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WOMANKIND WORLDWIDE HIGHLIGHTS 19/20 STRENGTH IN NUMBERS Power In Feminist Collaboration Image on cover: Girls in Kibera, Kenya supported to overcome sexual violence by Polycom Development Project. Contents. PHOTO CREDIT: SARAH WAISA FOR WOMANKIND WORLDWIDE. 04 17 Hear her speak: When times get tougher, Lynette’s story we get louder! 18 “It takes 06 Strengthening women’s Our impact 19/20 movements at a glance two flints 08 19 to make Our vision for change Hear her speak: Jane’s story a fire.” 10 How we make 20 change happen Diverse and thriving: Louisa May Alcott Why feminist collaboration American Novelist is essential to women’s 12 movements’ success Ending violence Image below: Women in Chapagaun, Nepal who were supported by Women for Human Rights to set up against women livelihood projects. 22 Womankind community: 13 Our partners Hear her speak: Semira’s story 24 Womankind community: 14 Our supporters Realising women’s economic rights 26 Womankind community: 15 Legacy Hear her speak: Peniah’s story 28 16 Thank you Championing women’s participation and leadership PHOTO CREDIT: SAJANA SHRESHTA FOR WOMANKIND WORLDWIDE. 2. 3. When times get tougher, we get louder! Women’s movements have the power to change the world. At the heart of the strongest most resilient and diverse movements is the desire to share, grow and learn through collaboration. Over the years, collaboration within and across movements have achieved things which at some point seemed insurmountable. From the introduction of domestic violence legislation in Zimbabwe, to the increase in the number of women running for political office in Kenya, changes like these are only made possible through the collective action of women. Last year alone we saw women take to the streets to protest against violence, push for the adoption of laws that protect women in the workplace and lead the call for climate justice. 2020 marks 25 years since the Beijing Platform for Action, the most progressive blueprint to achieving women’s rights. The power of working together towards a shared goal is evident in just how much has been achieved since 1995. Yet there is still much more to do. We have seen that while there have been some wins for some women and girls, many more continue to face barriers to their rights. Just some women and girls realising their rights simply isn’t enough. The events of 2020 have made the level of inequality, both within countries and between the Global North and South, painstakingly clear. As the first pandemic in 100 years swept the whole world, we’ve witnessed the disproportionate impact on women and girls. Women and girls have been faced with the increase in violence during lockdowns, an increase in unpaid care work as schools closed and seeing their livelihoods crumble at a disproportionate rate. Inequalities worsen for those who are more marginalised. For example, women of colour make up a huge proportion of public health employees and thus put their health at risk and at the same time often working long hours for little pay. It quickly became clear that while we were all in the same sea, some of us were in great ships ready to weather the storm while others were afforded little more than a lifejacket to keep us afloat. Throughout the last 25 years it has been women’s movements who have responded to crises, innovating ways to support women and girls while lobbying governments to do more to ensure their rights are not erased. COVID-19 was no exception. We know collaboration is the key to successful movements which is why in 2019-20 we continued our partnership approach, learning and sharing from, and with women’s rights organisations we partner with. We encouraged and facilitated greater collaboration between partners with shared missions and listened to what worked and what didn’t. We worked with 41 of our 45 partners to deliver 27 projects supporting women and girls across castes, disabilities and sexualities. It is clear that despite the progress made since the Beijing Platform for Action, we are still a long way from achieving rights for women and girls in all their diversities. The global pandemic has been a wake-up call to much of the world. We must learn from COVID-19 and work together now, defiantly speaking truth to power and dismantling systems of oppression to realise the rights of women and girls, once and for all. Image on the right: Womankind PHOTO CREDIT: WOMEN’S staff and supporters gathered for Maggie Baxter CBE COALITION OF ZIMBABWE. the International Women’s Day Chair of Trustees global strike 2020 in London, UK. 4. OUR IMPACT 19/20 at a glance We worked more We shared our learnings with In the last year we have worked further towards our collaboratively than ever with practitioners and created tools aim of securing women’s rights through supporting for activists launching and strengthening feminist movements. We are 41 PARTNERS working closer than ever with partners, who in leading the 27 projects 4 PUBLICATIONS. turn are working more frequently with each delivered last year. other. Together we’re creating stronger, more unified movements. 