As part of the Fenomenal Funds Collaboration Grants (link to the intro blog), FemFund (Poland), Women’s Fund Armenia, and Women’s Fund in Georgia came together to form a collaborative on healing spaces. In this blog post, we tell you all about this collaboration and what it hopes to achieve. The work of this group is also connected to the broader theme of collective care, which is being addressed by three other collaboratives.
The Leading from the South Consortium (LFS) is a feminist resource alliance supporting activism led by women, girls, and trans-led organizations in the Global South. The four regional funds in this collaboration share a commitment to collective care
This collaborative group is united by the goal of integrating the politics of care into their organizational policies and practices. Their motivation stems from addressing staff burnout, the need for care and protection for activists, and coping with ongoing crises. Among the five participating funds, some have started institutionalizing collective care, while others are still defining its meaning.
The Urgent Action Fund Sisterhood has been a pioneer and leader in the collective care space. As rapid response funders supporting women, trans, and non-binary human rights defenders, their starting point is that collective care and protection are inseparable: without collective care, the protection of human rights defenders is not sustainable nor effective.
Feminist activists work to overcome oppressive systems and structures. Supporting their struggle requires more than just resourcing their work; it requires support for their collective wellbeing and healing from the trauma inflicted in their fight for liberation.