Womankind is now proud to announce that it is supporting the work of 9 partners across 6 focus countries in their movement strengthening work under MSF Cycle 5 approved in 2025. Below we share this diverse work and look forward to sharing the outcomes in 2027! 

Uganda

Freedom and Roam Uganda (FARUG) will use their grant to strengthen relational dynamics, trust, and collaborative leadership within Uganda’s LBQ feminist movement by creating inclusive, healing-centred, and intergenerational spaces that nurture resilience, solidarity, and collective power. They will also seek to strengthen the capacity of LBQ (lesbian, bisexual, queer) womxn and non-binary leaders to use artificial intelligence ethically and effectively for feminist advocacy, leadership, and community empowerment.   

Women’s International Peace Centre (WIPC) will deepen the collective care foundation developed during the Women’s Advocacy for Voice and Empowerment project by hosting the ‘Feminist Living Room’. With partners, WIPC will co-create and implement an inclusive and participatory space that responds to the chronic stress and fragmentation experienced by Women Human Rights Defenders across the country.   

National Association of Professional Environmentalists (NAPE) will use their MSF grant to introduce and strengthen the Uganda eco-feminist movement by empowering a diverse range of women and girls to collectively learn, strategise, organise, defend and resist the impact of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline. They will do this by developing training and visibility materials, provide training to leaders of grassroots feminist groups, and hosting intergenerational learning exchanges and radio talk shows.  

Afghanistan

Womankind is working with partners to build the capacity of a diverse group of young women and male emerging leaders across key provinces in Afghanistan, providing them with knowledge on political participation, rights, human rights mechanisms, gender justice, documentation, research and advocacy through a 8-month long Mentorship and exchange sessions with three women groups and movements from South Africa, Iran and Bangladesh. 

Zimbabwe  

Deaf Women Included (DWI) will use this funding to build on previous MSF grants to deepen transformative disability inclusiveness and the development of feminist-oriented partnerships.  Activities will include a participatory strengths and weakness audit of the Zimbabwe feminist movement, intersectionality-focused convenings, knowledge production and dissemination and feminist- oriented digital capacity building.   

Pakasipiti will use this grant to 1) analyse how anti-gender movements impact LBQ women’s rights, SRHR organisations, grassroots organisations and gender equality in Zimbabwe; 2) build the organisational and leadership capacity of LBQ feminist groups, women’s rights organisations working on SRHR through training and resource co-creation; 3) facilitate connections between youth and senior activists to promote knowledge exchange and solidarity and create a linking and learning platform  4) co-create and implement strategies to resist anti-gender narratives and advance feminist responses to the pushback on women’s rights.  

Women and Land Zimbabwe (WLZ) will use their grant to strengthen their Rural Women’s Assembly (RWA) which spans across 28 districts and has over 45,000 members. They hope to make the RWA more intergenerational and inclusive by building on the peer mentorship program between older and younger members as well as hosting regional leadership seminars, and organising a national feminist convening. Their aim is to enhance feminist leadership capacity, foster intergenerational collaboration and embed inclusive feminist principles while strengthening the movement in Zimbabwe. 

Kenya

Polycom Girls will use their grant to carry out Phase 3 of their Passing the Baton movement strengthening initiative. This phase will deepen cross-generational collaboration, amplify grassroots actions, and embed sustainable structures for feminist organising across generations and contexts. They will do this by hosting podcast listening and film screening sessions, a three-tiered mentorship programme, the amplification of powerful stories and hosting their Annual Girls Assembly focusing on celebration, wellness and care. 

Nepal

Sankalpa will strengthen feminist organising and build solidarity with grassroots feminist groups to ensure marginalised women leaders are meaningfully represented in the March 2026 elections. They will do this through their provincial committees by having strategic dialogues at a provincial level, consultations with political parties and feminist leadership and movement building training. After the election, Sankalpa will host convenings and orientations with newly elected representatives to ensure women’s political participation is sustained.   

Strengthening feminist movements and providing flexible and core funding to them is at the heart of Womankind’s strategy to 2030. 

