre plus de 17 millions de dollars, a lancé son travail sur les mouvements et les crises féministes et axées sur le genre, a créé un programme pour les adolescentes dirigé par un conseil consultatif de filles et a dirigé son travail de plaidoyer philanthropique.  Avant cela, elle a fait partie de l'équipe de direction d'Ipas de 2002 à 2016, où elle a publié de nombreux articles sur le droit à l'avortement et la justice, dirigé des actions de plaidoyer mondiales et établi des partenariats avec des groupes féministes travaillant sur l'autogestion, la mobilisation communautaire et la réduction de la stigmatisation autour de l'intégrité corporelle et des droits sexuels et reproductifs.  Alors qu’elle était basée en Afrique du Nord, elle a cofondé une société de conseil féministe intersectionnelle, Strategic Analysis for Gender Equality (SAGE), qui travaillait sur les intersections entre l'économie, le genre et les droits sexuels et reproductifs, et a dirigé le travail national, régional et mondial sur le genre du bureau du Caire de la Fondation Ford pendant 5 ans. 

Leila dispose d'une vaste expérience dans les domaines de l'éducation populaire, le plaidoyer, l'organisation à but non lucratif, le développement de conseils d'administration, la philanthropie et le suivi et l'évaluation. C'est une communicatrice compétente qui privilégie une approche intersectionnelle pour centrer et amplifier les voix et les expériences des personnes les plus marginalisées.  Elle a reçu la bourse Op-ed Public Voices de la Fondation Ford et a été boursière Fulbright au Maroc.  Ses publications couvrent un large éventail de sujets, notamment les approches féministes et décoloniales de la philanthropie, la promotion des droits humains des femmes dans les contextes majoritairement musulmans, les stratégies féministes visant à promouvoir la justice reproductive, la promotion du recours des femmes aux avortements autogérés et la lutte contre la stigmatisation et la discrimination. 

 Leila est actuellement coprésidente du conseil du Center for Constitutional Rights et membre du conseil de Highlander Research and Education. Elle fait également partie du conseil de responsabilité du Numun Feminist Technology Fund et du comité consultatif de la Plateforme des femmes défenseuses des droits humains d'Afrique.  Elle a précédemment siégé aux conseils d'administration de SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective, du Réseau mondial des femmes pour les droits sur la reproduction, du Fonds mondial pour les femmes, du Safe Abortion Access Fund et du Reproductive Health Technologies Project. Elle a été élue trésorière et membre du comité exécutif du conseil d'administration de Prospera et a siégé au comité directeur du Fonds Fenomenal pendant quatre ans. Leila est titulaire d'une maîtrise en santé publique et d'une maîtrise en études sur la région du Moyen-Orient et de l'Afrique du Nord, a étudié le droit islamique au Maroc et a poursuivi des études doctorales en sociologie en France. Elle a étudié l'arabe et l'allemand et parle couramment le français et l'anglais.

Position
Co-trésorier
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Des défenseuses courageuses dans l’univers des médias

Ces 21 Défenseuses des Droits humains (WHRDs) ont travaillé en tant que journalistes ou plus généralement dans le domaine des médias au Mexique, en Colombie, aux Îles Fidji, en Lybie, au Népal, aux États-Unis, au Nicaragua, aux Philippines, en Russie, en Allemagne, en France, en Afghanistan et au Royaume-Uni. 17 d'entre elles ont été assassinées et les causes de la mort de l’une d’elles restent obscures. Pour cette Journée mondiale de la liberté de la presse,  joignez-vous à nous pour commémorer la vie et le travail de ces femmes. Faites circuler ces portraits auprès de vos collègues, vos ami-e-s et dans vos réseaux. Partagez-les en utilisant les mots-clés #WPFD2016 et #WHRDs.

Les contributions de ces femmes ont été célébrées et honorées dans notre Hommage en ligne aux défenseuses qui ne sont plus parmi nous.


Cliquez sur chaque image pour voir une version plus grande ou pour télécharger le fichier.