15,180 individuals have been directly supported through our projects with partners. We supported 15 WOMEN AND GIRLS to access key decision making spaces and influence international policy. Women’s movements can transform whole communities. In 2019/20 1,075,500 individuals were indirectly We demanded reform to impacted by international frameworks our work. by submitting over JOINT 15 STATEMENTS to world powers.s. PHOTO CREDIT: SAJANA SHRESHTA Image on the left: Gita supported FOR WOMANKIND WORLDWIDE. by Women for Human Rights in Nepal. Image on the right: A young woman speaks PHOTO CREDIT: BILLY MUTAI FOR at the Africa Beijing+25 regional review. WOMANKIND WORLDWIDE. 6. 7. OUR VISION PHOTO CREDIT: ALEX MASSEY FOR FOR CHANGE WOMANKIND WORLDWIDE. It is a woman’s right to live without fear of violence. She has the right to make decisions that impact her life. She has the right to own her home and control what happens to her land. No matter her caste, her sexuality or her disability. Yet still, women are prevented from claiming these rights. Womankind and our partners are determined to change that. Together with women’s movements Image above: Women at the International Women’s Day global strike 2020. we will change the world. We will shift the power. We do this because: We will achieve rights for all women. We work across five focus • Globally 1 in 3 women experience violence in their countries (Ethiopia, Kenya, Nepal, Uganda and Zimbabwe) to lifetime and women with disabilities are 2 to 4 times make change happen by focussing on: more likely to experience violence than women without • Ending all forms of violence against disabilities. women and girls. • Women spend at least twice as much time as men on • Realising women’s full economic rights unpaid care and domestic work. and control over resources. ETHIOPIA • Fewer than 24% of parliamentarians worldwide are • Women having equal influence in women. decision making and ability to exercise political power. NEPAL Last year we worked with partners on: • Strengthening women’s UGANDA • 9 projects that focused on violence against women movements at national KENYA and international levels. and girls. • 4 projects that focused on women’s economic rights. ZIMBABWE • 12 projects that focused on women’s participation and leadership. 8. 9. HOW WE CAN Pillars in action: MAKE CHANGE Mapping and HAPPEN Intersectionality All women are impacted by gender inequality. However, many women face Women’s movements have the power to change the world, yet they additional discrimination based on other identities such as race, disability, age are often under resourced unable to harness their full power. Through sexual orientation etc. Through working in an intersectional way we ensure that we extensive consultation we have identified 7 key pillars needed to address the specific needs of different women, adapting methods to find solutions resource women’s movements and use them to guide the ways we that ensure no woman or girl is left behind. For example in Ethiopia we worked with collaborate with our partners. the Ethiopian Women’s Disabled National Association to address the barriers that specifically prevent women with disabilities from engaging socially, economically and politically. Find out more about this project on page 14. Our theory of change Pillars in action: Connection between movement actors Activists working on changing society can be targeted in their homes, in public and in their workplaces as a way to scare them into stopping their activities. We support partners to provide safe spaces where activists can connect with one another and organise to advance women’s rights. These spaces are particularly needed for women most on the margins of society. In Uganda we worked with Freedom and Roam Uganda (FARUG) to create the first Uganda Lesbian Forum. A safe space where lesbian, bisexual and queer (LBQ) women could gather safely to heal, connect and plan for how to push for LBQ women’s rights nationally. Learn more about FARUG on page 18. 10. Image on the right: Agness Chindimba, Director of Deaf Women Included, Zimbabwe. ENDING HEAR HER SPEAK: SEMIRA I want them to know that they are equal VIOLENCE to men and they can achieve anything AGAINST “I was living with relativesINTRODUCTION in Addis and that is where my uncle’s wife brother was violent. I used to sleep in a small room that didn’t have a lock. I just had this strange feeling of anxiety all day and when I WOMEN went to sleep, I put a lot of jerrycans to block the door.