Strategies

WIDE+  works through interlinked strategies of analysis and capacity building (feminist literacy), (innovative) movement building and advocacy informed by a feminist perspective.

WIDE+ promotes – along with our members, feminists across Europe and many partners in the global South – an alternative feminist vision that lays the foundation for ‘a new global cake, instead of demanding a bigger piece of a rotten cake’, to quote the famous feminist Devaki Jain.

WIDE+ Strategies of Intervention

Strengthen feminist network building:

• Creating strategic catalyst and reflective spaces for feminisms (webinars, meetings and Forum);
• Enable new partnerships and collaborations and deepen current partnerships (outreach and events);
• Coordinate current and new collaborations and interlinkages (working groups and alliances)

Methodologies: transnational thematic and ad-hoc working groups; taking part and building coalitions and collaborations: online and face to face strategic meetings, including a large feminist forum in Europe, making feminist activism visible through media, social media and artivism, coordination through working groups, other partnerships and coalition building, supporting national and grassroots feminist organizations and initiatives, show solidarity with women’s marches and initiatives on the street, make diversity in feminisms visible.     

Having impact on policies (outreach, advocacy, and lobby):

• Invest in strengthening, initiating, and maintaining collaborations in the network and with alliances or in partnership.
• Engage in direct advocacy and lobby towards European Decision makers.
• Make the work and perspective of women and gender non-conforming person in the global South, Eastern Europe, and migrants visible, especially towards European policy makers.

Methodologies: transnational thematic and ad-hoc working groups; taking part and building coalitions and collaborations: online and face to face expert sessions, representing our recommendation in public policy processes, conferences, online EU consultations. Engage in lobby at EU level and where relevant and possible in EU member states through members, coordination through working groups, collecting data from grassroots groups to develop concrete recommendations to EU policy makers, inform national women’s rights civil society and others on the latest developments of policy processes at EU level and ways to engage with policies.

Building the capacities of feminists and other relevant stakeholders

• Create knowledge not only on the dynamics behind inequalities, but also on possible solutions, lessons learned and best practices, with a focus on addressing issues that are strategic but not well covered within the feminist networks in Europe.
• Allow for learning through popular education tools, thus translating knowledge in papers into more interactive forms of information.

Methodologies: capacity building and knowledge building on strategic topics where there is limited feminist analysis available from a European perspective, development of briefing, factsheets, position papers, research, surveys, toolkits and media formats (video, podcast, webinar) to made analysis, tools for skills building and knowledge available to a wider audience; use social media and other communication to raise awareness and spread information; use transnational capacity building and exchange to expand and create new knowledge to be accessed by target groups.

Ensuring WIDE+ financial and organizational sustainability & keep its strong ethical and horizontal governance model in place.

Methodologies: effective financial and day-to-day management of the network, monitoring and evaluation, review and incorporating changes in operation and governance of networks, the use or formal tools for financial collaboration with partners and members, ongoing reflection on feminist leadership principles and how it is implemented in the WIDE+ network.

WIDE+ Strategic Action Plan 2021-2023

WIDE+ aims to contribute to an intersectional feminism in Europe, which means reflecting, creating spaces and promote the voices of marginalized women and non-conforming persons. Its multi-annual objectives are to:

• strengthen migrant Feminist Movement building at European and national levels through creating and facilitating transnational and national spaces for capacity building and networking as well increasing visibility.
• Build capacity with feminists and women*’s rights constituencies in the global South on feminist economics in the current global socio-economic context.
• Promote intersectional and inclusive feminist movement at European level focusing on the inclusion of LGBTQI+ rights, inter-generational dialogue and intersecting impacts of racism.

WIDE+ aims to contribute to a transformation of macro-economic policies of the EU towards gender-just and climate sustainable economies through promoting gender mainstreaming and anti-discrimination policies. It multi-annual objectives prioritizes feminist economic literacy and advocacy around issues such as trade, digital economy, and environmental justice.

The photograph is of our open space organized with European Women’s Lobby to promote the rights of female migrants and refugees in November 2016.