Resourcing women’s rights organisations
Diverse women’s rights organisations, firmly rooted in local communities and context, are the most effective drivers of change for women and girls.
That’s why IWDA resources diverse women’s rights organisations, primarily in Asia and the Pacific, with the money, skills and access they need to do their work. IWDA works to secure core, flexible, multi-year funding for local women’s rights and aligned organisations, which are led by and working towards equality for those who are facing intersectional marginalisation such as Organisations of People with Disabilities and LGBTQIA+ organisations. As an organisation based in the Minority World, we use our locational power to open up access to funding, and to advocate for decolonising funding ecosystems.
We accompany partners on their organisational journey, providing support to increase their capacity in line with their own priorities. We facilitate learning between organisations and movements, and consolidate evolving best practice to support intersectional feminist organisational development, including through workshops and training. We approach partnerships with humility, engaging in mutual learning to improve our capacity for feminist, decolonial partnership.
We currently partner with women’s rights organisations in Myanmar, Cambodia, Timor-Leste, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Samoa and Tonga.
IWDA’S 3-YEAR HORIZON: 2025-2028
Over the next 3 years IWDA will:
- Support partners’ autonomy and resilience to funding shocks by embedding sustainability and partner- led priorities for capacity strengthening into program design and partnerships.
- Facilitate partner connections to alternative funding sources and advocate for funding structures that include core operational support alongside investment in innovation and growth.
- Strengthening opportunities for learning and exchange between partners and broader movements.
- Establish a proactive approach to forming new partnerships, ensuring alignment with strategic priorities and emerging areas of impact.
Gendered climate justice
Climate change is the greatest existential challenge the world has faced. The impacts of climate change are gendered – meaning that people are impacted in different ways based on their gender and other factors.
For example, women and girls are often responsible for gathering and preparing household food, water and fuel. As water, fuel, fish and other food sources become scarcer, women and girls must spend more time on these aspects of unpaid domestic labour, increasingly risking exposure to environmental and interpersonal hazards. Further, the food shortages and financial hardship associated with climate change can increase violence against women and LGBTQIA+ people. Increased gender-based violence in the aftermath of natural disasters is well documented.
Addressing climate change requires connections across feminist and environmental movements. As a relatively new entrant to the climate space, IWDA will learn from others and determine where we can best add value.
We recognise the need to support work at the intersection of climate justice and gender equality, resource women’s rights organisations to participate in decision-making spaces relating to climate policy, and engage in advocacy which leverages our locational power to call for accountability to international agreements.
Read more:
Policy Paper on Gender and Climate Change in the Pacific and Asia