Confronting Extractivism & Corporate Power

Women human rights defenders (WHRDs) worldwide defend their lands, livelihoods and communities from extractive industries and corporate power. They stand against powerful economic and political interests driving land theft, displacement of communities, loss of livelihoods, and environmental degradation.


Why resist extractive industries?

Extractivism is an economic and political model of development that commodifies nature and prioritizes profit over human rights and the environment. Rooted in colonial history, it reinforces social and economic inequalities locally and globally. Often, Black, rural and Indigenous women are the most affected by extractivism, and are largely excluded from decision-making. Defying these patriarchal and neo-colonial forces, women rise in defense of rights, lands, people and nature.

Critical risks and gender-specific violence

WHRDs confronting extractive industries experience a range of risks, threats and violations, including criminalization, stigmatization, violence and intimidation.  Their stories reveal a strong aspect of gendered and sexualized violence. Perpetrators include state and local authorities, corporations, police, military, paramilitary and private security forces, and at times their own communities.

Acting together

AWID and the Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition (WHRD-IC) are pleased to announce “Women Human Rights Defenders Confronting Extractivism and Corporate Power”; a cross-regional research project documenting the lived experiences of WHRDs from Asia, Africa and Latin America.

We encourage activists, members of social movements, organized civil society, donors and policy makers to read and use these products for advocacy, education and inspiration.

Share your experience and questions!

Tell us how you are using the resources on WHRDs Confronting extractivism and corporate power.

◾️ How can these resources support your activism and advocacy?

◾️ What additional information or knowledge do you need to make the best use of these resources?

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Thank you!

AWID acknowledges with gratitude the invaluable input of every Woman Human Rights Defender who participated in this project. This project was made possible thanks to your willingness to generously and openly share your experiences and learnings. Your courage, creativity and resilience is an inspiration for us all. Thank you!

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Lorena Borjas

Lorena Borjas, femme trans et activiste latino-américaine, travaillait et vivait dans le quartier de Jackson Heights dans le Queens, à New York. Dans ces rues, pendant des années, elle s’est occupée de sa communauté à plaider en faveur des droits des personnes trans et immigrées, soutenir les individus ayant survécu à la traite des êtres humains et à la maltraitance et défendre les droits des travailleures du sexe et des personnes vivant avec le VIH et le sida.

Lorena se battait avec force, sans relâche, afin d’aider, de défendre et de soutenir les personnes les plus marginalisées et discriminées par la transphobie, la misogynie et le racisme.  

« Elle nous a poussé·e·s à briller avec authenticité, à devenir le cri subversif qui affirme “ je suis là et je mérite moi aussi d’être heureux·se ” » - Cecilia Gentili, activiste trans et ami·e de Lorena 

Ayant elle-même fait face à de nombreux traumatismes et difficultés en tant qu'immigrée transgenre et victime de la traite des êtres humains, Lorena a puisé dans le puits de ses expériences des connaissances et d’une mémoire émotionnelle afin d'aider à construire et à renforcer la communauté dont elle faisait partie, et qui faisait partie d'elle. Pour ce faire, elle a notamment organisé et mobilisé des aides allant de la fourniture de préservatifs à la mise en relation de femmes trans avec différents services, en passant par la création d'une clinique de dépistage du VIH à son propre domicile.

« C’était une si belle âme qui aidait les autres alors que son parcours d’immigrée, et d’immigrée trans, était difficile et douloureux. Elle était convaincue que la communauté trans avait besoin d’amour, d’acceptation et de compassion, et elle a tout donné. » - Luchia Dragosh, superviseuse de production chez QPTV dans le cadre d’un documentaire sur Lorena 

En plus de 25 ans d'activisme, elle a également fondé le Fonds communautaire Lorena Borjas avec Chase Strangio (avocat et activiste des droits des trans), qui aide les nombreux·ses membres de sa communauté (et en particulier les personnes trans) confronté·e·s aux problèmes d'immigration à éviter le cycle arrestation-prison-expulsion. 

Lorena est décédée en mars 2020 des suites de complications liées à la COVID-19.  

Son oeuvre, gigantesque et merveilleuse, sera poursuivie dans les rues du Queens par le réseau et la communauté qu’elle a cocréés.  