Snippet FEA Aura Roig (FR)

Venez rencontrer Aura Roig, militante féministe visionaire, anthropologue, directrice et fondatrice de la coopérative Metzineres.

Elle a consacré les deux dernières décennies à la recherche, à la conception et à la mise en place de politiques de soutien aux personnes qui se droguent, basées sur la réduction des méfaits, les droits humains et le féminisme intersectionnel.

Après avoir expérimenté et appris des communautés qui consomment des drogues dans le monde entier, elle est retournée à Barcelone pour créer la Xarxa de Dones que Usen Drogues (le Réseau des Femmes qui Consomment des Drogues, XADUD). XADUD était un espace d'entraide et de solidarité avec la lutte pour les droits des groupes marginalisés, qui plus tard deviendra la coopérative Metzineres.

Aujourd'hui, Aura travaille à étendre le modèle Metzineres pour prendre en charge des groupes plus grands, tout en documentant de manière approfondie son parcours et son apprentissage prolifiques.

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Se rassembler à l’échelle mondiale, en tant qu’individus et mouvements, nous permet de générer une force considérable. Rejoignez-nous à Bangkok, en Thaïlande et en ligne en décembre 2024.

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Fatima Qureshi

Biography

A nomad of cultures, born in Hong Kong, rooted in Turkish-Pakistani heritage, Fatima’s love for narratives - both in reading and co-creating them - fueled her passion for communications activism. Supported by her education in journalism, Fatima has worked for 7 years in digital and media communications fields with NGOs that provide education opportunities and legal aid to refugee and asylum seekers, as well as with the Muslim feminist movement which applies feminist and rights-based lenses in understanding and searching for equality and justice within Muslim legal tradition. She is a regular op-ed writer on feminist issues in the Global South.

Through storytelling in this hyper-digital age of social media, Fatima continues to collaborate with community organizers and grassroots activists to create audiovisual content with the aim to cultivate bridges of understanding towards collective liberation and decolonization. On days when she’s not working, she intently watches independent feminist films coming from Iran, Morocco and Pakistan and on other days, she performs spoken word poetry with her comrades in Kuala Lumpur.

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Forum Communications Lead
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WHRDs from the Pacific Region

The 3 Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRDs) from the Pacific we are featuring in this year's Online Tribute have worked in the media, campaigned for disability rights and advocated for women’s rights. Their contributions are missed and we honor them in this Tribute. Please join AWID in commemorating these WHRDs, their work and legacy by sharing the memes below with your colleagues, networks and friends and by using the hashtags #WHRDTribute.


Please click on each image below to see a larger version and download as a file 

 

Snippet FEA Occupation’s kitchen Instagram 2 (EN)

Occupation’s kitchen campaign:

Women sustain Care | Care Sustains Life | Life Sustains Economy | Who takes care of women?  | Not one less1 | Together | Sunday lunch

1Nenhuna a menos literally translates as “not one woman less” or “ni una menos” in Spanish - a famous feminist slogan in Latin America that emerged in Argentina as a response to increasing gender-based violence.

Snippet - CSW69 - Feminist Solidarity Space - EN

Feminist Solidarity Space

✉️ By registration for larger groups. Drop-ins for smaller groups. Register here

📅 Tuesday, March 11, 2025
🕒 12.00-2.00pm and 4.00-6.00pm EST

🏢 Chef's Kitchen Loft with Terrace, 216 East 45th St 13th Floor New York

Organizer: AWID

Brenda Salas Neves

Biography

Brenda Salas Neves es une estratega feminista queer nacide y criade en los Andes del Sur. Elle trabaja en la organización para el cambio de narrativas y movilizar recursos para apoyar los movimientos de justicia racial y climática en todo el mundo. Ha producido proyectos mediáticos para potenciar el poder de la población migrante y alzarse contra la intervención militar estadounidense en toda América Latina, con Deep Dish TV y el Comité de Solidaridad con Centroamérica de Portland. Elle es une orgullose integrante del Proyecto Audre Lorde y egresade del movimiento de los United World Colleges (UWC).

