We are still celebrating 15 years of embodying, supporting, embracing and weaving ties of solidarity with women, trans and non-binary people, defenders, activists, collectives and organizationsy focusing on protection, holistic security, collective care, ancestral wisdom and the defense of body/land territory, they sustain all forms of life through their struggles against extractivist projects and policies, dispossession, violence and take every opportunity to advance human rights.
These 15 years together with movements of the region represent a journey full of challenges, lessons and shared victories, where every moment in which we have succeeded in responding in a timely and flexible manner has been crucial to the construction of possibilities to confront violence in the present, and the construction of a feminist future. This progress has been possible first because of the confidence the movements have in us and our work, and thanks to all the collective effort behind each of the grants, embodiments, advocacy efforts, meetings and gatherings that, little by little, are being woven together to guarantee a dignified life for those of us who live in Latin America and the Caribbean. Each action and each strategy implemented by the Fund is the fruit of a collaborative process, where the exchange of experiences and knowledge strengthens our capacity for response, resistance and proposals for transformation in the face of the multiple systems of oppression that we face.
In these 15 years…
We honor that we were born with the purpose of responding to significant challenges within activism and to all those who have been part of this journey. Beyond providing immediate financial resources, we consider it important the need for a more integral and sustainable type of support. Since our inception, we have been driven by the importance of supporting the needs of activists, women defenders, indigenous peoples, Afro-descendants, youth, LBTQINB+ people and peasant farmers in the face of unexpected situations, whether they be situations of crisis or opportunity.
We work to provide access to flexible, strategic and timely resources, and to ensure that the voices and demands of Latin American and Caribbean movements are heard so that this force to transform the world is strengthened. Our Rapid Response, Strategic, Conch Shell and Regional Grants have been instrumental in responding to urgent and immediate situations. We are always learning and that is why we update our modalities and criteria for grant giving as we see movements and their contexts changing. For example, in recent years, we realized the importance of supporting regional collective actions and how this allows feminist movements to expand dialogues, networks and strategies to respond to the contexts we face in the region.
After 15 years of existing alongside the movements of the region, we are certain that our ethical and political commitment to sustainable activism is vital in the face of multiple crises. We know it continues to be essential to support protection, holistic security and collective care as strategies of movements to heal and make activism more sustainable.
Over the years, this journey together with movements of the region has left us with many lessons, but we would like to highlight those that, for us, have sustained our own transformations as UAF-LAC. Activists and defenders have provided us with vital lessons and reflections so that today, our work with movements can be a reality that continues to be nourished by this collective journey. From them, we learned the importance of strengthening support networks, timely and direct conversations to face what is necessary, trust, symbolic and ritual moments, relevant actions to maintain overall health, knowing when to stop, sustaining ourselves in moments of crisis, pampering ourselves, as well as strengthening collective leadership, questioning and recognizing dynamics of power, joy as an act of rebellion and radical tenderness.
We support sex and gender dissidence as a mode of resistance and accompany the construction of alternatives to make visible forms of existence outside of established and hetero-cis margins. Therefore, our grants are also directed towards activists, organizations and collectives that are committed to the representation of non-hegemonic identities and resignifying pleasure and diverse forms of affection. Through intimate gatherings and actively listening to the voices of dissident communities, we have transformed our narratives, acting as a bridge so the voices of activists can reach international spaces and the philanthropic ecosystem.
We understand that not everything comes out of crisis and urgency, the movement has known how to take advantage of opportunities to bring about change. Using specific opportunities and moments within the context of each country or region in order to advance human rights. A clear example of this has been the “Marea Verde,” or Green Wave, which in recent years has gained strength and expanded throughout the region, achieving fundamental advances and legislative changes in several countries in the region.
Thanks to active listening and closeness with organizations, we continue to broaden our horizons and strengthen our alliances to continue reflections on environmental justice and gender, digital care, structural transformation, and prioritizing the protection, holistic security and care for those who defend, resist and make visible another possible world.
What we want for the next 15 years…
To continue contributing to and accompanying the construction of a better world. We are clear that our political project is by and for women and sexual and gender dissidentsthat are at the forefront of the struggles and demands for transformation, we know that these transformations will be anti-racist, anti-ableist, decolonized and, above all, diverse. We want to remain close to the movements, integrating their experiences, perspectives, strategies and worldviews, to embody them from our place as a feminist Fund.
We want to continue prioritizing and honoring care as a fundamental part of making activism more sustainable, understanding it from a collective and territorial perspective within each context, in order to decentralize “knowledge” and insist on safeguarding the wisdom of the people. We want to continue advocacy and actions against injustice, hate speech and hate crimes, as well as all forms of violence against women and sexual and gender dissidents. We’ll continue to promote intersectionality in movements and resistances, because we understand that we inhabit an extensive region where violence manifests itself in diverse ways. Where the ways to heal and build from tenderness and feminist hope are many and diverse, and are a mirror of this Latin American and Caribbean region that keeps insisting and inspires us to continue.
Finally, we know that there will be challenges along the way, however, from UAF-LAC we maintain our commitment to resistance, struggles and demands for the transformation of power structures, injustice and inequality and thus continue placing protection, holistic security and collective care at the center of our work.
In Latin America and the Caribbean, we dance the revolution, we resist through care and we act collectively, reaffirming day by day our commitment to a more just and equitable world, and in balance for every being that inhabits it.