What is a Feminist Fund?
A core element of a women’s fund is that it is founded and led by women, and aims at reaching and benefiting more women and girls, especially those in the margins of our societies. Like other feminist funds WFT-T recognize the incredible ability and resourcefulness of women who operate at the community level, often with limited resources, and technical support.  All this is accomplished despite the constraints of patriarchy and other practices that aim at marginalizing others, which are deeply rooted in our cultures and traditions, and also in our legal and policy frameworks.  These lead to limiting women’s access to productive resources such as land, leadership positions, funding and voice Yet somehow, women, whether grassroots or nationally based, have been able to organize and produce transformative results-though at times limitedly recognised and rewarded.  A feminist fund like WFT-T aims to reclaim the authority over which issues gain prominence and receive support, based on the specific and unique needs that women identify within their communities. At the same time, there is recognition that by having pockets of excellence dotted across the country, a lot may go unnoticed.  

A second feature of a feminist fund like ours is that it works to strengthen feminist conscious movement building through funding coalitions and creating strategic alliances; partnerships among women and girls’ organizations, including bringing into these coalitions/platforms; and voice and agency of grassroots-based women to enable greater impact out of their collective organizing and action. By connecting women’s groups/organizations, as well as supporting them to adopt intersectional approaches to their organizing agenda, we are able to expose them to partnerships with likeminded individuals to spur greater change in their day-to-day struggle. We do acknowledge, however, that sometimes their achievements are not made visible to others.  This work can be noted in WFT-T’s funding approach towards investing in several women-led movement platforms, such as the strong Coalition leading the anti- sexual corruption campaign where women, girls and other supporting actors and institutions from national to local community level rallied around the agenda in a bid to address this vice in our country.

WFT-T also funds work towards shifting negative and de-humanizing narratives towards the women’s and girls’ rights agenda, while promoting recognizing the greater contribution women have done played economically, socially, and politically in their communities and their country. We know that the stories of women have been left out of key political, social-cultural, and policy documentation at a national level, as well as out of oral conversations and anecdotes. Therefore, we are funding the shift and saying NO to the elimination of women’s ‘herstory’ to the ‘HerStory of different developmental narratives and discourses. In this way the significant contribution of women in our country’s history will be increasingly noted and appreciated. This is in line with not only documenting their “herstories’’ from their own perspectives but furthermore encouraging the need for public policy to pay attention to having more recognition of women’s contributions to progress in our national curriculum history books and other key spaces.  

Finally, we know that the concept of ‘role modelling’ plays a significant part in shaping future leaders. Our Fund works to not only amplify voices of women leadership, but also to call out for a different model of leadership that is built on feminist principles around power sharing, balancing the long hours that women work with caring for their wellbeing, respect, and a strong work ethic. It is well known that women engage in significantly more unpaid work alongside any paid roles they may hold, and oftentimes this can be of great detriment to their health.  Feminist funds are increasingly recognizing that to manage this additional burden, there needs to be a new style of leadership that starts within our own organizations, which aims to honor the realities of women’s lives and also calling upon the government and other private institutions to recognize gender responsive approaches, including adopting gender budgeting as tool for appreciating and reducing the workload of the unpaid care work done by women.



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A CELEBRATION OF OUR HERSTORY & OUR JOURNEY
2008- 2023
For three days women from all over Tanzania, Africa and the diaspora convened to celebrate 15 years of WFT-Trust as the first and only feminist women's fund in the country.
During the three days participants came to grips with the realities of the funding landscape in Tanzania and beyond, questioned where the money goes? and strategized on the best way to increase funding for women rights work. And for movement building processes in particular.
The celebrations were a huge success my any measure....Over 300 women,transformed men, girls and even children came together to learn,un-learn and relearn about why funding is so important in driving the change agenda. Held discussion on what it means to be a feminist and build a web of solidarity founded on the principle of gender equality and social justice for all.
WFT-Trust grantee partners and beneficiaries gave inspiring stories of change, of endurance and of a commitment to a purpose and an agenda driven by a common bond.
We give thanks to all those who joined us in this celebrations....and we wish them safe passage home. But even as we are leaving we carry with us the aspiration of what we need to achieve-together - in the next 50 years! 
 


