Policy Brief: From Talking to Walking

Using feminist foreign policy to fund feminist organizing

Feminist movements are vital in safeguarding and advancing democracies, especially in times when women’s and LGBTIQ+ rights face increasing threats, endangering hard-won progress. Ensuring their resilience requires consistent, long-term, and adaptable funding. However, despite government pledges to achieve sustainable development goals, data reveals that less than 1% of official development assistance for gender equality directly supports women’s rights organizations and feminist movements.

This brief, written by the Walking the Talk consortium as part of the Feminist Foreign Policy Progressive Voices Collective (FFPPVC) in partnership with the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS) and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) EU office, highlights the pivotal role of feminist movements in safeguarding democracies and advancing gender equality worldwide. With a focus on sustainable and flexible funding, it showcases two innovative funding mechanisms: the Fonds de Soutien aux organisations Féministes (FSOF) and Leading from the South (LFS), supported respectively by the French and Dutch governments, to uncover commonalities and opportunities.

Three funding recommendations for the EU & government donors:

Allocate substantial, flexible and long-term funding to feminist organizations and funds worldwide, especially in the Global South.
Adhere to “Nothing about us without us” by supporting intersectional feminist movements led by the rightsholders they serve and stand with.
Foster transnational feminist action and solidarity.