Women’s movements are incredibly diverse, and not all contexts are conducive to movement building. Before starting to support women’s movements, VAWG programmes should first analyse the local context – the risks, advantages and possible tensions within movements, including around the issue of violence against women and girls. This careful preparation is key to ensuring that programmes support collective collaboration between organisations and movements, rather than unintentionally exacerbating any divisions. In contexts where there is a strong rollback against women’s rights, it is also important to plan how to manage backlash when supporting women’s movement building. See more on handling resistance and backlash

Organisations and donors wishing to enable and strengthen women’s movements can play a role by supporting convenings, events and networking for knowledge exchange and coalition building. For example, this might involve establishing a community of practice, where members of women’s movements, activists and allies can share their experiences and learn from each other. It could also involve hosting meetings in a central location and supporting the cost of attending these meetings.

It is important to recognise the different challenges for organisations to attend these meetings. For example, women based in areas with limited internet or a lack of access to technology may struggle to attend online meetings. Similarly, smaller grassroots organisations with limited funding may find it hard to cover the costs of travelling to and staying in safe accommodation for in-person meetings. Movement-strengthening initiatives should conduct an analysis of the barriers to engaging with movements and work to address these through funding or other means. For example, Spotlight Initiative’s strategic position led by the UN Resident Coordinator enables it to play an important role in bringing WROs, government stakeholders, and INGOs together, which provides opportunities for advocacy on EVAWG programming as well as expanding civic space.

The work of women’s movements and WROs focused on ending VAWG can be challenging and exhausting. Self and collective care is essential for protecting individuals from burnout and movements from potential fragmentation. Self and collective care strategies should take a holistic approach recognising the importance of psychological, physical, intellectual, and spiritual wellbeing. EVAWG initiatives can support women’s movements and WROs to implement self and collective care strategies by providing core funding. This can allow members to take “time out” to look after themselves and can also support WROs and women’s movements to run collective care events.

Women’s movements are most effective when they bring together diverse groups to work towards a common goal. Programmes can support women’s movements to develop shared goals, strategies, and plans around ending violence against women and girls. For example, they could consider:

• Which individual/organisation will take a leadership role
• How to develop equitable decision-making processes
• The roles of each member
• The budget available for activities
• How often and by what method the movement will communicate
• Shared code of conduct for members

Movement-strengthening initiatives need to recognise that women and girls may face multiple forms of discrimination such as class, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability status, and age. These initiatives should promote an intersectional approach to EVAWG efforts, recognising the interconnected nature of social identities. They should also work to ensure that the voices of women and girls that are marginalised within communities are prioritised and amplified within these movements. This is key to ensuring that EVAWG efforts carried out by women’s movements reflect the needs and priorities of women and girls from diverse backgrounds.

Diverse opinions and priorities can lead to tensions within groups of organisations, including women’s movements. In addition, power dynamics exist within any group and, if not addressed, may lead to some organisations having greater influence over decisions than others. This can further exacerbate tensions. It is important for programmes that support women’s movement building to be mindful of the potential tensions and power dynamics and put in place systems to address these. For example, this could involve encouraging rotating leadership responsibilities between organisations, introducing a system whereby organisations are asked anonymously to express any concerns they have regarding power dynamics, and supporting co-development of a shared feminist decision-making process that ensures everyone is involved in decision-making. Useful tools for supporting this work include:

Feminist Organisational Capacity Strengthening Toolkit by the International Women’s Development Agency: This toolkit is designed to support WROs in further aligning their organizations and operations with feminist principles. The toolkit includes modules focused on:

• Backgrounder: detailing concepts and principles
• Facilitation guide: outlining feminist facilitation principles and practical tips
• Organization self-assessment module: guiding reflection on which capacities you want to develop
• Leading, governing and being accountable: reflecting on power, intergenerational issues, and succession planning
• Resources for women’s rights: feminist resource mobilisation strategies
• Creating cultures of care and resilience: offering practical ideas for collective and individual care within your organization

We Rise: Movement Building Reimagined by JASS: This toolkit provides a framework for movement builders who want to learn about how to build movements. This framework is split into four “cycles”:

• Rising up: critical awareness and common ground
• Building up: shared issues, organization and leadership
• Shaking up: strategy, solutions and sustained impact
• Standing up: mobilisation, alliances and action

Donors, governments and INGOs often have access to extensive networks of influential stakeholders and decision-makers. They can support women’s movements by both amplifying their messages through these networks and facilitating networking opportunities with these stakeholders. In this way, donors, governments and INGOs can play a vital role in ensuring the voices, concerns, and ideas of women’s movements are heard by those in positions of power and are more likely to be considered during decision-making processes.