WFT-Trust Marks 15 Years of its inception

The SRHR Coalition Meets

Following a convening on intersectionality in Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) activism in 2021, it became clear that a coalition that will bring together organizations, individual activists, and others passionate about Sexual and Reproductive Health in Tanzania for collective action was needed. Therefore, as it is part of WFT Trust’s role to support feminist movement building, on February 24th and 25th, 2022 a larger convening was held with the following objectives:

    Deepen knowledge on feminism, cross movement building, and current SRHR issues.
    Strategize on how to build inclusive campaigns and strengthen collective voice and actions around ongoing campaigns.
    Experience and knowledge sharing on ongoing advocacy initiatives.

WFT Trust’s Co-ED Mary Rusimbi, emphasized the importance of collaboration so that voices and actions are amplified. Making reference to intersectionality, an analytical framework that was coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw, which identifies how different aspects of a person’s identity like their gender, sex, religion, race, ethnicity, disability, physical appearance and more overlap and converge to afford them privilege in some ways and cause discrimination or oppression in others. With respect to the SRHR agenda, Ms. Rusimbi commented that while the women’s movement has been blamed for not incorporating SRHR enough, on the other side of the coin, actors within the SRHR movement have also been criticized for limited and specific focus on access to reproductive health services and information rather than on rights advocacy. Issues that have been missing in SRHR debates and advocacy include safe abortion access and the broad spectrum of sexuality.

Participants to the convening included WFT Trust grantee partners, CBOs, NGOs, and other women’s rights organizations that directly or indirectly work in the field of SRHR. During reflections, participants identified that building unity within the diversity of actors can only come about once everyone is able to interrogate their own power bases thus being clear on where they hold privilege and how they can contribute. Gender dis-aggregated data, research, and ongoing involvement of medical experts were also highlighted as critical areas that can support rights-based advocacy.

A representative from the Advance Family Planning Project expressed hope that with the intersectionality approach, new avenues of working together with WROs and CBOs will be possible. A member from the Pastoral Women’s Council shared the need for gender dis-aggregated data to form the basis of advocacy and emphasized that organizations need to truly embody the principles that they advocate for.

Potential Areas of Working

Looking forward, several opportunities for the Coalition to work collectively were identified and are as follows:

    Led by Msichana Initiative, the Amendment of the Law of Marriage Act, 1971 to raise the minimum age of marriage eligibility to 18 years old for girls.
    Led by the Doris Mollel Foundation, the National Campaign to Extend Maternity Leave.
    The East African Community Sexual and Reproductive Health Bill.
    Tanzania’s Family Planning 2030 Commitments.
    Advocacy on domesticating The Maputo Protocol.


In order to facilitate a sustainable coalition, it was decided that a single organization be nominated to act as the national coordinator for the SRHR coalition. A smaller technical working group consisting of six (6) organizations who represent persons living with disabilities, youth, rural communities, and Zanzibar was created to facilitate this nomination.
 

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Intersectionality is important in tackling inequalities and injustices towards women, girls, children and other social justice actors so as not to perpetuate inequality in systems

Strengthening The Sexual And Reproductive Health Rights Coalition

We have made history! 2015 in Tanzania was definitely a year of firsts! We saw the inauguration of the first Female Vice President; had women actively observing our general elections for the first time; had the first of its kind monitoring system to minimize any act of sextortion; and the first time that so many women went in vying for electoral positions.

Constitution/Elections Coalition is to date the only well organized, documented, and informed civil society initiative in the country that has realized measurable results in advocating for the inclusion of crucial women’s rights provisions in the proposed new Constitution and which has been a critical player before-, during-, and after the General Election processes which took place in 2015.

We successfully launched the very first Anti-Sextortion/Corruption Coalition in Tanzania through grants to women’s groups that are active in this domain. In the  coming years we need to strengthen this Coalition to get more funding and strengthen their activity on a national level. Through this we can continue the public debate and break the silence and taboo linked to sextortion. We were further able to successfully raise awareness for sexual corruption in election processes.

We aim to  continuously involve the main government structure namely the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) Tanzania to add a gender focus of sextortion to their mandate. As it stands now they do not consider sextortion as a form of corruption and need to add this to their internal capacity enhancement.

We are proud of the media advocacy we were able to create with the help of several coalition partners, such as TAMWA. And lastly, we are honored to have met with the new Vice President to present her with our written manifesto on the importance of Gender Equality, in December 2015.

It was a satisfying year with several measurable results that we can proudly show to the world!
We must remember that if you empower a woman to believe in herself, she will make her own foot prints!
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Makamu wa Rais wa Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania, Mhe. Samia Suluhu Hassan, akiwa katika picha ya pamoja na Viongozi wa Mtandao wa Wanawake Tanzania (unaoratibiwa na Women Fund Tanzania [WFT]) baada ya mazungumzo yao yao yaliyofanyika Ofisini kwa Makamu Ikulu jijini Dares Salaam, Nov 24, 2015.


