Walking the Talk wants to boost the adoption of inclusive foreign policies, practices, and funding that champion gender equality in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and the European Union. In other words, foreign policies that reflect the voices of women and LGBTIQ+ people from the Majority World. To achieve this, we advocate for an increase in Official Development Assistance (ODA) and other funding streams dedicated to gender equality and women’s rights, especially funding for progressive, intersectional feminist organizations in the Global South.

Walking the Talk is led by a consortium of organizations from different European countries: Equipop (France), Restless Development (United Kingdom), Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevölkerung DSW (Germany), and Hivos (Netherlands – lead organization). At the European level, ODI Europe enhances the program by amplifying its reach and influence within EU policy circles.

Our flagship event: the Financing for Feminist Futures Conference

The Financing for Feminist Futures (F4FF) Conference, held in Madrid in October 2025, was designed as a key advocacy space. It brought together 182 participants—including feminist movements, funders, governments, international institutions, and youth networks—to strategize how to protect the current resources and funding for gender equality and identify new possibilities for feminist resourcing.

The conference’s goals were to connect the 12 Calls to Action, the Architecture of Change research, and the Financing for Development (FfD4) process, fostering cross-sectoral dialogue and weaving feminist movements together. With that vision in mind, the conference was structured around three interrelated tracks:

1. Building our Movements: Strategizing Together
2. Holding the Line: Protecting Traditional Financing Sources
3. Strengthening Feminist Funding for Gender Equality: Building on FfD4 and Exploring New Possibilities 

Pivoting on the momentum of Seville, the F4FF Conference became a vehicle to carry our collective advocacy from Seville to Madrid, and onward into other key global spaces. It created the political and strategic room to bridge structural policy demands with feminist movement strategies underpinned by research, evidence, and lived realities worldwide. Concrete follow-up actions and commitments post-FfD4 are emerging organically and enthusiastically. WtT and many of the organizations, allies, and stakeholders involved are now carrying these conversations and strategizing forward into upcoming global processes such as the G20, the World Social Summit, CSW, Women Deliver 2026, and the 5th Ministerial Conference in Spain.