The Equality Fund Celebrates the Alliance for Feminist Movements
Centering feminist activists and priorities as the world gathers for the UN General Assembly
Together with over 150 governments, women’s funds, philanthropic institutions, and feminist organizations, we are thrilled to celebrate the Alliance for Feminist Movements, a dynamic collaboration designed to mobilize support for feminist movements and their agendas worldwide.
An array of high-level leaders will come together tonight at the Ford Foundation to celebrate this growing multi-stakeholder feminist alliance. They will announce new support and members and spotlight the role of feminist movements in advancing gender equality, peace, climate justice, and poverty reduction all around the world. The event will also amplify a global call for more and better resourcing to support their work.
Gathering together on one stage, the officials will offer a real-time demonstration of the deep collaboration, inspired leadership, and shared momentum that make the Alliance such a promising force for change. They include:
Sima Bahous, Executive Director, UN Women
Patricia Annie Kaliati, Minister of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare, Malawi
Harjit S. Sajjan, Minister of International Development and Minister responsible for the Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada
Vicky Ford, Minister of State for Development in the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, United Kingdom
Nicky McIntyre, CEO, Foundation for a Just Society
Paula Sánchez-Mejorada, Co-Director, Catholics for the Right to Decide-Mexico
Kitty van der Heijden, Vice-Minister for International Trade and Development Cooperation, Netherlands
Martin Abregu, Vice President, International Programs, Ford Foundation
Cindy Clark, Former Co-Executive Director, Association for Women’s Rights in Development
Together, We Move
At the Equality Fund, we believe that when we move together, we move the world. This multi-stakeholder alliance is bringing new energy and collaboration aimed at ensuring that feminist movements have both the financial and political support they deserve to advance their work. Born as an idea at the Generation Equality Forum in 2021, the Alliance demonstrates a growing drive across sectors to make support for feminist movements a more prominent and urgent priority, backed by real resources.
The momentum comes not a moment too soon. New research shows that the stakes for the work of feminist movements—and a world that depends on them—have increased. Against the backdrop of this week’s gatherings, two new reports issue a clear warning: Progress toward gender equality around the world is stalled.
UN Women’s Gender Snapshot 2022 finds that “the latest available SDG 5 data show that the world is not on track to achieve gender equality by 2030.” Meanwhile, the latest Goalkeepers report from the Gates Foundation “estimates the world won’t reach gender equality until at least 2108—three generations later than we’d hoped.”
A new way forward, together
Moving forward depends on bridging the gap between the proven effectiveness of feminist movements and the availability of sustained, flexible, core support to fuel their work at scale. It’s what makes the Allliance for Feminist Movements a bold collective step in the right direction.
Its unique potential lies in its multi-stakeholder focus, offering a new platform for members of feminist civil society, private philanthropy, national governments, women’s/feminist funds and other allies to work together. It will serve as a mechanism for strategic coordination, produce rigorous analysis, and advance joint strategies to overcome the inertia and resistance that has made funding gaps so hard to overcome in the past. And it will experiment with new solutions, launching learning hubs to test out strategies and explore what’s possible.
All throughout this week, we will hear the message that a just and sustainable future depends on all of us working together like never before. The Alliance for Feminist Movements is one way to translate that belief into concrete action, building collective momentum and new support for feminist movements who are leading the way in communities across the world.
This is a moment full of potential and collective energy, and new partners are warmly invited to the table. To learn more and to join us, visit https://allianceforfeministmovements.org/.