If you feel passionately about investing in stronger feminist movements, please get in touch with Martina Hoggart, Director of Fundraising & Marketing 

MartinaH@womankind.org.uk 

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FARUG’s contribution has been transformative. “LBQ women are often left out of women’s rights and also LGBT spaces. Because of the space that we are holding for LBQ organising in Uganda and East Africa as a whole, I feel that we have maintained and grown how LBQ women are perceived and recognised within the feminist movement,” she says. 

For Gloria, the most pressing threat to feminism is “how feminist movements have been co-opted and depoliticised. And how technology is making feminist language become more of a trend or a fashion.” 

“It has its advantages and its disadvantages, because we see more widespread feminism within young people, which is now the biggest population in Africa, but it also scares me about how now feminism is being diluted, like something to make money off.” 

This dilution has manifested through recent funding cuts. “As an LGBT community, I feel like we were affected the most by these funding cuts, especially in Uganda, because one of our biggest entry points in our organising had always been health. And health being one of our biggest entry points also meant that a lot of funding that was sustaining movement work and organising was coming from health.” 

The impact has been devastating. “Mental health support, legal aid, emergency response – most of those things were being supported by that money. We had a drop-in centre, which was shut down, and it’s not only our drop-in centre that has been shut down, a number of drop-in centres have shut down,” she explains. 

“It’s not even just about the building and the safe space. It’s safety for communities, it’s care for communities, it’s dignity. Because these were spaces which were safe and affirming for our communities and when such spaces do not exist anymore, the community is suffering.” 

Some organisations have collapsed entirely, with “organisations whose entire funding was just coming from health-related programming. These organisations have actually collapsed on the ground because their entire existence was around health-related programming.” 

The funding crisis has created impossible choices. “With the funding cuts in the U.S., part of the sections that were affected the most is sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), and abortion. It’s very painful when you’re having conversations with some of your funders who are coming out and telling you, you know what? Either you let go of your work around abortion, or we cannot fund you anymore.” 

“This threatens the very core or heart of feminism, which is about collective liberation. It’s not about branding, it’s not about charity, it’s not about complying with systems that oppress us.” 

Despite challenges, FARUG continues adapting. “We also recognise that resilience does not have to be formal to be powerful. So, we are continuing to adapt by not just reacting, but also protecting our vision.” 

Gloria sees a clear path forward. “We need to stay grounded in feminism itself, but also in movement accountability. At FARUG, for instance, we constantly return to the demands and needs of our community.” 

She emphasises that “funding must come with trust. Because most of the funding we get comes with control.  Feminist solidarity means resourcing feminist work in a way that honours feminists, local knowledge, that centres care, and that refuses to trade safety for visibility.” 

In her call to courage, Gloria urges that “courage looks like consistency and consistency looks like supporting queer and feminist movements, even when it’s politically inconvenient or risky.” 

“Speak up – don’t be silent. Your silence gives power to the oppressor. Use your voice to protect ours,” she says. 

Gloria ends with a direct challenge: “Be intentional, go beyond statements and into solidarity. Don’t just recognise us. Resource us.” 

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As WAVE II came to a close, partners reflected on their collective journey, exploring both the challenges they faced and the successes they achieved in advancing inclusive and effective feminist movements in Uganda. If you would like to learn more about WAVE II,  please watch the final project documentary and hear directly from partners.

The reality for feminist movements in Uganda

Over the past two years, mounting pressure has significantly curtailed spaces for activism and dissent. Women’s rights activists have been targeted, threatened online, followed in public, and silenced through fear. For women in politics, even expressing certain views has become risky, forcing many into self-censorship to protect their safety and careers. Despite this, WAVE II partners stood by them, creating spaces of solidarity and support to ensure they could keep fighting for change. To support activists under threat, WAVE II partners established networks of solidarity and resilience, offering emotional and practical support to enable continued activism.  

The Government of Uganda also passed the Anti-Homosexuality Bill in March 2023, intensifying the risks faced by LGBTQ+ communities and expanding legal prohibitions to include severe new consequences. Merely identifying as gay became illegal, with friends, family, and members of the community required to report individuals in same-sex relationships to the authorities. This legislation not only criminalised same-sex relationships but also introduced mandatory reporting requirements, endangering individuals’ safety. The increased restrictions have deepened isolation and insecurity, making daily life increasingly fraught for LGBTQ+ individuals. 

