None On Record

Young Feminist Activism

Organizing creatively, facing an increasing threat

Young feminist activists play a critical role in women’s rights organizations and movements worldwide by bringing up new issues that feminists face today. Their strength, creativity and adaptability are vital to the sustainability of feminist organizing.

At the same time, they face specific impediments to their activism such as limited access to funding and support, lack of capacity-building opportunities, and a significant increase of attacks on young women human rights defenders. This creates a lack of visibility that makes more difficult their inclusion and effective participation within women’s rights movements.

A multigenerational approach

AWID’s young feminist activism program was created to make sure the voices of young women are heard and reflected in feminist discourse. We want to ensure that young feminists have better access to funding, capacity-building opportunities and international processes. In addition to supporting young feminists directly, we are also working with women’s rights activists of all ages on practical models and strategies for effective multigenerational organizing.

Our Actions

We want young feminist activists to play a role in decision-making affecting their rights by:

  • Fostering community and sharing information through the Young Feminist Wire. Recognizing the importance of online media for the work of young feminists, our team launched the Young Feminist Wire in May 2010 to share information, build capacity through online webinars and e-discussions, and encourage community building.

  • Researching and building knowledge on young feminist activism, to increase the visibility and impact of young feminist activism within and across women’s rights movements and other key actors such as donors.

  • Promoting more effective multigenerational organizing, exploring better ways to work together.

  • Supporting young feminists to engage in global development processes such as those within the United Nations

  • Collaboration across all of AWID’s priority areas, including the Forum, to ensure young feminists’ key contributions, perspectives, needs and activism are reflected in debates, policies and programs affecting them.

Related Content

Snippet - CSW68 - Challenging Corporate Power - EN

Challenging Corporate Power

to Reduce Poverty & Strengthen Human Rights

📅Wednesday, March 13 🕒10.30am-12pm EST
Organisers: AWID, ESCR-Net, Franciscan International, Womankind Worldwide as part of Feminists For a Binding Treaty
🏢 Church Center of the United Nations, 777 United Nations Plaza, New York, 11th Floor

Rapport Annuel 2013

Notre rapport annuel 2013 retrace les temps forts du travail que nous avons réalisé au cours de l'année, afin de contribuer à l'avancement des droits des femmes et de l'égalité des genres à travers le monde.  

Nous présentons ici certains points saillants de notre analyse du contexte mondial, la position que nous adoptons en tant qu’organisation associative féministe mondiale dans ce contexte, les résultats que nous souhaitons atteindre et l’organisation de notre travail dans le but d’atteindre ces résultats.

Snippet FEA Housing is a right (EN)

Three-fold horizontal graphic: 1st of a brown-skinned woman on the right side, she is sitting on a pink carpet and is wearing a pink shirt and yellow dress; 2nd two women of color looking at each other and touching their shoulders, they are on a pink background; 3rd - graphic version of three women cooking.

Housing is a right | Care sustains Life

Snippet - Shines light - EN

Shines a light on the financial status of diverse feminist, women’s rights, gender justice, LBTQI+ and allied movements in all regions and all contexts

2018: Supporting feminist movements to thrive and disrupt

This report looks back and celebrates the first year of AWID’s new strategic plan as we took our first steps towards our desired outcomes of supporting feminist movements to thrive, challenging anti-rights agendas and co-creating feminist realities.

Download the full report


We worked with feminists to disrupt anti-rights agendas, achieving important victories fought and won within the United Nations system when ground-breaking language on structural discrimination, sexual rights, and states’ obligations were included in a number of resolutions. Yes, the multilateral system is in crisis and in need of serious strengthening but these victories are important as they contribute to the legitimacy of feminist demands, providing feminist movements with more pressure points and momentum to advance our agendas.

We tried and tested different ways to build knowledge with feminist movements through webinars, podcasts and ‘live’ conversations. We developed facilitation guides with popular educators to reclaim knowledge in the interest of social and gender justice, even about a topic as seemingly opaque as illicit funding flows. We commissioned blogs and opinions about how feminist groups fund and resource themselves and threw light on the threats facing our human rights systems.

Within AWID, we practiced and learned from our shared leadership approach, and told the story of the trials and tribulations of co-leading a global, virtual organization. We don’t have a definitive answer to what feminist leadership looks like, but we know, a year on, that a continued commitment to collective experimentation and learning has enabled us to keep building an organization that we are all excited to contribute to.

