The Urgent Action Fund In Our Bones site is a navigable, mobile friendly, version of UAF’s 2015 In Our Bones report. The print version was also designed by Design Action maintaining the design consistently from print to web and vice versa.
In August of 2014, the International Network of Women’s Funds (INWF) and Global Greengrants Fund (GGF) hosted a summit on women and climate change in Indonesia. The summit brought together activists, funders and environmental experts under the banner of the shared recognition that climate change is among the greatest challenges facing humanity and that women are on the cutting-edge of grassroots solutions. Despite their leadership, women are often unrecognized and lack funding for their environmental work. Thus, the summit was designed to create the conditions for a stronger, better supported, and more unified movement for women’s rights and environment sustainability.
The tactic was cross-pollination: creating opportunities for learning, exchange, and collaboration. Over five days, activists, allies, and funders listened to stories of struggles and strategies for environmental and gender justice, charting commonalities as well as differences in our movements. We ate together, went for walks together, and even danced together, always deeply grateful for the natural beauty around us. Ultimately, we forged ties and learned to see our respective work as woven together in a larger tapestry for sustainability.
Urgent Action Fund supports women human rights defenders carrying out frontline activism. Samdhana Institute, a member of the Greengrants Alliance of Funds, nurtures a community of fellows in Asia who, learning alongside farmers and indigenous peoples, are committed to sustaining people, nature and culture. Together, we were both inspired by the summit and catalyzed by the call to develop concrete collaborations.
After a year of dialogue, our organizations jointly convened women leaders from the Philippines and Indonesia who are forging solutions to environmental challenges. Coming full circle, these activists convened and, in a space dedicated to their voices and experiences, shared with one another their unique challenges and triumphs as women. The publication that follows tells their stories. May we all learn from them and commit to supporting their incredible work.