On 22 August 2016 the Black Feminisms Forum and the Advisory Group on Wellbeing co-hosted a webinar on self-care, collective wellbeing, joy and pleasure as integral components in our struggles for rights and justice.

Full of energy and motivation, young African feminists fight for their rights. During the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) Forum, held in Brazil from September 8-11, they brought the challenges they face and let themselves be heard.

As part of the AWID Forum process, AWID, CREA, the Coalition of African Lesbians (CAL), and RESURJ held a second webinar on Bodily Integrity and Freedoms, a conversation between Disability, Intersex and Trans Activists. The aim of this second session was to bring together perspectives from within different movements to strengthen the work we do across them.

We asked our members to share some reflections from the 13th AWID International Forum in Bahia, Brazil. Here, four members from four countries and three regions, share their individual experiences and learnings, but themes around intersectionality, solidarity, fearlessness and collectivity are common throughout.

As the Association for Women’s Rights in Development forum convenes in Brazil, unpublished research shows declining support for women’s groups since 2011.

Some 1,800 activists from radically different backgrounds at the Association for Women’s Rights in Development conference in Brazil tried to find common ground at a moment in history when women’s rights are being chipped away.

Today, we come together to declare that our bodies, health, and choices are our own, and cannot be held back by oppressive fundamentalisms and discourses that seek to lay claim to us.

Recently, we introduced five of AWID’s incredible members in the first part of our series “Member Musings ahead of the AWID Forum”. They shared what gets them excited about the Forum, how they or their movement will contribute to building collective power for rights and justice, and how being in Bahia, Brazil with thousands of other activists help strengthen the diverse work they do. 

We thought now will be a great time to do a throwback to some highlights from the past three AWID Forums (2005 in Thailand, 2008 in South Africa, 2012 in Turkey) and for those who have not been to an AWID Forum, we hope this will give you some insight into why thousands of activists attend AWID Forums.

FINAL NGO MG intervention to the official meeting 7/18/2016.