The Bill presented significant challenges for WAVE II member Freedom and Roam (FARUG) Uganda who exist to support lesbian, bi-sexual and trans people. FARUG were evicted from their office in the midst of the project and forced to provide sensitive personal information to authorities, increasing the risk of harassment and arrest. Members of the FARUG community also had to self-censor their behaviour and dress to avoid being targeted.  

To overcome these challenges, the consortia created protective spaces, provided constant welfare checks, and prioritised wellness and self-care strategies to support FARUG staff and community members through this hostile environment. WAVE II also had a strong component focused on the development of individual and organisational wellness plans, helping activists to care for themselves and others through these times of extreme backlash and violence.   

How has WAVE II contributed to effective movement strengthening in Uganda?

Working within an intentional intersectional framework1, WAVE II partners deepened their understanding of the diverse realities faced by women across Uganda. Now partners champion inclusivity by consistently raising critical questions like ‘where are the women with disabilities in this space? Is there sign language interpretation or visual aids available?’ Are young, queer women safe, welcome and heard in this space?’  

WAVE II has created a deliberate focus on self-care and wellness for individuals and feminist organisations to tackle high levels of burnout and trauma caused by consistently dealing with backlash, violence and intimidation. Through The Peace Centre’s leadership, partners have embedded wellness practices and policies into their organisational cultures. For example, NAWOU shared that they are now mindful of proposing community meetings at times to suit those with caring responsibilities. These practices are beginning to influence the wider feminist movement in Uganda, encouraging a culture of sustainability and care.    

WAVE II demonstrated the power of collaboration among diverse organisations working toward a shared goal, grounded in clear feminist partnership principles. For example, partners supported each other through “Happy Hours” (weekly sessions focused on wellness) and celebrated collective victories, sharing lessons learned openly and honestly. 

‘There is life beyond the laptop! The whole experience felt like a family – like you have a representative in another organisation’ (Elinah from The Peace Centre) 

Partners also celebrated collective wins together and asked each other for help during implementation recognising mutual strengths. They took time out to reflect together on what was working well andwhat they might drop and what could be done differently.  

By embodying these feminist principles, WAVE II showed that collaboration, rather than competition for resources, can strengthen movements and increase collective impact. 

Setting the example through flexible funding 

A critical factor in WAVE II’s success was the flexible support provided by the Ing Foundation. Trusting Womankind and the six partner organisations, the foundation imposed minimal compliance demands, allowing the consortia to create their own reporting templates focused on qualitative impact, rather than just numbers. This meant that work could also be adapted easily to respond to the realities of the implementation context. Additionally, the approval of funding for self and collective care was unique and something no partner had ever experienced before from a donor (or something few donors have ever permitted).  

This flexibility enabled partners to adapt swiftly to changing contexts and to prioritise self and collective care. It freed activists to concentrate on the work itself, rather than on bureaucratic processes, allowing activists to focus on the work and not the paperwork! This demonstrates the transformative power of trust-based funding for feminist movement building. 

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This Pride Month we are celebrating the work of Freedom and Roam Uganda – a long term partner of Womankind. Biggie, Gloriah and Amor from the FARUG team shared with us their reflections on two decades of groundbreaking work. 

Holistic care, support and advocacy for the LBQ community

“We made it to 20 years on the 4th of July last year and we happen to be not just the oldest LBQ organisation in Uganda, but also in Africa as well. Most of the work that we do is focused on empowerment and rights for LBQ womxn through movement building, feminist​​​​​ popular education, raising  political  consciousness,creating  brave spaces, organising-bridging the local, national and global,strategic political action at key moments ​and providing access to ​safe and affirming ​healthcare through our mini clinic and drop-in centre. We research and document lived realities whilst empowering communities with information, resources and tools on how to respond to violence.” – Gloriah  

Much of FARUG’s work focuses on sexual and reproductive health and rights for LBQ womxn including the areas of HIV, reproductive diseases, menstrual and mental health. “We’re the first organisation in Uganda that started conversations around HIV​ and menstrual health​ within LBQ communities and the programming around it. We’ve also taken up the mantle of advocacy around inclusion of LBQ womxn in broader HIV spaces and for the first time we are going to be present at the International AIDS conference​ in Munich Germany​.” – Gloriah 

FARUG also runs the first ever HIV support group for LBQ people, the LBQ legal desk and the gender-based violence support line.  

