Philippe Leroyer | Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Special Focus

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

Women Human Rights Defenders

WHRDs are self-identified women and lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LBTQI) people and others who defend rights and are subject to gender-specific risks and threats due to their human rights work and/or as a direct consequence of their gender identity or sexual orientation.

WHRDs are subject to systematic violence and discrimination due to their identities and unyielding struggles for rights, equality and justice.

The WHRD Program collaborates with international and regional partners as well as the AWID membership to raise awareness about these risks and threats, advocate for feminist and holistic measures of protection and safety, and actively promote a culture of self-care and collective well being in our movements.


Risks and threats targeting WHRDs  

WHRDs are exposed to the same types of risks that all other defenders who defend human rights, communities, and the environment face. However, they are also exposed to gender-based violence and gender-specific risks because they challenge existing gender norms within their communities and societies.

By defending rights, WHRDs are at risk of:

  • Physical assault and death
  • Intimidation and harassment, including in online spaces
  • Judicial harassment and criminalization
  • Burnout

A collaborative, holistic approach to safety

We work collaboratively with international and regional networks and our membership

  • to raise awareness about human rights abuses and violations against WHRDs and the systemic violence and discrimination they experience
  • to strengthen protection mechanisms and ensure more effective and timely responses to WHRDs at risk

We work to promote a holistic approach to protection which includes:

  • emphasizing the importance of self-care and collective well being, and recognizing that what care and wellbeing mean may differ across cultures
  • documenting the violations targeting WHRDs using a feminist intersectional perspective;
  • promoting the social recognition and celebration of the work and resilience of WHRDs ; and
  • building civic spaces that are conducive to dismantling structural inequalities without restrictions or obstacles

Our Actions

We aim to contribute to a safer world for WHRDs, their families and communities. We believe that action for rights and justice should not put WHRDs at risk; it should be appreciated and celebrated.

  • Promoting collaboration and coordination among human rights and women’s rights organizations at the international level to  strengthen  responses concerning safety and wellbeing of WHRDs.

  • Supporting regional networks of WHRDs and their organizations, such as the Mesoamerican Initiative for WHRDs and the WHRD Middle East and North Africa  Coalition, in promoting and strengthening collective action for protection - emphasizing the establishment of solidarity and protection networks, the promotion of self-care, and advocacy and mobilization for the safety of WHRDs;

  • Increasing the visibility and recognition of  WHRDs and their struggles, as well as the risks that they encounter by documenting the attacks that they face, and researching, producing, and disseminating information on their struggles, strategies, and challenges:

  • Mobilizing urgent responses of international solidarity for WHRDs at risk through our international and regional networks, and our active membership.

Related Content

Snippet FEA collaborator and allies Photo 4 (FR)

La photo représente Sopo prenant la parole lors d'un événement public à l'intérieur. Elle tient le micro tout en lisant ses notes et est assise sur une chaise entre trois autres personnes qui sont soit des orateur.trice.s, soit des modérateur.ice.s.

Olivia Arévalo Lomas

Olivia era la líder espiritual del pueblo indígena Shipibo Konibo.

Sabia mujer indígena y abuela, era conocida por practicar la medicina tradicional y cantar las canciones sagradas de su pueblo (Íkaros). Olivia Arévalo fue una activa defensora de los derechos culturales y ambientales de su pueblo. Su asesinato tuvo lugar en un contexto de conflicto territorial entre la comunidad shipibo y las empresas que quieren apropiarse de sus tierras para cultivar palma aceitera.

Integrantes de su comunidad han dicho: «Su muerte es una agresión contra toda la comunidad shipibo. Ella era la memoria viviente de su pueblo».

 


 

Olivia Arévalo Lomas, Peru

Snippet - WITM Our objectives - RU

Задачи исследования «Где деньги?»:

1

Предоставить членам AWID, партнерам и донорам обновленный, мощный, основанный на фактических данных и ориентированный на конкретные действия анализ ресурсных реалий феминистских движений, а также текущего состояния экосистемы финансирования феминистских инициатив.

2

Выявить и продемонстрировать возможности для увеличения и улучшения финансирования феминистских организаций, выявить ошибочные решения и препятствовать тенденциям, приводящим к нехватке финансирования и/или противоречащим гендерной справедливости и межсекторальным феминистским повесткам.

3

Сформулировать феминистское видение, предложения и программы по обеспечению ресурсами.

Пройти опрос!

Marzo 2015: se publica el Borrador Cero del Documento Final

Difusión del Borrador Cero del Documento Final

  • El Borrador Cero del documento (con fecha 16 de marzo), preparado por los facilitadores, fue difundido para su discusión durante la segunda sesión redactora a realizarse del 13 al 17 de abril de 2015.
  • Durante la sesión de apertura, el WWG pidió que se incorporara al Borrador Cero la asignación de recursos específicamente para la igualdad de género y el empoderamiento de las mujeres, tal como lo estipulan el Consenso de Monterrey y la Declaración de Doha.

