By Joyce Mukucha
Over the past decade, the young feminist-led organisations have garnered a reputation as outspoken, courageous, and creative movement-builders, pushing transformative change and social justice around the world.
As the Young Feminist Fund (FRIDA) celebrates 10 years of resourcing young feminist organizing with core flexible, sustainable funds and opens a new decade and new era, the organisation is constantly learning how to increase its flexibility and adapt its strategies.
This is aimed at responding to the immediate and emergent needs of the movements while also staying committed to the long-term vision through actively reimagining, transforming and co-creating the intersectional feminist futures that the movements want to live and thrive in.”
“Young feminist movements are resourceful, our creative energy is abundant, our resilience is ancestral and our imagination is radical. We are committed to contribute and give support to young feminist movements sustainably. We are reimagining, transforming and co-creating feminist futures.
“FRIDA is starting 2021 by celebrating the power of subversive young feminist organzing. Following our 7th call for proposals in 2020, FRIDA is welcoming 93 new grantee partners, the biggest cohort in FRIDA’s journey! We have curated a Zine which honors their stories and the feminist organizing that resists any oppressive systems imposed on us.
“The collectives featured in the zine have been part of a participatory grantmaking process in which they were able to read each other’s proposals and vote for the strategies they believe are critical to be supported in their context,” said FRIDA.
This collective process provides space for young feminist movements to learn from each other, to create connections, to build solidarity by supporting each others’ work and to decide together how we support our communities.
FRIDA stressed that the year ahead leaves behind everything that is not life-affirming as they trust that all the learnings from the past will guide them on the way forward.
“Looking at our own reflection as a space for revolution, we are honouring all the challenges that supported us to grow and we hold gently the parts that are still healing. Our roots carry our deepest connections, ancestral love and lessons that keep us strong at the core to continue to grow, expand and flourish.
“The source of our power is in the relationships that sustain us, and we embrace them with care while we let go of those that are heavy to hold.”
FRIDA expressed that it understands the responsibilities of being in community and explained that they were present for each other in the collective energy that transgresses borders and physical spaces.
“As we move forward, we are reimagining care, safety and new ways of being where our sources of joy are abundant. The stages and pathways of our journey may be different, but we know that our struggles are interconnected and we support and celebrate each others’ successes.
“We recognize that participatory processes hold many complexities. It requires effort, time, creative resources and dedication from everyone involved.”
Guided by feminist principles and supported by young feminist advisors from all over the world, FRIDA said it will remain committed to continuously create access to resources to ensure that communities are the center of the future the movements dream of.
“Young feminists activists organize in radical, non-traditional ways and they need resources to sustain their work and their wellbeing.
“These resources support them in transforming their communities while co-creating feminist realities that include all of us. For young feminists’ dreams to flourish in a caring and sustainable environment, core flexible funding that respects the autonomy of the movements is critical.”
FRIDA expressed its gratitude and dedicated its great work to everyone that was a part of the 2020 participatory grantmaking process.
“We are grateful to each one of the 1000 groups that dedicated their creative efforts and trusted FRIDA when submitting a proposal. We are grateful to the 72 people, including advisors, staff members, and grantee partners, who read all the proposals, identified those that met the criteria and collectively decided on priorities considering the specificities of each region.
“We are grateful to the 472 groups that participated in the voting process, trusted in the participatory grantmaking process and took the time to read and comment on their voting group’s proposals. Finally, we are grateful to the 93 groups that were awarded and that have chosen to be part of FRIDA.”
The movement urged allies to continue to journey with FRIDA into the next decade of feminist magic and invited them to consider making a contribution which helps the organisation to support young feminist movements sustainably and long term.