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Dear Friends,
 This April, the Global Fund for Women co-organized with the Association of Women’s Rights in Development (AWID), a historic feminist strategy meeting titled “Resource Mobilization for Women’s Rights Organizations and Movements in the Middle East and North Africa,” which was held in Marrakech, Morocco. The meeting aimed to create an unprecedented opportunity for dialogue across donors and women’s rights organizations as well as among women’s rights organizations from different countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
 Around 80 women’s rights activists from the Middle East and North Africa representing 19 countries, including 50 from our grantee partner organizations and ten MENA Advisors participated in this historic meeting.
A Young Women’s Dialogue, attended by 16 young women’s rights activists between 20 and 29 years old, from nine countries preceded the meeting. The young activists discussed their concerns as participants within the larger women’s movements and the challenges of organizing and mobilizing resources.
We addressed key challenges facing women’s movements in the region, in terms of rights and resources: ranging from the political context of autocratic governments, ongoing wars and occupations, the US military presence, to the rise in religious fundamentalisms, the encroaching globalization aggravating poverty, intensifying exploitation, and preventing local people from ownership of their resources, to the difficulties of transforming patriarchal laws, attitudes, and practices. Whereas women’s rights activism and scholarship has a long history in the region, it is, “at best unknown, and at worst ignored or even purposely silenced by international organizations and actors,” as GFW Board Member, Leila Hessini said.
 We are excited to share that the meeting had several crucial outcomes including creating resources for women’s rights organizations in the MENA region, crucial initial dialogues around sexuality, a renewed commitment for multi-generational movement building among women’s rights activists, and the creation of a Young Women’s Network. In addition, in line with one of our most important goals for supporting women’s rights activists in the region, the meeting inspired the donors who attended, to commit to increasing and leveraging additional resources, to create an affinity group, and to continue engaging in vital learning opportunities on the emerging issues and the history of movements in the region. [Download the MENA donor directory]
 For the Global Fund for Women, this meeting was our first major collaboration with a strategic partner, AWID, and the largest international convening we have organized. It was the result of our cumulative work in the MENA region particularly over the past four years and an indication of our continued commitment to the women’s movements in the region.
Read a more detailed report back of the conference.You can also download the Arabic version as a pdf.
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From Volunteer to Visionary Donor
The Moroccan Women's Movement: A Study In Dynamism
