Many women’s funds using a feminist lens are grappling with what transformative feminist leadership means. They are reflecting on internal coordination and organizing, leadership, growth, and systems. They are also linking feminist leadership to anti-racism and decolonization, committing to address these through systems, policies and processes. Change must put feminist politics and intersectionality into concrete, everyday practice.
Calala Women’s Fund and the Mediterranean Women’s Fund face similar feminist movement contexts and growth issues in France and Spain. Their collaboration allows for mutual learning and supports organizational development through ongoing exchange.
Collaborators：
Inspiration
The context for women’s funds supporting the rights of women, girls, and LGBTQI populations is complex and challenging. Women’s funds must engage in internal change processes guided by a feminist perspective. As external contexts shift, women’s funds navigate organizational transitions, including leadership, governance, and systems changes. Increased demands require women’s funds to adapt their budgets, team sizes, and strategies.
This collaboration allows women’s funds to share experiences, learn about growth strategies, change management, and identify necessary competencies. Calala and the Mediterranean Women’s Funds, based in the Global North and funding in the Majority World, will reflect on their roles in the broader ecosystem, engaging with other women’s funds within the Prospera network for dialogue and learning.
The Process
Three pillars guide their learning, reflection, and feminist organizational transformation:
1. Internal Development: Each fund works on individual organizational development. The Mediterranean Women’s Fund focuses on strategic planning, leadership transition, and shared leadership, while Calala implements a new theory of change, works through a leadership transition, and develops a horizontal structure.
2. Ongoing Learning and Exchange: Monthly reflection and learning sessions between the funds document experiences related to change and growth, leading to a document on transformative feminist leadership for women’s funds.
3. Facilitating Learning: They will meet periodically to have conversations about transformative feminist leadership, growth, and leadership transitions.
Ways of Working
Each fund handles its organizational development activities. They alternate organizing monthly reflection and learning meetings and jointly coordinate six-monthly conversations with other funds. Both organizations receive funding directly and manage different aspects of the collaborative work.
What Does Success Look Like?
Both funds in the collaboration have progressed in terms of internal change in their respective funds. The process is documented and the narrative shares the story of change
The collaboration supports building a broader community through dialogue about the changes they are going through.
Between the lines
Women’s Funds often prioritize delivering support over their own internal development. This collaboration allocates resources and time to ensure each fund operationalizes its values as much as its mission. With similar structures and roles, they can have deep, honest conversations that challenge and support their journeys. The planned booklet on transformative feminist leadership will document valuable learnings, contributing to a space with limited resources on this theme.