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Foro de AWID 2016: Kit para redes sociales

¡Ayúdanos a difundir el Foro de AWID 2016!

Este kit incluye ejemplos de mensajes para ser utilizados en Twitter, Facebook y LinkedIn, como así también imágenes que puedes usar para acompañar a estos mensajes.

La utilización de este kit es muy simple. Solo tienes que seguir estos pasos:

  1. Elige tus mensajes favoritos:
    Twitter
    Facebook 
    LinkedIn

  2. Descarga aquí tus imágenes favoritas:
    Twitter
    Facebook
    Instagram

  3. Combina los mensajes con las imágenes de la forma que desees.
  4. Compártelos a través de tu cuenta personal y/o profesional de las redes sociales
¡Y listo! ¡Ya mismo puedes comenzar!

Twitter

Combina estos mensajes con las imágenes para Twitter


Tweets utilizando tu nombre de usuarix (handle)

Yo voy al #AWIDForum. Es EL lugar para conectar con los movimientos por los derechos de las mujeres y la justicia social ¡Únete a mi!: http://forum.awid.org/forum16/es

¡Ya quiero re-imaginar los #FuturosFeministas c/ otrxs activistas x los DD. de las mujeres y la justicia social en el #AWIDForum! Únete: http://forum.awid.org/forum16/es

Me entusiasma poder asistir al Foro de AWID el próximo mes de mayo ¡Ahora ya podemos registrarnos! ¡Únete a mi! http://forum.awid.org/forum16/es


Tweets para utilizar con tu nombre de usuarix institucional

Se encuentra abierta la inscripción para participar del #AWIDForum! en Costa do Sauípe, Brasil, 8-11 de sept 2016: http://forum.awid.org/forum16/es

Únete al #AWIDForum, un encuentro histórico global de activistas x los derechos de las mujeres y la justicia social: http://forum.awid.org/forum16/es

Únete al #AWIDForum para celebrar los logros de nuestros movimientos y las lecciones aprendidas para seguir avanzando http://forum.awid.org/forum16/es

El #AWIDForum, no es solo un evento sino una oportunidad para confrontar la opresión y promover el avance de la justicia: http://forum.awid.org/forum16/es

Únete al #AWIDForum para celebrar, pensar estrategias y renovar nuestros movimientos y a nosotrxs mismxs: http://forum.awid.org/forum16/es


Futuros Feministas

Construyamos juntxs los #FuturosFeministas. Inscríbete al #AWIDForum. Costa do Sauípe, Brasil: http://forum.awid.org/forum16/es

Únete a nosotrxs para re-imaginar y crear juntxs los #FuturosFeministas en el #AWIDForum. Inscríbete: http://forum.awid.org/forum16/es

#FuturosFeministas: aprovecha el momento en el #AWIDForum para promover nuestras visiones de un mundo mejor: http://forum.awid.org/forum16/es

Seremos 2000 activistas de movimientos sociales en el #AWIDForum, pensando estrategias para nuestros #FuturosFeministas http://forum.awid.org/forum16/es


Construcción entre movimientos

Somos mucho más que una sola lucha. Únete a nosotrxs en el #AWIDForumhttp://forum.awid.org/forum16/es

Únete al #AWIDForum, un espacio para pensar estrategias entre movimientos y hacer uso de nuestro poder colectivo: http://forum.awid.org/forum16/es

Movilicemos la solidaridad y el poder colectivo entre movimientos sociales en el #AWIDForumhttp://forum.awid.org/forum16/es

Rompamos el aislamiento entre nuestros movimientos. Re-imaginemos y creemos juntxs nuestros futuros en el #AWIDForumhttp://forum.awid.org/forum16/es

Solidaridad es un verbo. Pongámosla en acción en el #AWIDForumhttp://forum.awid.org/forum16/es


Mensajes especiales

Donantes se comprometen con los derechos de las mujeres y los movimientos sociales en el #AWIDForumhttp://forum.awid.org/forum16/es

Los medios de comunicación y los movimientos amplifican los #FuturosFeministas en el #AWIDForumhttp://forum.awid.org/forum16/es

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Facebook 

Combina estos mensajes con las imágenes para Facebook
Estos mensajes pueden ser usados en Twitter también vía mensaje privado directo, ya que allí no hay límites de carácteres.


