The last few years have seen two related trends: a marked shrinking of civil society space in a number of countries, and a greater recognition of the need for targeted and appropriate resources to support enabling
environments for civil society to thrive. Shrinking space for civil society has entailed severe attacks on women’s rights activists, women human rights defenders (WHRDs) and women’s rights groups and movements. Meanwhile the focus on enabling environments has meant that increased attention is being paid to the funding mechanisms needed to resource civil society, including women’s rights movements, to resist these attacks.
This article discusses how the kinds of work women’s rights social movements are undertaking exposes them to risks in some predictable ways, why a focus on resourcing resilience is a responsible and effective means of supporting them to handle these risks, and the ways in which Mama Cash and the Urgent Action Fund are collaborating towards a ‘continuum of funding’ approach to do this well.
(summary taken from source)