Our Work

Our vision is gender equality for all

IWDA is an Australia-based organisation. We work for feminist movements by resourcing diverse women’s rights and aligned organisations*, primarily in Asia and the Pacific, with the money, skills and access they need to achieve their priorities. We are also part of feminist movements, making our own contributions through knowledge creation, advocacy and movement strengthening, to advance our vision of gender equality for all.

We have worked for more than 40 years to defend and advance the rights of diverse women and girls.

While our roots lie in the development sector, our journey has brought us into global feminist movements. We define our unique identity as an organisation both for and of feminist movements – a dual role that allows us to challenge power structures while directly resourcing those working on the frontlines of gender justice. In all that we do, IWDA is committed to challenging and disrupting the systems of oppression that negatively impact the lives of women, girls and gender diverse people. Throughout our history, we have not always gotten this right and know that we will make mistakes again – but we commit ourselves to always take accountability, learn, and repair.

Our Values

FEMINIST

We are inclusive and power aware, taking an intersectional and rights-based approach that not only addresses symptoms but also transforms the structures that underpin gender inequality. We centre collective care and wellbeing in all that we do as part of our work to dismantle systems of oppression in our practice and ourselves.

DECOLONIAL

We are on a journey to decolonise our feminism and development practice, and continually take steps to acknowledge, dismantle, reimagine and transform the colonial structures that are present in all aspects of our work, our internal practice and within ourselves.

ACCOUNTABLE

We are honest and transparent and are committed to evaluating and communicating the outcomes of our work with integrity. We are accountable to our partners, our supporters and, most of all, the diverse women we work with.

COLLABORATIVE

We build trusting relationships and strong partnerships as we believe that advancing together with women’s rights organisations and networks is crucial for achieving progressive change.

TRANSFORMATIVE

We are determined to make real, lasting improvements in women’s lives by working to transform the root causes of gender inequality and holding governments and decision makers accountable.

Our 4 Strategies for a more gender equal future

1. Shift resources to women’s rights organisations

We work 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.

2. Engage in movement strengthening

IWDA is a feminist movement actor, working collectively to disrupt systems of power. We will expand our work in Australia, contributing to a local feminist movement which is vibrant and diverse, and collaborating across aligned movements – including First Nations, LGBTQIA+ and climate justice – to disrupt systems of power and resist attempts to undermine our rights.

3. Advance feminist & decolonial knowledge for change

We create, and support others to create, feminist and decolonial knowledge which brings greater visibility to the underlying drivers of gender inequality. We use evidence and lived experience to transform discourse, bringing feminist analysis into mainstream debates and countering and resisting narratives that seek to undermine rights. We use our locational power to resist and counter the systems of power locking in gender inequalities, leveraging our strategic relationships with power holders and allies to advocate for alternatives, and build and contribute to coalitions that expand our collective impact.

Read our decolonial framework

4. Demonstrate a values aligned organisation

We strive to demonstrate a different way of being in everything we do, from our internal culture to our systems and processes. We are committed to practicing decolonial values through continual learning and action – within ourselves, our practice, and our sector. We will embrace the challenge of working to decolonise international development and feminist movements from within, holding ourselves accountable and inviting accountability from others.

Explore our Strategic Plan for more information on our work.

Decolonising our approach

IWDA is committed to decolonising  our work and practices as we strive to become the best we can be at partnerships across the Majority and Minority Worlds. This means we seek to understand and leverage our locational power so that we know when to:

STEP UP and use our power to leverage resources and access for women’s rights organisations and feminist organisations, and make our own contribution to feminist movements.

STAND WITH feminist movements in solidarity and amplify the work of Majority World actors.

STEP BACK when others are better placed to take the lead.

SIT WITH uncertainty, embrace communal learning and deep listening, and accept that time is needed to collectively discern the best course of action.

Our commitment to decoloniality is why we are choosing to no longer include thematic impact areas in our strategy, ensuring the work our partners are leading to create change in their contexts is not bound or siloed by our priorities.

DIVERSIFY our funding sources for ourselves and others in the ecosystem.

DECOLONISE the sectors and movements we are part of, as well as ourselves.

DISRUPT the power structures that uphold inequality and marginalisation, working with feminist and aligned movements, and the allies who operate within these structures, to rebuild alternatives.

DEMONSTRATE that a different way was possible.

In the last 12 months

1,981

Women and girls supported to assume leadership positions

44,152

people participated in sessions on gender issues and women’s equal rights

1,735

women survivors of violence received counselling and other support services

*We define ‘aligned organisations’ as those led by people facing intersectional marginalisation, such as Organisations of People with Disabilities and LGBTQIA+ organisations, who, through their distinct work, are bringing us closer to achieving gender equality for all.