Mensajes para tu perfil personal

¡La espera terminó! Todxs podemos registrarnos en el Foro de AWID 2016. Me entusiasma tanto saber que volveré a conectar con otrxs activistas y que re-imaginaremos nuestros futuros feministas ¡Nos vemos allí, en Brasil! http://forum.awid.org/forum16/es

Me entusiasma poder asistir al Foro de AWID el próximo mes de mayo ¡Ahora ya podemos registrarnos! ¡Únete a mi! http://forum.awid.org/forum16/es

Me encanta la idea de re-imaginar futuros feministas en el Foro de AWID, con 2.000 personas maravillosas pertenecientes a una gran cantidad de movimientos por los derechos de las mujeres y la justicia social ¡Regístrate y reúnete conmigo en Brasil! http://forum.awid.org/forum16/es

Mensajes para la página de tu organización


La inscripción al Foro de AWID 2016 ya se encuentra abierta. El mismo se realizará en Costa do Sauípe, Brasil! Este no es solo un evento, es un espacio clave para que activistas por los derechos de las mujeres y la justicia nos reunamos y juntxs volvamos a imaginar nuestros futuros feministas ¡No vas a querer perdértelo! http://forum.awid.org/forum16/es

¡Únete a nosotrxs en el Foro de AWID 2016 en Brasil! Activistas y movimientos de todo el mundo nos reuniremos allí para celebrar, pensar estrategias, inspirarnos y renovar nuestras luchas colectivas y a nosotrxs mismxs ¡Regístrate ahora! http://forum.awid.org/forum16/es

El Foro de AWID 2016 será un encuentro histórico de activistas por los derechos de las mujeres y movimientos por la justicia social de todo el mundo. Únete a nosotrxs allí para romper el aislamiento, reforzar la solidaridad y hacer uso nuestro poder colectivo ¡Regístrate ahora! http://forum.awid.org/forum16/es

Volver arriba 

 


LinkedIn

El Foro de AWID 2016 en Brasil será un encuentro histórico de activistas por los derechos de las mujeres y movimientos por la justicia social de todo el mundo. Únete a nosotrxs allí para romper el aislamiento, reforzar la solidaridad y hacer uso de nuestro poder colectivo. Ya se encuentra abierta la inscripción al mismo. http://forum.awid.org/forum16/es

Instagram

Descarga tus imágenes favoritas para usar en Instagram


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Snippet FEA EoS The Howl (EN)

Three arms with fist raised: one black, pink, and the last one in purple

The Howl
Participation and activism

Snippet - Resources to rally - EN

Resources to rally through CSW69 with

Xena Scullard

Biography

Xena Scullard es una feminista queer de la Colonia del Cabo (Ciudad del Cabo), en Sudáfrica. Se identifica con el pronombre «ella» y como humana queer de color del pueblo camissa, y actualmente está desenredando los hilos del borrado el desplazamiento y los legados coloniales vivos. Durante los últimos trece años, ha sido activista en diferentes movimientos de organizaciones de base, colectivas feministas informales y espacios filantrópicos. Algunos momentos destacados han sido: la organización del encuentro global de activistas de Astraea de 2023, la facilitación de la planificación estratégica centrada en la justicia restaurativa con la Love Alliance Partner Network, y la organización del Global Student & Youth Caucus en 2022. Es una facilitadora feminista, diseñadora de procesos, coordinadora e ideadora. Cree en el poder disruptivo de los procesos colectivos para desafiar las agendas capitalistas que buscan crear competencia y otredad entre las personas. Es SeniorAtlantic Global Fellow por la Equidad Racial, y cofundadora y organizadora del Queer Feminist Film Festival. Xena es Directora de Shakura Consulting, que es una compañía de creatividad espacial construida con sus hermanes queer y feministas para canalizar el trabajo de consultoría de objetivos. Está obsesionada con la creación conjunta de proyectos centrados en la justicia sanadora y en el rearmado de lo desmembrado.