« Nous reprendrons son travail là où elle l’a laissé, travail essentiel au bien-être de ses “ pajaras ” (oiselles), comme elle aimait appeler les filles trans du Queens qu’elle avait prises sous son aile. » - Cecilia Gentili 


Hommages : 

« Lorena nous a apporté de la lumière alors que nous vivions une période très sombre ici à New York. Elle nous a apporté sa lumière alors que nous faisions face à l’ ”épidémie de crack ”, à la crise du sida, aux changements dans les politiques d’immigration. » - Cristina Herrera, fondatrice et directrice générale de Translatina Network et amie de Lorena

« Lorena a fait plus que quiconque pour faire la lumière sur l’épidémie de traite dans les communautés transgenres et permettre à d’autres femmes trans d’échapper à l’exploitation. » - Lynly Egyes (a représenté Borjas pour le compte du Transgender Law Center)

Regardez un documentaire sur Lorena Borjas (seulement en anglais)

Lisez l'article sur Lorena Borjas dans la rubrique Postscript du New Yorker (seulement en anglais)

Lisez un article d'opinion de Cecilia Gentilin dans le New York Times (seulement en anglais)
 

¿Qué es el Foro Internacional de AWID?

Cada tres o cuatro años, AWID celebra su principal evento internacional. Es el mayor foro mundial que concentra a los movimientos feministas y de justicia de género en toda su diversidad. Es una reunión global de activistas feministas, movimientos aliados, académicxs, donantes y formuladorxs de políticas. Los Foros alternan entre distintas regiones y países del Sur global.

Crear Resistar Snippet

Crear | Résister | Transform

Crear | Résister | Transform est fait pour vous et pour tou·te·s les superbes activistes féministes et de la justice sociale que nous connaissons. Rassemblons-nous pour partager nos stratégies de résistance, co-créer un peu de magie féministe, et transformer ce monde ensemble.

un festival dédié aux mouvements féministes !

Snippet - WITM INFOGRAPHIC_1_EN_2 Annual budget size

In 2023, feminist and 
women's rights organizations 
had a median annual budget of

In contrast, over $1 billion went 
to three anti-rights groups in 2021-2022, 
with funding for anti-gender networks still rising.

Before you begin

Before starting the WITM research methodology, it is important you prepare the background and know what to expect.


Capacity

With AWID’s WITM research methodology, we recommend that you first review the entire toolkit.

While this toolkit is designed to democratize WITM research, there are capacity constraints related to resources and research experience that may affect your organization’s ability use this methodology.

Use the “Ready to Go?” Worksheet to assess your readiness to begin your own WITM research. The more questions you can answer on this worksheet, the more prepared you are to undertake your research.

Trust

Before beginning any research, we recommend that you assess your organization’s connections and trust within your community.

In many contexts, organizations may be hesitant to openly share financial data with others for reasons ranging from concerns about how the information will be used, to fear of funding competition and anxiety over increasing government restrictions on civil society organizations.

As you build relationships and conduct soft outreach in the lead-up to launching your research, ensuring that your objectives are clear will be useful in creating trust. Transparency will allow participants to understand why you are collecting the data and how it will benefit the entire community.

We highly recommend that you ensure data is collected confidentially and shared anonymously. By doing so, participants will be more comfortable sharing sensitive information with you. 


First step

1. Gather your resources

We also recommend referring to our “Ready to Go?” Worksheet to assess your own progress.

Rosane Santiago Silveira

Rosane Santiago Silveira was affectionately known as Rô Conceição. A Brazilian environmental and human rights activist, she fervently fought to protect the environment where it was most threatened. 

This included defending it on the island of Barra Velha, where it was endangered by oil exploration, as well as safeguarding it by campaigning against land-grabbing and expansion of eucalyptus plantations in Bahia State, where Rosane was a member of the Cassurubá Extractivist Reserve Council.

“Extractive Reserve is a protected area where resident families make their living off natural products extracted from the forest. These activities help maintain the forest integrity.” - Global Justice Ecology Project (original source: Rede Brasil Atual)

She was part of trade union activities, human rights and cultural movements. Rosane dedicated much of herself to causes that were not only close to her but are also of concern to land, forests, rivers, and communities whose rights and lives are continuously at risk.

