A Better Way to Facilitate Connections? Reflections on Philanthropic Engagements at AWID Forum

Attending the AWID Forum was like stepping into an assortment of connections, knowledge and belonging. Held in Bangkok, Thailand, in December 2024, the Forum is convened by the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID), a global feminist organisation dedicated to advancing gender justice and women’s rights. As a space that amplifies diverse feminist struggles and movements, the Forum brings together activists, advocates, funders, academics, and policymakers from around the world to engage in mutual learning and collective organising. The 2024 AWID Forum was built on the energy of the 2016 AWIFD Forum in Salvador Bahia, Brazil, which also served as a powerful space for solidarity and resistance. At the December Forum, it was important to be in solidarity with movements and collectives from different parts of the world. From Palestine to Sudan, Myanmar to the Democratic Republic of Congo, to every part of the world, stories of resistance were told, and chants of liberation echoed across the floors and walls. 

A protest at the AWID Forum. Photo by AWID

The forum provided a space for radical personal transformation, mutual learning, and collective dreaming. It was an opportunity to reconnect with friends and immerse myself in discussions about feminist resourcing and philanthropy, particularly within the African context.  The space held the warmth of belonging. A few words stayed with me — reunion, laughter, sharing, community, hugs, colours, and joy. Reunion because I knew I would see people I hadn’t seen in a while. Laughter because I could not imagine a gathering of radical feminists and movement organisers without it. Sharing because a few of us brought gifts for each other, remembering what the other liked. Community because spaces like the AWID Forum offer opportunities to find your people, hold hands with kin, and form new connections. Hugs, because what is the point of the revolution if we cannot link arms in joy? Colours because bringing together people from different parts of the world meant a vibrant display of outfits in all their gorgeousness. Joy because the space was curated for deep conversations and equal parts rest and joy.

A critical part of the forum held the reminder that relationships and emotional connections are vital for collective movements, and this relational foundation should inform how philanthropy operates. Movements thrive on solidarity, trust, and mutual care, yet traditional philanthropy often tends to miss these elements, focusing instead on bureaucratic processes and power dynamics. 

Facilitating Connections within Philanthropy

The forum’s sessions on philanthropy validated what many of us already know: the sector is rife with imbalances. Global North institutions dominate agenda-setting, often sidelining the expertise and lived experiences of communities in the Global South. Evidence from years and years of research, analysis and documentation from Global South scholars and feminist activists show that too little funding is going directly to grassroots organisations in the Global South despite these communities and movements being on the frontlines of leading social change and advancing visions of a more just society. 

The space provided resourcing opportunities and facilitated connections between donors, social justice actors and movement organisers; however,  these spaces were reminiscent of the familiar patterns of colonial execution of power, especially in the structure set up for funders and potential grantees to meet. 

At the philanthropy corner, there were long queues of feminist activists and movement organisers waiting for their turn to speak to a representative of a funding institution.  The time constraint to make a case and the burden and pressure to “auction” for time, validation, and promises of funding and/or potential collaboration mirrored the power imbalances embedded in traditional philanthropy structures. It was also interesting to observe the closed-door donor meetings and how they shaped perceptions of access to funders and philanthropic institutions throughout the forum. At times, the atmosphere seemed saturated with more questions than answers and more doubts about the integrity of the “open connection” spaces that had been intended. There must be a better, more dignified way to facilitate these connections in future.

A banner seen at AWID Forum exhibition hall. Courtesy photo

At Liberation Alliance Africa, where I work, we continue to contribute to the discourse on the nature and emerging patterns in philanthropy through engagement with the #shiftthepower movement. Critical questions on the importance of building community power remain a guiding area of analysis. We are grounded with the understanding that shifting power within philanthropic structures requires a shift in worldviews, lifestyles, norms, social relations, and values that can help actualise agency and liberation. In our Reclaiming Agency report, we engaged with this understanding to situate the role of community power as an effective strategy to build the base and organise within the ecosystem — feminist groups, grassroots organisers, and liberatory crusaders — and their role in the philanthropic landscape. 

Liberatory Connections between Funders and Organisers 

It is important to ask critical questions of ourselves and challenge normative institutions and practices. Our work of reimagination and belonging invites us to interrogate existing tools and processes because, as we know from Audre Lorde, “the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.” Engaging with these processes using methods affirming belonging for everyone is vital. Practices of reunion, laughter, sharing, community, hugs, colours, and joy are already present in parts of our movements and should extend into relationship spaces between donors and movement organisers. These are not distant ideals; they are elements of our everyday lives, things we experience and understand. 

So, if you’re within the philanthropic ecosystem—particularly in positions where power and resources are concentrated—this is an invitation to reflect on your own relationship with that power and the communities fighting to make everyday change possible.

What does belonging and connection feel like between you and these communities?

We must commit to individual and collective practices that sustain our desire for liberation and disrupt the inequities that tend to colour our experiences. Ask yourself: Is connection central to my work? How do you centre dignity, agency, and belonging in this ecosystem?  

At the end of an amazing week in Bangkok, the Forum reaffirmed that feminist movements are not only resisting systems of oppression but are also actively dreaming new worlds. From the discussions to the moments of solidarity, the Forum challenges us to think beyond transactional exchanges and toward ecosystems of dignity, care, and belonging. It is with this awareness that we continue to analyse actions and narratives within philanthropy and influence structures to shift the power. 

 

Oluwatobiloba Ayodele is the co-dreamer of Liberation Alliance Africa. She believes the self is the first site of liberation. 

 

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