Know about our priority areas so far and the initiatives that FMS has historically supported
Women’s Leadership, Voice-Agency and Political Participation
In FMS we believe in the development of projects that contribute to strengthening the advocacy, incidence and participation capacities of young women inside social movements. We are convinced that investing in generation renewal is necessary to guarantee the continuity of women’s fight for a dignified life, with equal opportunities and fostering their effective citizenship exercise.
Young Women’s Human Rights and Citizenship (2009-2010)
The initiative on citizenship and human rights for youn women was part of a resource management strategy within the Consorcio de Fondos de Mujeres Latinoamericanos y del Caribe ConMujeres (With Women Latin American and Caribbean Consortium of Women’s Funds). With the support ofthe United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), this finance line aimed at strengthening the political leadership of young women and their organisations inside women’s and feminist movements, through the implementation of their action strategies in the defence, promotion and assertion of their human rights and for their effective citizenship exercise
It involved three fund consortium members: i.e. Elas, Fundo de Investimiento Social (Brasil), Fondo de Mujeres del Sur (Argentina, Paraguay y Uruguay) and Alquimia (Chile).
During the 2009-2010 period, the FMS provided support to 10 organisations, with a total of 10 donations made.
Intensive Training Course for Young Feminist Women (2010-2011)
This course cycle aimed at fostering women’s protagonist role, to enable their participation in political, social and economic incidence spaces and strengthen young women’s organisations. It also served for the production and divulgation of feminist information and knowledge.
Twenty-seven women took part in courses as interns while 13 other women participated as panellists and teachers., We generated new ideas, agendas and tools as part of young women’s activism, by supporting the following groups:
- Young women activist groups with the need to work on matters related to physical autonomy (violence, sexual and reproductive rights, abortion, sexual diversity) and economic autonomy (education and precariousness and discrimination in the workplace).
- Young women activist groups with the need to take part in meetings and events, to carry out information campaigns, to do internal training activities, to systematise and access information and to create networks.
- Young women activist groups with promoting the establishment of regional councils, made up of young women organisations that can function as intermediaries with funders, with a view to ensuring the continuity of the work done by groups without legal status or formal structure.
Diverse Identities and Sexualities
A support programme was set up in this area in order to promote transformations expected to contribute to non-discriminatory, inclusive and tolerant cultures, in favour of the LBT communities’ human rights progress and improvement.
Beyond Invisibility: Latin American Women Mobilising Funds for Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Communities (2008-2010)
FMS carried out this programme with the aim to raise visibility and fostering the rights of women, lesbians, bisexuals and trans in their local contexts and in the women’s, feminist and diversity movements of Latin America.
This programme was developed as part of a regional strategy for the strengthening of the LBT collective, led by ConMujeres, with the participation of the following funds: Fundo de Investimiento Social (Brasil), Fondo de Mujeres del Sur (Argentina, Paraguay y Uruguay), Fondo Centroamericano de Mujeres FCAM (Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras), Fondo Mujer (Colombia) and Alquimia (Chile). In this context, FMS supported 11 organisations through 21 grants.
Economic Justice for Women
Setting a Women’s Labour Rights Agenda
This programme had as its main goal contributing to the defence and promotion of working women’s rights, particularly from two sectors that are especially feminised and precarious: domestic workers and sewing workers.
The goal of the programme was to provide financial and technical support to groups, organisations and unions of domestic and sewing women workers (in informal workshops and houses), which promote their labour rights in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. It also aimed at favouring the intra-regional and inter-regional exchange among sectors and women worker organisations, contributing to the setting of political agendas for the advancement of their rights by means of meetings and learning opportunities.
The programme was implemented by means of two projects:
Establishing a Women’s Labour Rights Agenda: Linking Together Working Women from Factories, Workshops and Homes in the Americas (2012-2014)
This project was financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands through the FLOW initiative (Financing Leadership and Opportunities for Women). It was designed and implemented by an international consortium made up of FMS, Alquimia (Chile), Semillas (México) and FCAM (Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras), together with the following organisations: Confederación Latinoamericana y del Caribe de Trabajadoras del Hogar – CONLACTRAHO, Red Centroamericana de Mujeres en Solidaridad con las Trabajadoras de las Maquilas – Red CAM, Movimiento de Mujeres María Elena Cuadra – MEC – and Red Solidaria de la Maquila – RSM.
Establishing a Labour Rights Agenda for Domestic and Sewing Women Workers in the Southern Cone 2013-2015
This project was financed by the UN Women Fund for Gender Equality and was designed and implemented in conjunction with FMS and Fondo Alquimia (Chile).
With this programme, FMS provided support to 24 women worker organisations from the Southern Cone (3 in Uruguay, 3 in Paraguay and 13 in Argentina).
Eradication of Violence and Discrimination
Networking for Activisms: Enhancing strategies for the eradication of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in Argentina at the community level
Networking for Activisms was part of the Spotlight Initiative, a global alliance between the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN) to eliminate violence against women and girls around the world. In Argentina, the focus is on the eradication of femicides, and it is led by the United Nations Coordination Office in the country through four agencies (UN Women, UNDP, UNFPA, ILO and UNICEF as associated agency).
Networking for Activisms aimed to strengthen organizations working on the promotion of gender justice from an intersectional approach, and on the eradication, prevention and monitoring of Gender-Based Violence cases.
The project was implemented by Fondo de Mujeres del Sur as leader applicant, in coordination with Equipo Latinoamericano de Justicia y Género – ELA and 12 front line defenders organizations (ODPL for its acronym in Spanish), who articulated with governments and key actors in the fields of health and education, in the provinces of Jujuy, Salta, Cordoba, Tucuman, Santiago del Estero, Buenos Aires and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires.
Through this initiative, the FMS sought to promote feminist, women and LBTIQ+ people organizations in their fundamental role of promoting and accessing rights, especially in the context of the public health emergency caused by covid-19.