She was tortured and murdered on 29 January 2019 in Nova Viçosa, a city in southern Bahia. 

“Unfortunately, today there is a feeling of total insecurity, because of the State’s absence in prosecuting these crimes. We were with her at Christmas, and everyone realised that she was worried and now we know that she had received three death threats,”  - Tuian, Rosane’s son in an interview with Rádio Brasil Atual (original source: Rede Brasil Atual)

En quoi ce Forum sera-t-il différent ?

Avec jusqu'à 2 500 participant·e·s sur place et 3 000 participant·e·s virtuel·e·s/hybrides, il s'agira du plus grand Forum de l'AWID jamais organisé. Nous envisageons de mettre en place de multiples espaces qui vous permettront d'établir des liens significatifs, d'apprendre, d'échanger, d'avoir des échanges stratégiques, de guérir et de fêter. C'est la première fois que nous nous réunissons dans cet espace depuis la pandémie, et nous brûlons d’impatience.

ours chapter 3

Capítulo 3
Discursos anti-derechos

Los discursos anti-derechos continúan evolucionando. Además de utilizar argumentos relacionados con la religión, la cultura y la tradición, los actores antiderechos cooptan el lenguaje de la justicia social y los derechos humanos para ocultar sus verdaderas agendas y ganar legitimidad.

Leer más
 

WITM - Refreshed INFOGRAPHIC 2 ES

¿De qué manera el financiamiento no satisface las necesidades de los movimientos  feministas?

Los movimientos feministas necesitan financiamiento básico y de largo plazo (incluidos ahorros y reservas) para poder mantenerse focalizados en el cambio sistémico. Las reservas no son algo extra: son esenciales para la sostenibilidad.

Consulta los datos sobre la calidad del financiamiento

4. Collect and analyze your data

This section will guide you on how to ensure your research findings are representative and reliable.

In this section:

Collect your data

1. Before launch

  • First determine the best way to reach your survey population.
    For example, if you want to focus on indigenous women’s rights organizers, do you know who the key networks are? Do you have contacts there, people who can introduce you to these organizations or ways of reaching them?
  • Determine if your key population can be easily reached with an online survey, if you need to focus on paper survey distribution and collection or a mix of both. This decision is very important to ensure accessibility and inclusiveness.
  • Be prepared! Prior to advertizing, create a list of online spaces where you can promote your survey.
    If you are distributing paper versions, create a list of events, spaces and methods for distributing and collecting results.
  • Plan your timeline in advance, so you can avoid launching your survey during major holidays or long vacation periods.
  • Make it easy for your advisors and partners to advertize the survey – offer them pre-written Twitter, Facebook and email messages that they can copy and paste.

2. Launch

  • Send the link to the survey via email through your organization’s email databases.
  • Advertize on your organization’s social media. Similar to your newsletter, you can regularly advertize the survey while it is open.
  • If your organization is hosting events that reach members of your survey population, this is a good space to advertize the survey and distribute paper versions as needed.
  • Invite your advisors to promote the survey with their email lists and ask them to copy you so you are aware of their promotional messages. Remember to send them follow-up reminders if they’ve agreed to disseminate.
  • Approach funders to share your survey with their grantees. It is in their interest that their constituencies respond to a survey that will improve their own work in the field.

3. During launch

  • Keep the survey open for a minimum of four weeks to ensure everyone has time to take it and you have time to widely advertize it.
  • Send reminders through your email databases and your partners databases asking people to participate in the survey. To avoid irritating recipients with too many emails, we recommend sending two additional reminder emails: one at  midway point while your survey is open and another a week before your survey closes.
  • As part of your outreach, remember to state that you are only collecting one response per organization. This will make cleaning your data much easier when you are preparing it for analysis.
  • Save an extra week! Halfway through the open window for survey taking, check your data set. How have you done so far? Run initial numbers to see how many groups have responded, from which locations, etc. If you see gaps, reach out to those specific populations. Also, consider extending your deadline by a week – if you do so, include this extension deadline in one of your reminder emails, informing people know there is more time to complete the survey. Many answers tend to come in during the last week of the survey or after the extended deadline.