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Fourm Access Fund Lead
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3. Design your survey

After assessing your organization’s capacity and research goals, you may choose to conduct a survey as one of the methods of data collection for your research analysis.

In this section:

Why conduct a survey?

A survey is an excellent way to gather information on individual organizations to capture trends at a collective level.

For example, one organization’s budget size does not tell you much about a trend in women’s rights funding, but if you know the budgets of 1,000 women’s rights organizations or even 100, you can start to form a picture of the collective state of women’s rights funding.

As you develop your survey questions, keep in mind the research framing that you developed in the previous section.

Remember: Your framing helps you determine what information you are trying to procure through your survey. The data collected from this survey should allow you to accomplish your goals, answer your key questions, and create your final products.

See examples of survey questions in AWID’s Sample WITM Global Survey

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Identify your survey population

This is an important step – the clearer you are about which populations you want to survey, the more refined your questions will be. 

Depending on your research goals, you may want to create separate surveys for women’s rights organizations, women’s funds and donors. Or you may want to focus your survey on women’s groups and collect interviews for women’s funds and donors, as a survey for each population can be resource-intensive.

The questions you ask women’s groups may be different than ones you would ask women’s funds. If you plan on surveying more than one population, we encourage you to tailor your data collection to each population.

At the same time, some key questions for each population can and should overlap in order to draw comparative analysis from the answers.

Online survey

If you can reach your survey population online, it is useful and efficient to create an online survey.

We recommend two online tools, both which offer free versions:

Survey Gizmo allows you to convert your data for SPSS, a statistical software useful for advanced data analysis

Your data analyst person(s) will be the best person(s) to determine which tool is best for your survey based on staff capacity and analysis plans.

For accessibility, consider making a PDF form version of your survey that you can attach via email. This ensures organizations that have sporadic internet connections or those that pay for it by the minute can download the survey and complete it without requiring a constant online connection.

Paper survey

You may decide that an online approach is not sufficiently accessible or inclusive enough for your popuation.

In this case, you will need to create a paper survey and methods to reach offline populations (through popular events or through post, with pre-stamped envelopes for returning).

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Create your questions

Make it easy for participants to complete your survey.

1. Short and clear questions

If the questions are confusing or require complex answers, you risk having participants leave the survey unfinished or providing answers that are unusable for your analysis.

Ensure your questions only ask for one item of information at a time.

For example:

  • What is your organization’s budget this year?
    Easy to answer: participant can easily locate this information for their organization, and it is only asking for one item of information.
  • What percentage of your budget have you identified as likely sources for funding for your organization, but are still unconfirmed? 
    Confusing and difficult to answer: are you asking for a list of unconfirmed funding sources or percentage of funding that is likely but unconfirmed?
    This information is difficult to obtain: the respondent will have to calculate percentages, which they may not have on hand. This increases the risk that they will not complete the survey.

2. Simple and universal language

Many words and acronyms that are familiar to you may be unknown to survey participants, such as “resource mobilization”, “WHRD”, and “M&E”, so be sure to choose more universal language to express your questions.

If you must use industry lingo – phrases and words common to your colleagues but not widely known – then providing a definition will make your survey questions easier to understand.

Be sure to spell out any acronyms you use. For example, if you use WHRD, spell it out as “Women’s Human Rights Defenders".

3. "Closed” and "Open" questions

Closed questions:

Only one response is possible (such as “yes,” “no” or a number). Survey participants cannot answer in their own words and they typically have to choose from predetermined categories that you created or enter in a specific number. Responses to closed questions are easier to measure collectively and are often quantitative.