Snippet FEA lines of work Against (EN)

Illustration of a pink book that says “labor rights” and has a red X on it,

LABOR RIGHT VIOLATIONS

Janette Sunita

Originaire d'Inde, Janette était une personne formidable, fougueuse, bienveillante et aimante.

Son intolérance à l’égard de l’injustice et sa ferme volonté de défendre les droits de toutes les personnes l’ont amenée à travailler pour TARSHI (une ONG qui travaille sur la sexualité et la santé sexuelle et reproductive) pendant plus de 15 ans. Janette a géré et dirigé avec compétence les aspects financiers, les ressources humaines et les aspects opérationnels de TARSHI, naviguant adroitement dans la bureaucratie labyrinthique à laquelle sont soumises les ONG indiennes.

Son équipe se souvient « elle assurait nos arrières pour que nous puissions naviguer en eaux libres. Femme aux multiples talents, Janette nous a non seulement aidés à acquérir nos propres bureaux, mais elles les a également aménagés pour leur utilisation optimale. Elle aimait les voyages et les animaux et s'intéressait à la thérapie assistée par les animaux ».


 

Janette Sunita, India

لماذا عليّ أن أفكر بتعبئة الاستطلاع؟

هنالك العديد من الأسباب لتعبئة الاستطلاع منها أنه لديك الفرصة لمشاركة تجربتك المعاشة المتعلقة بحشد الموارد لدعم تنظيمك، أن تعمل/ين من منطلق قوة كخبير/ة بما يتعلق بالأموال ولأين تتحرك ولأين تصل وبذلك المشاركة بالجهد المشترك والمناصرة لتحريك التمويلات الأكبر والأفضل. لقد أثبت استطلاع "أين المال" في العشرين عام الأخيرة أنه مصدر أساسي للشركاء/ الشريكات وكذلك للممولين/ات. ندعوك من كل قلبنا للمشاركة بالنسخة الثالثة لتسليط الضوء على الوضع الفعلي للموارد، وتحد الحلول الخاطئة، والإشارة إلى كيفية تغيير التمويل حتى تزدهر الحركات وتواجه التحديات المعقدة في عصرنا.

Qu’est-ce que le processus des Nations Unies sur le financement du développement ?

Le processus de l’Organisation des Nations Unies (ONU) sur le financement du développement (FdD) vise à traiter  différentes formes de financement du développement et de coopération pour le développement. Selon le Consensus de Monterrey, ce processus comporte six axes clés :

  • La mobilisation des ressources financières nationales au service du développement.
  • La mobilisation des ressources internationales au service du développement : investissements étrangers directs et autres flux financiers privés.
  • Le commerce international, comme moteur  du développement.
  • L’accroissement de la coopération financière et technique internationale pour le développement.
  • La dette extérieure.
  • L’examen des questions systémiques : amélioration de la cohérence et de la constance des systèmes monétaires, financiers et commerciaux internationaux en faveur du développement. 

Snippet FEA Wage Parity (ES)

Ilustración de dos un par de personas de piel blanca con anteojos, a la izquierda en el fondo hay un mando y a la derecha al frente hay una mujer. El fondo es turquesa.

PARIDAD SALARIAL

Reason to join 2

Encuentra y crea conexiones. AWID cuenta con más de 9000 afiliadxs, todxs dedicadxs a abordar cuestiones complementarias e interconectadas. En esta diversidad se apoya la sostenibilidad de los movimientos y actorxs feministas.

Kate McInturff

From Peacebuild to the Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action, Amnesty International, and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), Kate had a lifelong passion for women’s rights and gender equality and dedicated her career to fighting inequality and making the world a more compassionate place.

Kate was a member of the Coordinating Committee of Social Watch and a contributor to the Canadian National Social Watch reports.  As a Senior Researcher at the CCPA, Kate received national acclaim for researching, writing, and producing the annual “The Best and Worst Places to be a Woman in Canada” report.

Kate died peacefully surrounded by her family, following a three-year battle with colon cancer. She is described by loved ones as a “Funny, Fearless, Unapologetically Feminist.”


 

Kate McInturff, Canada

Наша группа, организация и/или движение не получали и не мобилизовывали финансирование от внешних спонсоров – можем ли мы принять участие в опросе?