If you also plan to collect data from applications sent to grant-making institutions, this is a good time to reach out them.

When collecting this data, consider what type of applications you would like to review. Your research framing will guide you in determining this.

Also, it may be unnecessary to see every application sent to the organization – instead, it will be more useful and efficient to review only eligible applications (regardless of whether they were funded).

You can also ask grant-making institutions to share their data with you.

See a sample letter to send to grant-making institutions

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Prepare your data for analysis

Your survey has closed and now you have all this information! Now you need to ensure your data is as accurate as possible.

Depending on your sample size and amount of completed surveys, this step can be lengthy. Tapping into a strong pool of detail-oriented staff will speed up the process and ensure greater accuracy at this stage.

Also, along with your surveys, you may have collected data from applications sent to grant-making institutions. Use these same steps to sort that data as well. Do not get discouraged if you cannot compare the two data sets! Funders collect different information from what you collected in the surveys. In your final research report and products, you can analyze and present the datasets (survey versus grant-making institution data) separately.

1. Clean your data

  • Resolve and remove duplications: If there is more than one completed survey for one organization, reach out to the organization and determine which one is the most accurate.
  • Remove ineligible responses: Go through each completed survey and remove any responses that did not properly answer the question. Replace it with “null”, thus keeping it out of your analysis.
  • Consistently format numerical data: For example, you may remove commas, decimals and dollar signs from numerical responses. Financial figures provided in different currencies may need to be converted.

2. Code open-ended responses

There are two styles of open-ended responses that require coding.

Questions with open-ended responses

For these questions, you will need to code responses in order to track trends.

Some challenges you will face with this is:

  1. People will not use the exact same words to describe similar responses
  2. Surveys with multiple language options will require translation and then coding
  3. Staff capacity to review and code each open-ended response.

If using more than one staff member to review and code, you will need to ensure consistency of coding. Thus, this is why we recommend limiting your open-ended questions and as specific as possible for open-ended questions you do ask. 

For example, if you had the open-ended question “What specific challenges did you face in fundraising this year?” and some common responses cite “lack of staff,” or “economic recession,” you will need to code each of those responses so you can analyze how many participants are responding in a similar way.

For closed-end questions

If you provided the participant with the option of elaborating on their response, you will also need to “up-code” these responses.

For several questions in the survey, you may have offered the option of selecting the category “Other” With “Other” options, it is common to offer a field in which the participant can elaborate.

You will need to “up-code” such responses by either:

  • Converting open-ended responses to the correct existing categories (this is known as “up-coding”). As a simple example, consider your survey asks participants “what is your favorite color?” and you offer the options “blue,” “green,” and “other.” There may be some participants that choose “other” and in their explanation they write “the color of the sky is my favorite color.” You would then “up-code” answers like these to the correct category, in this case, the category “blue.”
  • Creating a new category if there are several “others” that have a common theme. (This is similar to coding the first type of open-ended responses). Consider the previous example question of favorite color. Perhaps many participants chose “other” and then wrote “red” is their favorite. In this case, you would create a new category of “red” to track all responses that answered “red.”
  • Removing “others” that do not fit any existing or newly created categories.

3. Remove unecessary data

Analyze the frequency of the results

For each quantitative question, you can decide whether you should remove the top or bottom 5% or 1% to prevent outliers* from skewing your results. You can also address the skewing effect of outliers by using median average rather than the mean average. Calculate the median by sorting responses in order, and selecting the number in the middle. However, keep in mind that you may still find outlier data useful. It will give you an idea of the range and diversity of your survey participants and you may want to do case studies on the outliers.

* An outlier is a data point that is much bigger or much smaller than the majority of data points. For example, imagine you live in a middle-class neighborhood with one billionaire. You decide that you want to learn what the range of income is for middle-class families in your neighborhood. In order to do so, you must remove the billionaire income from your dataset, as it is an outlier. Otherwise, your mean middle-class income will seem much higher than it really is.

Remove the entire survey for participants who do not fit your target population. Generally you can recognize this by the organizations’ names or through their responses to qualitative questions.