Example of a closed question: What is your organization’s budget?

Open-ended questions:

These are qualitative questions that are often descriptive. Respondents answer these questions entirely in their own words. These are more suitable for interviews than surveys.

They are harder to analyze at a collective level as compared to closed-end questions, especially if your survey sample is large. However, by making open-ended questions very specific, you will make it easier to analyze the responses.

Whenever possible, design your survey questions so that participants must select from a list of options instead of offering open-ended questions. This will save a lot of data cleaning and analysis time.

Example of open-ended question: What specific challenges did you face in fundraising this year?

Familiarize yourself with different types of questions

There are several ways to ask closed-ended questions. Here are some examples you can review and determine what fits best for the type of data you want to collect:

  • Multiple choice questions: the participant can select one or several options you pre-entered
  • Rating scales: the participant gives a note on a scale you pre-determine.
    For this type of questions, make sure to clearly state what the bottom and the top of your scale mean
  • Ranking: the participant will choose and organize a certain number of answers you pre-determine.

View more question types

4. Logical organization

If you plan to conduct this research at regular intervals (such as every two years), we recommend developing a baseline survey that you can repeat in order to track trends over time.

Set 1: Screening questions

Screening questions will determine the participant’s eligibility for the survey.

The online survey options we provided allow you to end the survey if respondents do not meet your eligibility criteria. Instead of completing the survey, they will be directed to a page that thanks them for their interest but explains that this survey is intended for a different type of respondent.

For example, you only want women’s rights groups in a given location to take this survey. The screening questions can determine the location of the participant and prevent respondents from other locations from continuing the survey.

Set 2: Standardized, basic demographic questions

These questions would collect data specific to the respondent, such as name and location of organization. These may overlap with your screening questions.

If resources permit, you can store these answers on a database and only ask these questions the first year an organization participates in your survey.

This way when the survey is repeated in future years, it is faster for organizations to complete the entire survey, increasing chances of completion.

Set 3: Standardized and mandatory funding questions

These questions will allow you to track income and funding sustainability. Conducted every year or every other year, this allows you to capture trends across time.

Set 4: Special issues questions

These questions account for current context. They can refer to a changing political or economic climate. They can be non-mandatory funding questions, such as attitudes towards fundraising.

For example, AWID’s 2011 WITM Global Survey asked questions on the new “women & girls” investment trend from the private sector.

5. Less than 20 mins

The shorter, the better: your survey shouldn’t exceed 20 minutes to ensure completion and respect respondents’ time.

It is natural to get excited and carried away by all the types of questions that could be asked and all the information that could be obtained. However, long surveys will lead to fatigue and abandonment from participants or loss of connection between participants and your organization.

Every additional question in your survey will add to your analytical burden once the survey is complete.

6. Simple and exciting

  • Let participants know the estimated time to complete the survey before they begin
  • Specify what information they will need to complete it so they have it on hand (for example, if you are asking for financial data, say it at the outset so they can prepare)
  • Request information that organizations can easily access and provide – for example, requesting financial information from 20 years ago may be difficult (or impossible) for organizations to provide.
  • Create an incentive to convince your survey population to complete the survey, such as a prize raffle. For example, AWID held a raffle draw for a round-trip flight to the AWID Forum as a prize for completing our 2011 WITM Global Survey.

General tips

  • Ask for exact budgets instead of offering a range (in our experience, specific amounts are more useful in analysis).
  • Specify currency! If necessary, ask everyone to convert their answers to the same currency or ask survey takers to clearly state the currency they are using in their financial answers.
  • Ensure you collect enough demographic information on each organization to contextualize results and draw out nuanced trends.
    For example, if you are analyzing WITM for a particular country, it will be useful to know what region each organization is from or at what level (rural, urban, national, local) they work in order to capture important trends such as the availability of greater funding for urban groups or specific issues.

