Responding to scarcity and enabling intergenerational dialogues
The world needs strong women’s rights organisations now more than ever.
We believe it is imperative to recognise and challenge unequal power relations within organisational cultures and practices, as a fundamental step towards recognising and transforming power structures in society at large.
The International Women’s Development Agency (IWDA) alongside Gender at Work, with support from the Government of the Netherlands, developed the Feminist Organisational Capacity Strengthening Toolkits. This was in response to insights gleaned from a workshop on the challenges of working in women’s rights, such as the lack of self-care and community spaces, the importance of intergenerational dialogues within women’s rights organisations, which are in need of flexible funding structures and collective action.
These toolkits were published in 2021 and respond to the scarce availability of practical resources that help organisations like IWDA and other Gender at Work partners apply a feminist lens to addressing such issues. They represent a contribution to feminist movements and
women’s rights organisations around the world, which grapple with the difficult task of ensuring the way we run our organisations lives up to our feminist values.
Rather than prescribing a specific model for feminist organisations, the toolkits provide frameworks for reflection and pose questions to guide each organisation in developing their unique approaches. The toolkits aim to empower feminist organisations to experiment with new ideas and embolden them to be creative in dismantling the patriarchal thinking that has infiltrated organisational systems and practice.
The toolkit includes:
- Backgrounder detailing the concepts and principles underpinning Feminist Organisational Capacity Strengthening
- Facilitation Guide outlining facilitation principles and practical tips consistent with feminist values and practice
- Organisation Self-Assessment Module guiding reflection on the capacities you want to develop
- Leading, Governing and Being Accountable Module focusing on feminist leadership, governance and accountability – with an emphasis on power, intergenerational issues, and succession planning
- Resources for Women’s Rights Module on claiming the resources we need (and deserve) for women’s rights through feminist resource mobilisation strategies
- Creating Cultures of Care and Resilience Module offering ideas for practicing care individually, collectively and in your organisation as a whole
