AWID Forum: Co-creating Feminist Futures

In September 2016, the 13th AWID international Forum brought together in Brazil over 1800 feminists and women’s rights advocates in a spirit of resistance and resilience.

This section highlights the gains, learnings and resources that came out of our rich conversations. We invite you to explore, share and comment!


What has happened since 2016?

One of the key takeaways from the 2016 Forum was the need to broaden and deepen our cross-movement work to address rising fascisms, fundamentalisms, corporate greed and climate change.

With this in mind, we have been working with multiple allies to grow these seeds of resistance:

And through our next strategic plan and Forum process, we are committed to keep developing ideas and deepen the learnings ignited at the 2016 Forum.

What happens now?

The world is a much different place than it was a year ago, and it will continue to change.

The next AWID Forum will take place in the Asia Pacific region (exact location and dates to be announced in 2018).

We look forward to you joining us!

About the AWID Forum

AWID Forums started in 1983, in Washington DC. Since then, the event has grown to become many things to many peoples: an iterative process of sharpening our analyses, vision and actions; a watershed moment that reinvigorates participants’ feminisms and energizes their organizing; and a political home for women human rights defenders to find sanctuary and solidarity.

Learn more about previous Forums

Related Content

Snippet - WITM RESOURCES - EN

Resources

Snippet FEA Metzineres has supported (FR)

Depuis sa fondation,

Metzineres a accompagné plus de

383

personnes.

Como activista, no trabajo con ninguna agrupación, organización o movimiento en este momento, ¿aun así debería completar la encuesta?

No. Valoramos tu trabajo, pero no estamos buscando respuestas de personas a título individual por el momento.

Clone of Snippet FEA Environments Of Shelter (FR)

Metzineres fournit les types de soutien suivants, connus sous le nom de

Environnements d'abri :

Illustration of a pink house with a yellow background

La Couverture
Soin et guérison

Illustration of a pink human in white underwear doing a power pose

La puissante
Autoprotection et renforcement

An illustration of a vine with vine like leaves in neon with purple background

Le lierre
Communauté et quartier

Three arms with fist raised: one black, pink, and the last one in purple

Le hurlement
Participation et activisme

Yellow and pink cog wheels

L’audacieux·se
Production et entrepreneuriat

A pink paint palette with a pink brush with yellow details

L’Artisan·e
Art et créativité

Comment puis-je accéder à l’enquête?

L’enquête est disponible sur KOBO, une plateforme en source libre de collecte, gestion et visualisation de données. Pour y participer, il vous suffit de cliquer ici sur le lien de l’enquête et de suivre les indications pour répondre aux questions. 

Snippet FEA EoS Artisana (EN)

A pink paint palette with a pink brush with yellow details

Artisana
Art and creativity

About the AWID International Forum

More than an event!

The AWID International Forum is both a global community event and a space of radical personal transformation. A one-of-a-kind convening, the Forum brings together feminist, women’s rights, gender justice, LBTQI+ and allied movements, in all our diversity and humanity, to connect, heal and thrive.

About the 15th AWID International Forum

Rising Together: Connect, Heal, Thrive

The Forum theme – Rising Together – is an invitation to engage with our whole selves, to connect with each other in focused, caring and brave ways, so that we can feel the heartbeat of global movements and rise together to meet the challenges of these times.

A Hybrid Experience

For the first time, the AWID Forum offered three modes of participation:

In Person

at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre in Bangkok, Thailand.

Online

in Virtual Space (Capacity: 3000 participants).

Hubs

Connected in Cross Border Space.

With over 4,000 participants, 15th AWID International Forum in 2024 created a sweeping force to resist oppression towards collective healing and liberation. Keep watching this space for more forum stories and future forums updates!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by AWID (@awidwomensrights)


The past Forums

2021 - Feminist Realities. 

In December 2020, the AWID board took the difficult decision to cancel the 14th AWID International Forum which had been scheduled to take place from September 20-23, 2021, in the City of Taipei. 

Learn more here


2016 - Feminist Futures: Building Collective Power for Rights and Justice (Costa de Sauipe, Brazil)

Participants at the Black Feminisms Forum in Brazil, 2016

Given the complex world that we face today, the 2016 AWID Forum did not focus on a particular “issue”, but rather on creating more effective ways of working together!

Despite the challenging contexts in which the 2016 Forum took place (the Zika epidemic, a strike by Brazilian foreign-service workers, the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff and subsequent turmoil), it succeeded in bringing together over 1800 participants from 120 countries and territories across all regions of the world.