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Test and translate

1. Your advisors

Involving your partners from the start will allow you to build deeper relationships and ensure more inclusive, higher quality research.

They will provide feedback on your draft survey, pilot test the survey, and review your draft research analysis drawn from your survey results and other data collection.

These advisors will also publicize the survey to their audiences once it is ready for release. If you plan on having the survey in multiple languages, ensure you have partners who use those languages.

If you decide to do both survey and interviews for your data collection, your advisor-partners on your survey design can also double as interviewees for your interview data collection process.

2. Draft and test

After your survey draft is complete, test it with your partners before opening it up to your respondents. This will allow you to catch and adjust any technical glitches or confusing questions in the survey.

It will also give you a realistic idea of the time it takes to take the survey.

3. Translation

Once the survey is finalized and tested in your native language, it can be translated.

Be sure to test the translated versions of your survey as well. At least some of your pilot testers should be native speakers of the translated languages to ensure clarity.

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Target the right population

1. Sample size

Your survey sample size is the number of participants that complete your survey.

Your survey sample should reflect the qualities of the larger population you intend to analyze.

For example: you would like to analyze the millions of women’s rights groups in Valyria but you lack the time and resources to survey every single one.
Instead, you can survey only 500 of the Valyrian women’s rights groups – a sample size - to represent the qualities of all the women’s groups in the region.

Recommended sample size

  • 100 survey participants or less tend to be unreliable
  • 250 to 400 will yield results of reasonable accuracy
  • over 400 are fully adequate and will also allow accurate analysis of subgroups (for example, age groups).

Although it is not necessary to determine your exact sample size before you launch your survey, having a size in mind will allow you to determine when you have reached enough participants or whether you should extend the dates that the survey is available, in case you feel that you have not reached enough people.

2. Degree of participation

Even more important than size of a sample is the degree to which all members of the target population are able to participate in a survey.

If large or important segments of the population are systematically excluded (whether due to language, accessibility, timing, database problems, internet access or another factor) it becomes impossible to accurately assess the statistical reliability of the survey data.

In our example: you need to ensure all women’s groups in Valyria had the opportunity to participate in the survey.

If a segment of women’s groups in Valyria do not use internet, and you only pull participants for your sample through online methods, then you are missing an important segment when you have your final sample, thus it is not representative of all women’s groups in Valyria.

You cannot accurately draw conclusions on your data if segments of the population are missing in your sample size; and ensuring a representative sample allows you to avoid this mistake.

3. Database and contact list

To gain an idea of what the makeup of women’s groups for your area of research (region, population, issue, etc) looks like, it may be useful to look at databases.

  • Some countries may have databases of all registered nonprofits, which will allow you to know your full population.
  • If databases are not available or useful, you can generate your own list of groups in your area of research. Start with networks and coalitions, ask them to refer you to additional groups not in the membership lists.

By understanding the overall makeup of women’s groups that you plan to target, you can have an idea of what you want your sample to look like - it should be like a mini-version of the larger population.

After participants have taken your survey, you can then gauge if the resulting population you reached (your sample size) matches the makeup of the larger population. If it doesn’t match, you may then decide to do outreach to segments you believe are missing or extend the window period that your survey is open.

Do not be paralyzed if you are unsure of how representative your sample size is – do your best to spread your survey as far and wide as possible.

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Previous step

2. Frame your research

Next step

4. Collect and analyze your data


Estimated time:
• 2 - 3 months
People needed:
• 1 or more Research person(s)
• Translator(s), if offering survey in multiple languages
• 1 or more Person(s) to assist with publicizing survey to target population
• 1 or more Data analysis person(s)
Resources needed:
• List of desired advisors: organizations, donors and activists
• Optional: an incentive prize to persuade people to complete your survey
• Optional: an incentive for your advisors
Resources available:
Survey Monkey or Survey Gizmo
Sample of WITM Global Survey

Previous step

2. Frame your research

Next step

4. Collect and analyze your data


Ready to Go? Worksheet

Download the toolkit in PDF