From policy to creativity

FARUG ​is ​​t​he beating heart of the LBQ movement in Uganda, mentoring other organisations and sharing good practices. “We currently exist in a context where there are so many young, emerging queer leaders. We’ve taken up the role of mentoring those upcoming leaders and organisations and now, there are over 15 organisations that have been birthed out of FARUG.” – Gloriah 

“We work on economic justice and we continue to network with LGBTQ organizations within the country, regionally and internationally. We’ve recently had engagements at CSW with support from Womankind and that’s a space that we are pushing back more on where our voice can be heard. ” – Biggie 

“We also use creativity to tell our stories through music and art and encourage our members to engage in creativity. We run a podcast called Ba Queer Twogere ​a lesbian visibility podcast celebrating queer love, exploring life experiences, representation and busting queer myths. ​​– ​ Biggie 

The current climate for LBQ womxn in Uganda 

Life for LBQ womxn​​​​ in Uganda has always come with challenges due to the legal and social implications linked to their identity.  

“You need to survive. But then how do you survive and not be who you are because you’re scared to be who you are? There’s a lot of people wanting to seek asylum, a lot of evictions and homelessness. There is an increase in drug and alcohol abuse because people are lonely and looking to survive in the best way they can.” – Amor.  

FARUG are now convening their members online due to being evicted from their premises. “Since the eviction, it’s been very hard for us to find a new space because people are not willing to rent to us. Previously there was a lot of threat around the clause in the bill**, which had an obligation for people renting out premises to queer organisations to report it. Even after the court ruling where that part was extracted, people are not yet aware that it’s not there. And more so, they’re still scared to rent out their premises to us.” – Gloriah. 

“Right now, if we had a ​physical ​drop-in centre (DIC) – a friendly safe space where our community members who suffer from stigma from other health centres come to access health services – people would be scared to come. Because if people see us, they raise the alarm and it’s not safe for our community. Now we don’t have space for our DIC, we are having to do home based care and it’s hard for members to access the healthcare that we have. We’re in more of a survival mode than before, but we are here and we keep doing what we have to do” – Amor 

“There’s a lot of hate speech online and outing on social media. It’s scary and insecure. Right now, there’s a lot of forced marriages and pregnancies because they think that’s the only survival mode that they can use. When you have a child, you​ are perceived to be​ less of a lesbian.”​ There is even a popular saying right now that “pregnancy is the new closet”​– Biggie  

FARUG’s crucial work

It is clear that FARUG are a pillar of support and connection for the LBQ community in Uganda.  

“We have the reputation of being a movement building entity because of how much we have sustained and grow healthy​ and resilient​ movement by our existence. The work that we do in one way or another is very important to sustaining LBQ community organising.” – Gloriah 

From supporting FARUG to hold the Ugandan Lesbian Forum (UGALEF) to them now being one of Womankind’s Strategic Grant partners, this Pride Month we’re celebrating FARUG and all the work they do to support the LBQ community in Uganda.  

*womxn is used throughout this piece as this is FARUG’s preferred terminology. 

**The Anti-Homosexuality Bill, 2023  

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“In a world of possibility for us all, our personal visions help lay the groundwork for political action.” – Audre Lorde  

A Black, lesbian, mother, warrior and poet is how Audre Lorde described herself. Her profound teachings about humanity, feminism, liberation and sexuality were rooted in her experience of all five of these interconnected identities.  