What happened at the 13th AWID international Forum:

  • For 96% of participants who responded to the post Forum evaluation survey, the Forum was a major source of inspiration and energy.

  • 98% of participants considered it an important convening space for feminist movements and expressed hope that AWID continues to organize forums.

  • 59% of Forum evaluation survey respondents declared to be very satisfied with the Forum and 34% somewhat satisfied.

  • Over 150 sessions were delivered in different formats on a variety of topics ranging from bodily integrity and freedoms, to gender-based violence in the workplace, to strategies for building collective power.

  • The first-time Black Feminisms Forum (BFF), held just before the main AWID Forum, brought together 250 Black feminists from all over the world to co-create a powerful space to build and strengthen ongoing, intergenerational, transnational connections

Read more about what the 2016 AWID Forum achieved:

Download the Forum evaluation report


2012 - Transforming Economic Power to Advance Women's Rights and Justice (Istambul, Turkey)

AWID International Forum, in Cape Town, South Africa, 2008

The 12th AWID Forum was the largest and most diverse AWID Forum to date, bringing together 2239 women’s rights activists from 141 countries. Of these participants, around 65% were from the Global South and close to 15% were young women under 30, and 75% attended an AWID Forum for their first time.

The Forum program focused on transforming economic power to advance women’s rights and justice and featured over 170 different kinds of sessions including feminist economics toolbox skills-building sessions, breakout sessions representing all 10 Forum themes, in-depth sessions, and solidarity roundtables. 

Building on the momentum of the 2012 Forum, we transformed the website into a resource and learning Hub, which builds on the content generated by participants by featuring multi-media resources on all Forum components. 

Visit the 2012 Forum web archive


All AWID Forums

  • 2016: Feminist Futures: Building Collective Power for Rights and Justice (Costa de Sauipe, Brazil). Read the 2016 Forum Evaluation report
  • 2012: Transforming Economic Power to Advance Women's Rights and Justice (Istanbul, Turkey)
  • 2008: The Power of Movements (Cape Town, South Africa). Read our 2008 Forum Report
  • 2005: How does change happen? (Bangkok, Thailand)
  • 2002: Reinventing Globalization (Guadalajara, Mexico)
  • 1999: Leading Solutions for Equality and Justice (US)
  • 1996: Beyond Beijing From Words to Action (US)
  • 1993: Joining Forces to Further Shared Visions (US)
  • 1991: Working Together/Learning Together: A South North Dialogue (US)
  • 1989/1990: Global Em-Powerment for Women (US)
  • 1987: Moving Forward: Innovations in Development Policy, Action and Research (US)
  • 1985: Women Creating Wealth; Transforming Economic Development (US)
  • 1983: ‘Women in Development’ (Washington D.C, US)

What is the AWID International Forum?

Every three to four years, AWID hosts its flagship international event. It is the world’s largest event that wholeheartedly centers feminist and gender justice movements in all their diversity. It is a global gathering of feminist activists, allied movements, scholars, funders and policymakers. The Forums rotate between different regions and countries in the global South.

How many questions are in the survey?

There are 47 questions in total, of which 27 are mandatory* and the remaining 20 are optional. The majority of questions are multiple-choice. We invite you to respond to all the questions.

Snippet FEA NSS has a vision of an Africa (EN)

Nous Sommes la Solution has a vision of an Africa where, in solidarity, rural women involved in decision-making can grow, process, sell and consume family farming products  while preserving the environment, for a harmonious and sustainable development.”

Test Page

This is body text

After the gallery

Some English aside content

¿Tengo que responder todas las preguntas a la vez o puedo hacerlo a lo largo de algún tiempo?

Si deseas guardar las respuestas y retomar la encuesta más tarde, puedes hacerlo todas las veces que lo necesites. KOBO guardará tus respuestas en la esquina superior izquierda de la página de la encuesta y recargará tu registro cuando regreses a la encuesta. Solo asegúrate de continuar desde la misma computadora y navegador.

Snippet FEA Objectives NSS - Traditional Knowledge (ES)

CONOCIMIENTOS TRADICIONALES

Brown hands with yellow seeds in the palms
Utilizar y promover los conocimientos y prácticas tradicionales transmitidos de generación en generación, que apoyen la soberanía alimentaria y la preservación de las semillas campesinas