4. Make it safe

To ensure confidentiality of the information shared by respondents, at this stage you can replace organization names with a new set of ID numbers and save the coding, matching names with IDs in a separate file.

With your team, determine how the coding file and data should be stored and protected.

For example, will all data be stored on a password-protected computer or server that only the research team can access?

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Create your topline report

A topline report will list every question that was asked in your survey, with the response percentages listed under each question. This presents the collective results of all individual responses. 

Tips:

  • Consistency is important: the same rules should be applied to every outlier when determining if it should stay or be removed from the dataset.
  • For all open (“other”) responses that are up-coded, ensure the coding matches. Appoint a dedicated point person to randomly check codes for consistency and reliability and recode if necessary.
  • If possible, try to ensure that you can work at least in a team of two, so that there is always someone to check your work.

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Analyze your data

Now that your data is clean and sorted, what does it all mean? This is the fun part where you begin to analyze for trends.

Are there prominent types of funders (government versus corporate)? Are there regions that receive more funding? Your data will reveal some interesting information.

1. Statistical programs

  • Smaller samples (under 150 responses) may be done in-house using an Excel spreadsheet.

  • Larger samples (above 150 responses) may be done in-house using Excel if your analysis will be limited to tallying overall responses, simple averages or other simple analysis.

  • If you plan to do more advanced analysis, such as multivariate analysis, then we recommend using statistical software such as SPSS, Stata or R.
    NOTE: SPSS and Stata are expensive whereas R is free.
    All three types of software require staff knowledge and are not easy to learn quickly.

Try searching for interns or temporary staff from local universities. Many students must learn statistical analysis as part of their coursework and may have free access to SPSS or Stata software through their university. They may also be knowledgeable in R, which is free to download and use.

2. Suggested points for analysis

  • Analysis of collective budget sizes
  • Analysis of budget sizes by region or type of organization
  • Most common funders
  • Total amount of all funding reported
  • Total percentages of type of funding (corporate, government, etc)
  • Most funded issues/populations
  • Changes over time in any of these results.

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Previous step

3. Design your survey

Next step

5. Conduct interviews


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 platforms:

Survey Monkey
Survey Gizmo (Converts to SPSS for analysis very easily)

Examples:
2011 WITM Global Survey
Sample of WITM Global Survey
Sample letter to grantmakers requesting access to databases

Visualising Information for Advocacy:
Cleaning Data Tools
Tools to present your data in compelling ways
Tutorial: Gentle Introduction to Cleaning Data

 


Previous step

3. Design your survey

Next step

5. Conduct interviews


Ready to Go? Worksheet

Download the toolkit in PDF

Ayanda Denge

«Soy una maravilla... ¡Por lo tanto, he nacido de una madre! Cuando comienzo a balbucear, Mi vida ha sido como ninguna otra...» - Ayanda Denge (lee el poema completo más abajo)

Ayanda Denge fue unx mujer trans, trabajadorx sexual, activista, poeta. Era una xhosa de Puerto Elizabeth, en el Cabo Oriental de Sudáfrica. Después de viajar por diferentes ciudades del país, se mudó a Ciudad del Cabo.

Como comprometida y ferviente activista por la justicia social, luchó por los derechos de lxs trabajadorxs sexuales, de las personas trans y de quienes viven con VIH y SIDA. Era también conferencista motivacional para concientizar sobre el cáncer, y hacía campaña por viviendas sociales económicas, en especial, para la gente pobre y de clase trabajadora. Ayanda se erguía, alta como una montaña, contra los distintos y, a menudo, abusivos rostros de la discriminación.

«Ser transgénero no es una dosis doble, sino una dosis triple de estigmatización y discriminación. Te discriminan por tu identidad sexual, te discriminan por tu trabajo, y te discriminan por tu estatus de VIH.» - Ayanda Denge, 2016

Ayanda presidía la organización Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT) [ Grupo de Trabajo para la  Educación y la  Defensa de Trabajadorxs Sexuales], y trabajaba también como coordinadora de promoción comunitaria en Sisonke, un movimiento nacional de trabajadorxs sexuales de Sudáfrica.