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We have made history! 2015 in Tanzania was definitely a year of firsts! We saw the inauguration of the first Female Vice President; had women actively observing our general elections for the first time; had the first of its kind monitoring system to minimize any act of sextortion; and the first time that so many women went in vying for electoral positions.

We Made History!

_As a member of Prospera, International Network of Women's Funds, Women Fund Tanzania Trust supports their statement calling for support for feminist movements in Ukraine, Poland and Bulgaria._  

*Crossposted from Prospera’s Website

The war in Ukraine is intensifying at an alarming rate, with the Russian invasion leading to massive violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, massive migration, death, violence, and destruction. Prospera International Network of Women Funds, the global network of feminist funds, is gravely concerned about the current situation that is endangering the safety of all Ukrainians and particularly women, girls, trans, non-binary persons and marginalized communities. The current conflict, which has displaced over 1.5 million people in a matter of days, is causing an urgent humanitarian crisis. Systemic racism is rampant, with people of color being systematically stopped and unable to migrate to neighboring countries.

Prospera INWF supports anti-racist, anti-colonial gender justice activism around the world and mobilizes action in the funding communities that we are a part of to secure that feminist activists, groups, organizations, movements, and human rights defenders are protected, safe, and able to continue their work, including in situations of multiple crises.

We join our members from the Ukrainian Women’s Fund, FemFund Poland, the Bulgarian Fund for Women, Urgent Action Fund for Women's Rights, and all feminist activists and movements around the world to #StopTheWar and ensure funding reaches feminist groups, as well as immediate humanitarian aid to the people of Ukraine and neighboring countries.

The dwindling humanitarian setting begs for urgent response by feminist and women-led movements and humanitarian actors. Unfortunately, the increased volatility of the crisis, security concerns, lack of safe access for humanitarian workers and movement restrictions, the situation poses main challenges for aid workers to provide basic provisions such as food, water, shelter, and health care into villages and towns outside of the major cities and along the borders. Special attention needs to be paid to the regions that are being attacked by the Russians – Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zapirizhzhya, Sumy. The majority of the population in these areas are vulnerable groups including the older generation, people living with disabilities and low income families. Due to limited mobility and means to travel, they are unable to travel to the regions that are relatively safe.

Urgent response to the situation that is deteriorating by the day needs to be a priority – delivering life-saving services and supplies to survivors. Prospera INWF members are supporting local organizations and front line activists with critical resources during this time. They are quickly and effectively responding, mobilizing resources and amplifying the lived realities of Ukrainians, especially women, girls, trans and non-binary persons.

We call on governments, the philanthropic community, and individuals to direct funding immediately to the Ukrainian Women’s Fund and to support the efforts of funds in Poland and Bulgaria (FemFund and Bulgarian Fund for Women) to respond to the needs of women, children and marginalized groups that are seeking safety in neighboring countries.

For Rapid Response Funds, Urgent Action Fund for Women's Rights to respond to requests from activists and groups, especially in the remote parts of Ukraine seeking:

    Basic food and hygiene needs
    Access to safe, reliable, and alternative means of communications ranging from safe mobile internet, VPNs, and portable devicesSupport with emergency evacuations and relocations.
    Legal, financial, and medical support.
    Support to increase the capacity of shelters for women, children, and other persons.

We also call on all humanitarian organizations, including International Humanitarian NGOs, the International Committee for the Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, and all United Nations Agencies to work with local organizations and groups to channel immediate humanitarian relief inside Ukraine.

As a feminist funding movement, we draw on our strength and solidarity during these unprecedented times. It is our collective responsibility and commitment to resource feminist activism by listening to, taking the lead from those who know where, and how to fund.


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The war in Ukraine is intensifying at an alarming rate, with the Russian invasion leading to massive violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, massive migration, death, violence, and destruction. 

Insights, updates, advice, knowledge
and many more from our expert
team.

WFT-Trust Marks 15 Years of its inception

Strengthening The Sexual And Reproductive Health Rights Coalition

We Made History!

Support Feminist Movements In Ukraine, Poland, And Bulgaria Now!

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Insights, updates, advice, knowledge and many more from our expert team.

WFT-Trust Marks 15 Years of its inception

Strengthening The Sexual And Reproductive Health Rights Coalition

We Made History!

Support Feminist Movements In Ukraine, Poland, And Bulgaria Now!

Insights, updates, advice, knowledge
and many more from our expert
team.