Ahead of Pride month 2024, I interviewed women and activists in Nepal, Uganda and Zimbabwe, all part of the LBTQI+ organisations and feminist movements that Womankind partners with and funds. Across the experiences, roles within their movements and geographies one thing is clear: that just like Audre Lorde, their work is born from both a personal calling and an urgent necessity.  

Pride month is a global celebration of the LGBTQIA+ community that emerged after the 1969 Stonewall riots. Throughout Pride Month, we will be sharing stories of activists at the forefront of LBTQI+ justice work, and celebrating the LBTQI+ organisations that we partner with. 

But first, some context on why Womankind funds, stands with and advocates alongside feminist LBTQI+ movements. 

Being LBTQI+ in our focus countries

Colonial legacies continue to shape and perpetuate laws, attitudes and treatment towards LBTQI+ communities. In Africa, more than 30 countries still criminalise consensual same-sex sexual activity, despite “the clear contradiction with established African Union and international human rights standards” including three of our focus countries – Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe. 

In Nepal, despite some progress, there are still challenges for the LBTQI+ community in fully claiming and enjoying their rights. According to Mitini Nepal, the Constitution does not clearly spell out the rights of the LBTQI+ community, marriages between LBTQI+ couples do not hold legal validity and they are unable to adopt.

In Afghanistan, LBTQI+ people and “others who do not conform to rigid gender norms, have faced an increasingly desperate situation and grave threats to their safety and lives” since the Taliban regained control in 2021. 

In our focus countries and across the world, LBTQI+ women face the layered and compounding discrimination of misogyny on top of their gender identity also. However, grassroots LBTQI+ organisations and feminist movements continue to be beacons of hope and support despite the deeply challenging contexts that they operate within. 

Feminism and LBTQ+ rights

“It’s a struggle but that’s why we exist, so that another generation of lesbians of color will not have to invent themselves, or their history, all over again” – Audre Lorde 

LBQTI+ rights are a feminist issue because we are all striving for freedom – freedom from the patriarchy and the harmful systems of misogyny, racism, homophobia and transphobia it perpetuates. At Womankind, we envision a world where women, girls and people of all genders enjoy equal rights and freedoms and live with joy, choice and dignity. But globally, many LBQTI+ women and communities continue to experience multiple and intersecting challenges like discrimination and abuse. 

Womankind works with LBTQI+ organisatons and movements where intersectional feminism is thriving. We do this through; providing flexible funding to strengthen their movements and influencing opportunities, supporting spaces for learning, exchange, inclusivity, wellbeing and action and partnering on projects that support LBTQI+ women and communities. 

A safer and joyful future

This Pride Month we are celebrating three of our partners: Mitini Nepal, Freedom and Roam Uganda (FARUG) and Pakasipiti in Zimbabwe. All of these organisations are providing holistic support for the diverse LBTQI+ communities in their contexts, through psychosocial support, healthcare, safe spaces, creativity, advocacy and beyond. We will be sharing insights into their work, the stories of the women making it happen and of those they support. 

Throughout my conversations with these activists, one thing was clear: the LBTQI+ community is an ecosystem of care with the organisations at the heart of these communities built on a foundation of love, connection and a need for survival too. The staff members and volunteers working to create a sense of home and safety for those they serve, often arrived there seeking the same for themselves. In this way, just like Audre Lorde said “the question is a matter of the survival and the teaching. That’s what our work comes down to. No matter where we key into it, it’s the same work, just different pieces of ourselves doing it.” 

*Terms LGBTQIA+, LBTQI+ are both used here depending on the context. Our partners frequently use LBQ. 

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The Covid-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on women and girls around the world, deepening existing inequalities and accelerating the rollback on women’s rights. For women’s rights organisations this has meant an increase in demand for their services at a time when resources are even more limited. Last year, in response to the pandemic we launched the Womankind Worldwide COVID-19 Resilience Fund to support 42 of our partner women’s rights organisations and the women and girls they work with.

Adapting to a shifting landscape

The pandemic has meant ever-changing needs for communities. With rules and restrictions changing constantly, the social and economic landscape for women and girls has been harsh and volatile. To meet these varying needs, women’s rights organisations have needed a greater level of flexibility, something which the Womankind resilience grants have enabled our partners to do. Our partners have been able to act quickly whenever it is needed, responding to the continually shifting landscape of disaster management.