«Desde nosotrxs, desde nuestra sede regional, hasta SWEAT, de la que integro la Junta Directiva, o hasta Sisonke, un movimiento de trabajadorxs sexuales de Ciudad del Cabo,   todxs nos amalgamamos, tenemos un solo grito y es un grito que  ha sido reconocido internacionalmente por lxs trabajadorxs sexuales internacionales. Queremos la descriminalización del trabajo sexual.» - Ayanda Denge, 2016

Vivía en la Ahmed Kathrada House, que estaba siendo ocupada por la campaña Reclaim the City [Recuperar la Ciudad] en favor de las viviendas sociales. En 2018, Ayanda fue elegida líder de la casa. El 24 de marzo de 2019 fue apuñalada en su habitación. El año anterior, otrx residente había sido asesinadx.

Reclaim the City señala una conexión entre la seguridad de lxs residentes de la casa, el corte del servicio de electricidad por parte del gobierno provincial, y el derecho humano al agua:

«No podemos separar la seguridad de las mujeres y de las personas LGBTQI que están viviendo en la casa ocupada de la negativa a reestablecer los servicios de electricidad y agua en la Ahmed Kathrada House por parte del gobierno de la Provincia del Cabo Occidental.

De noche, la casa está completamente oscura. Necesitamos luces para protegernos unxs a otrxs. Es como si la Provincia quisiera castigar a la gente pobre y de clase trabajadora, cuyo único crimen es necesitar un hogar. Si bien pueden estar en desacuerdo con nuestros motivos por ocuparla, deberían avergonzarse de priorizar la política en detrimento de la seguridad y la dignidad de lxs residentes de esta ciudad.

Descansa en paz, camarada Ayanda Denge. Te recordaremos mientras mantenemos viva la llama de la lucha por una vivienda decente y bien ubicada.»

Poema de Ayanda:

Soy una maravilla…
¡Por lo tanto, nací de una madre!
Cuando comienzo a balbucear,
Mi vida ha sido como ninguna otra.
Nacida en el dolor
Nutrida por la lluvia
Para mí ganar
Era vivir en un desagüe.
Mientras se me cae una lágrima
Me pongo de pie y empuño mi lanza.
Las voces hacen eco, no temas
Habrá desafíos dentro del año,
Desafíos de daño se ciernen sobre mí;
La comunidad aplaude porque asume que he ganado mi carrera;
Pero en realidad mi trabajo avanza a paso de tortuga;
De rodillas me inclino y pido gracia.
Porque el Señor
Es mi espada
Para recordar a la humanidad
Que Él brinda cordura.
¿Por qué Señor soy esta maravilla?
El Señor me responde con la lluvia y el trueno,
Por cuestionar a mi padre
Que tiene en el libro de los corderos
Un nombre llamado Ayanda.
Desde las calles mi vida nunca fue dulce
La gente que tenía que encontrar;
A veces yo nunca saludaba,
Aun a pesar de que tenía que comer;
Optaba por inclinarme
En lugar de sentarme

Escucha el poema en la voz de Ayanda

«Porque mi vida representa la de una flor de loto, ya que de las turbias y turbulentas aguas florecí para ser hermosa y fuerte...» - Ayanda Denge, mira y escucha


Tributos:

«Ayanda, quiero decirte que todavía eres una sobreviviente, en nuestros corazones y nuestras mentes. Te has ido, pero estás en todas partes, porque eres amor. Qué hermoso es ser amadx, y dar amor. Y Ayanda, ese es el regalo que nos has dado. Gracias por todo el amor, verdaderamente te necesitábamos. De ahora en adelante, te prometo que todxs nos comprometeremos a continuar la lucha a la que tanta energía y tiempo dedicaste. Y nos comprometeremos a  buscar justicia por este horrible final de tu vida.» - transcripción de un mensaje en un tributo de despedida a Ayanda

«Ayanda era una activista por naturaleza. Sabía cuáles eran sus derechos y no le importaba pelear por los derechos de otrxs. Para mí, no fue una sorpresa que se involucrara en muchas organizaciones, y era sabido que era una persona de la gente. Ella representaba no solo los derechos de las personas LGBTI, representaba los derechos de todxs.» - hermana de Ayanda