As we look back on this year, we want to thank all our friends and supporters, colleagues and companions, who have given their time and shared their wealth of knowledge and wisdom with us. We want to thank our members who helped frame our strategic plan and joined us to make feminist demands. We could not do this work without you.

Download the full report

Snippet FEA Clemencia (ES)

Estamos emocianadxs de presentarte a Clemencia Carabalí Rodallega, una feminista afrocolombiana extraordinaria.

Ha trabajado incansablemente durante tres décadas por la salvaguarda de los derechos humanos, los derechos de las mujeres y la construcción de paz en zonas de conflito en la Costa Pacífica de Colombia.

Clemencia ha hecho contribuciones significativas a la lucha por la verdad, la reparación y la justicia para las víctimas de la guerra civil de Colombia.

Recibió el Premio Nacional por la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos en 2019, y también participó en la campaña de la recién electa afrocolombiana y amiga de mucho tiempo, la vicepresidenta Francia Márquez.

Aunque Clemencia ha enfrentado y continúa enfrentando muchas dificultades, incluso amenazas e intentos de asesinato, sigue luchando por los derechos de las mujeres y comunidades afrocolombianas en todo el país.

Snippet - WITM To build - FR

Pour collecter des données probantes qui sont centrées sur les réalités des féministes sur la manière dont l’argent est transféré et qui il atteint réellement.

2022: Transitions, Inspiration & Collective Power

Our strategic plan “Feminist Realities” completed its final year at the end of 2022. For the past five years, this bold framework pushed us to go beyond feminist futures and to recognize the feminist solutions and ways of life that already exist in the here and now. Realities that must be uplifted, celebrated, and popularized. The Feminist Economies We Love multimedia story project and Our:Resource knowledge hub on autonomous ways to resource feminist activism are just two examples of this visionary work, always deeply collective with diverse feminist movements.

Download the full 2022 Annual review


Cover for AWID's 2022 Annual Report. The cover is light blue and shows a group of people joining hands. Over the text "Transitions, Inspiration and Collective Power" there is a semi circle formed by little moons, representing the transtions.

2022 was a year of transitions in AWID.

With this reflection on the year, we invite you to celebrate with us beautiful closures and promising beginnings. Change and transitions are an inseparable part of life and movements, which we seek to embrace with intention and care.

Download the full 2022 Annual review

Snippet FEA Metzineres activists (FR)

A crowd of people sitting in front of a banner which says ‘support, don't punish”;
Photo of two women talking to each other, one of them is holding a handheld fan.
Crowd of people with a black banner that says Metzineres in yellow.
Photo of four people sitting on the ground and talking
Photo people with plants around them, most of them sitting and clapping to a person who is walking in the middle

 

Des militants de Metzineres en action

Snippet - WITM Survey will remain open - EN

Watch the "Where is the Money?" Webinar now.

On July 11, 2024, we had an amazing conversation with great feminists on the state of the funding ecosystem and the power of "Where is the Money?" research.

Special thanks to Cindy Clark (Thousand Currents), Sachini Perera (RESURJ), Vanessa Thomas (Black Feminist Fund), Lisa Mossberg (SIDA), and Althea Anderson (Hewlett Foundation).

Watch here! 

Watch with Arabic interpretation.

Ritu

Biography

Ritu est une technologue féministe qui apporte son expérience au secteur non lucratif, animée par une passion pour l'utilisation d'approches innovantes pour trouver des solutions technologiques féministes. Titulaire d'un master en technologie des applications informatiques de l'Institut indien de technologie, son rôle au sein de l'AWID couvre un large spectre de responsabilités. De la supervision de la sécurité numérique et gestion des serveurs à l'administration des bases de données, en passant par le renforcement des capacités, l'évaluation technologique, la mise en œuvre de logiciels et de solutions cloud, Ritu veille à ce que l'infrastructure informatique de l'AWID soit résiliente et efficace. Avant de rejoindre l'AWID, elle a joué un rôle central dans l'avancement des initiatives technologiques des secteurs de la promotion de la santé et de l'environnement, alimentée par son engagement à tirer parti de la technologie pour le bien social.

Position
Cheffe Informatique
Add to stories
Off

Snippet FEA Get Involved 2 (EN)

While in Sao Paulo, Brazil, you can visit the Ocupação 9 de Julho and have a collaborative meal. You can buy their products in their online store from abroad.

Visit the Association of Afro-Descendant Women of the Northern Cauca’s online store where you can find beautiful handcrafted products.

There are several ways to support Metzineres: you can make a financial donation, donate materials and services, or propose a training course, workshop, or activity (for more information, see here).