Womankind partner TEWA used the resilience grant to meet the immediate needs of the women in Nepal by raising awareness of COVID-19 and providing hygiene kits.

“The funding focused on meeting the emergency needs of our partners during COVID-19. The resilience grant support made us feel relieved. When the pandemic started and with the initiation of lockdown, our partners and the lives of vulnerable people were impacted”.

-TEWA

They have also been able to address some of the social  impacts of the pandemic, including providing counselling and mental health support for women who have experienced violence. With the ‘shadow pandemic’ seeing violence against women surge during lockdowns services like this are vital.

Supporting marginalised identities

 COVID-19 has exacerbated pre-existing social inequalities leaving women and girls most marginalised hardest hit. Flexible funding provided by the resilience grants has helped partners respond to the specific needs of those most disempowered.

“Due to the pandemic situation, women with disabilities are confined at their own home because of which they are not being able to purchase their daily needs like diaper, sanitary pads, hygiene materials  their own”, – Nepal Disabled Women’s Association (NDWA)

For NDWA the Womankind resilience grant allowed them to adapt their services and provide essential hygiene materials for the women they support.

In Uganda Womankind partner Freedom and Roam Uganda (FARUG), has used Womankind resilience funds to support LBTQ+ people. During the pandemic they have worked hard to ensure that their services continue to support women dealing with forced marriage, domestic violence and rape by turning their office into a safe space. In Uganda LBTQ+ women who are ‘masculine presenting’ have also been denied emergency supplies. FARUG have been working to support the women that have been left out of emergency food funds by supplying food packages and relocating them when they are not safe.

“LBQ women have been hit so hard by the pandemic, so hard. It’s now very common for someone to just call you and say, “I have not eaten for three days. I’m starving, could you please give me something to eat?” So, we appreciate organisations like Womankind for funds that are flexible like the Womankind resilience grant, it has helped us counter the implications of COVID-19.”

-Freedom and Roam Uganda

Women’s movements: strengthening whole communities

The rights of women are inextricably linked to the rights and lives of the wider community. History tells us that when women respond to crisis or create change, whole communities benefit. This is true for our partners who have used Womankind resilience funds to reach more people in the wider community.

“As a women’s fund, most of our support only goes through grants to address the need of the women and their initiatives, and support their movement, but the resilience grant has helped us expand our supporting horizon”.

-TEWA

Powering movements

Not only have the Womankind resilience grants enabled partners to respond and adapt to the crisis, support women and girls, and benefit their communities, it has also ensured the work they are doing is able to continue. With demand surging and resources limited, many women’ rights organisations have found it difficult to continue their operations. The flexible nature of the Womankind resilience grants mean that organisations have been able to cover staff costs. For NDWA, the flexible funding allowed them to pay the wages of staff who were doing three to four times the work they used to do.

For the Young Women’s Leadership Institute (YWLI) in Kenya the Womankind resilience grant they received meant they were able to pay their bills and pay staff for their community outreach.

“We really appreciate that we had partners like Womankind who really supported in terms of resilience funds. Because for us I think we could have [had to] shut down our organisation because we had to keep on paying rent for our offices. [Staff also] needed to get a pay check to support themselves.”

-Young Women’s Leadership Institute (YWLI)

Acting now for an equitable world

“I can hardly remember a grant that has had such a large impact”

-Freedom and Roam Uganda

From being able to adapt quickly to changes, to supporting women who have been hardest hit by the pandemic, and ensuring that women’s rights organisations are able to continue to survive, the Womankind resilience grants have impacted our partners and the women they work with. As we continue to see the rollback on women’s right accelerated and face mounting threats to women’s rights organisations resisting the rollbacks, the need for core, flexible funding becomes more urgent. We must properly resource women’s rights organisations now if we’re to have an equitable world post-COVID.

Nepal is experiencing a deadly surge in COVID-19 cases as the outbreak in India spreads. We’ve launched an emergency appeal to support partners in Nepal on the frontline. Find out more and donate.

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