Да! Мы признаем и ценим различные причины, по которым феминистки(-ты), работающие в различных контекстах, не имеют внешнего финансирования. Эти причины могут разниться: от невозможности подавать заявки на гранты из-за несоответствия требованиями и/или невозможности получения денег из-за рубежа, до использования генерируемых автономно ресурсов, в качестве самостоятельной политической стратегии. Мы хотим услышать ваше мнение, независимо от наличия или отсутствия у вас опыта работы с внешним финансированием.

Puis-je soumettre une proposition de session ?

L'appel à propositions est maintenant fermé.

Nous avons lancé un Appel à activités le 19 novembre 2019 et la date limite de réception des propositions était le14 février 2020.  

Trouvez d'autres moyens de vous engager sur le chemin du Forum

Snippet FEA Map of Spain Union Otras (FR)

Fond moutarde avec une carte rose de l'Espagne et une épingle jaune de l'emplacement de Sindicato Otras ;

Who we are & what we do

Strategic Plan 2023-2027

Fierce Feminisms: Together We Rise

We are excited to share our new Strategic Plan (2023-2027) with the world.

Fierce Feminisms is our way forward, acknowledging both the multiplicity of feminisms and the value of fierce and unapologetic drive for justice. The state of the world and of feminist movements calls for brave conversations and action. We look forward to working together with our members, partners and funders in creating the worlds we believe in, celebrating the wins and speaking truth to power in service of feminist movements globally.

Download: Fierce Feminisms: Together We Rise


The Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) is a global, feminist, membership, movement-support organization.

For 40 years, AWID has been a part of an incredible ecosystem of feminist movements working to achieve gender justice and women’s human rights worldwide.

Our vision

GGAADD | Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0) - modified

AWID envisions a world where feminist realities flourish, where resources and power are shared in ways that enable everyone, and future generations, to thrive and realize their full potential with dignity, love and respect, and where Earth nurtures life in all its diversity.

Our mission

Our mission is to support feminist, women’s rights and gender justice movements to thrive, to be a driving force in challenging systems of oppression, and to co-create feminist realities.


Our tactics

We advance our work through these tactics:

Influencing, advocacy and campaigning

We collaboratively leverage our access, power, resources and relationships to strategically influence policy and practice. We aim to advance feminist agendas through our work with policy makers, funders and activists in regional and global spaces. We also work to influence feminist and women’s rights movements to centre historically oppressed movements as part of efforts to strengthen our collective power and influence.

Convening and connecting

We use our convening power to facilitate dialogue and strategize on key issues. We connect our members and allies with one another, sharing and exchanging resources, ideas and action across relevant issues. We organize and facilitate spaces to strengthen and engage across movements, to imagine and envisage new futures, to develop effective influencing tactics and to co-create powerful agendas and processes.  

Solidarity and bridge-building

We work to mobilize our members and the movements we support to strengthen collective action in solidarity with feminist causes and defenders at risk. We build partnerships, engage in active listening and ongoing, long-term, solidarity. We work with defenders to build a body of knowledge and support networks of solidarity on protection and wellbeing.

Arts and creative expression

We recognize the unique and strategic value of cultural and creative strategies in the struggle against oppression and injustice. We work with artists who centre feminist voices and the narratives of historically oppressed communities. In this emerging tactic, we see art and creative expression helping us envision a world where feminist realities continue to flourish and be celebrated. 


Marcha da Mulheres negras - 2016

Our initiatives

Our initiatives work at the intersections of the sites of change we work to address, the movements we prioritize, and the tactics we use​:

Advancing Universal Rights and Justice

We monitor, document and make visible how anti-rights actors are operating and colluding in multilateral spaces and support feminist, women’s rights and gender justice movements and allies to counter their influence and impact.

Building Feminist Economies

Working on extractivism, tax justice and corporate accountability, we build knowledge on corporate power and influence; advocate for corporate accountability and equitable distribution of wealth; and amplify feminist proposals for just economies. 

Resourcing Feminist Movements

We develop accessible, action-oriented analysis on the state of resourcing for feminist movements. We aim to influence funders’ policies and practices, deepen and sustain funding for feminist social change, and support movements’ needs and strategies. 

In addition to the impact we aim to have in the world, AWID is expressly committed to strengthening our own organizational learning and resilience in order to further strengthen global feminist movements. 


Our donors

Thank you!

Without the generous funding and support from our donors, our work would not be possible

Wellspring Philanthropic Fund
Ford Foundation
Open Society Foundations
 
Sida
Government of The Netherlands
Foundation For A Just Society
 
 
Disability Rights Advocacy Fund
   

Solidarity: membership why page

Solidarité

nous prenons position en solidarité les un·e·s avec les autres ainsi qu’avec différentes luttes en défense de la justice et des libertés. Nous nous efforçons de mobiliser et renforcer l’action collective et de pratiquer des méthodes significatives de collaboration.