Aid by Sector
Sustaining Power: Women's struggles against contemporary backlash in South Asia
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Women in South Asia have struggled for many decades to improve their lives within their families, in their communities, for securing their livelihoods, and in getting their voices heard as citizens by the state, with women's movements being critical in advancing their rights. However, contemporary social, economic and political changes have created new and multiple forms of backlash and contestations. How do women defend their rights, and secure their gains against these regressive forces and backlash? This question leads our research on the strategies and mechanisms that women use to retain power and sustain gains in women's rights. This research is particularly interested in how different groups of women understanding power and struggle, and how these change over time. We aim to assess what works to defend women's rights, and explain why some struggles are more successful than others in sustaining gains. We think that success of women's struggles depends on a) the types of strategies they use to counter different types of backlash; b) the ways in which struggles include voices and perspectives of different groups of women; and c) the ways in which struggles connect to other movements and groups across local, regional and national levels. The central research question therefore is: When, how, and why do women's power struggles succeed in retaining power and sustaining their gains against backlash? South Asia provides a valuable opportunity to investigate women's struggles. The region has witnessed rapid and large changes over the last decade, including urbanization, rising employment precarity, new electoral laws and regime changes, shifts in social norms, and the spread of digital technology. We aim to examine how these changes create new and multiple forms of backlash; and how women's struggles for power are variously challenged, opened up or are closed down by these changes. We are interested in unraveling the similarities and differences in processes and strategies used by different women's movements to retain power in the face of backlash; and in women's own experiences and interpretations of their struggles as these evolve and adapt over time. We will select 16 cases of women's struggles in four countries that represent the largest populations of South Asia: Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan. Within each country, we will select on-going and contentious cases of struggle in one of four arenas within which gains in women's rights are being sought: family, community, market and the state. This research will use a variety of methods including: a) identifying and analyzing the types of backlash created by processes of contemporary change; b) mapping critical players and what shapes their motivations for action; c) tracing the struggles, nature and trajectory of each movement to counter backlash - through oral history methods, reflective and participatory techniques, qualitative interviews and archival research; d) undertaking comparative analysis to compare how different movements may have triggered, galvanized or been strengthened by power struggles across different arenas; and e) identifying and systematizing which combinations of mechanisms and strategies work to defend women's rights in South Asia and beyond. This is a collaborative research project that draws together a multi-disciplinary research team with deep in-country and conceptual expertise on women's rights and contemporary power struggles in South Asia. This project includes strong capacity building initiatives and opportunities for learning through reflective processes with women's movements and research partners. This research is ambitious in its scope and we hope that our findings that will be grounded in real life experiences of women, will be relevant and useful for feminist scholars, activists and policy actors to set their future course of action to defend women's rights across the world.
Time for Rights/Rights for Time: Responding to the times of violence, conflict, and displacement
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Aiming to shift possibilities for human protection and human rights by examining how time conditions war, displacement and violence. Benefits local communities, local partners and NGOs in Kenya, Jordan, Rwanda, Palestine and Lebanon. SDGs 5,3,16
Human Rights Thematic Programming
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
To improve human rights and provide better access across the world through strengthening institutions and grassroots organisations.
UK Support to The Lifeline Embattled CSO Assistance Fund
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
The funding will support the Lifeline Embattled CSO Assistance Fund to provide small, emergency grants to civil society organizations (CSOs) which are at risk because of their work.
Advancing SRHR by Strengthening Grassroots Organisations and Countering Efforts to Roll Back Rights
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
This programme will strengthen grassroots and civil society organisations, networks and movements to defend and advance sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in their own communities and countries. It will also strengthen the international enabling environment for these efforts, in the context of intensified international pushback against women’s and girls’ and LGBT+ rights.
Empowering Palestinian Institutions and Civil Society in the Occupied Palestinian Territories - EPICS OPTs
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
EPICS aims to improve the viability, legitimacy and inclusion of governance and service delivery, to protect and support civic space, and to empower women, in the OPTs. It will provide technical assistance to PA institutions across governance sectors, with a particular focus on financial viability and provision of essential services, in order to protect the fiscal viability and legitimacy of the PA in a declining context. EPICS will protect and support Palestinian civic space by supporting CSOs to hold the PA and other local duty bearers to account for governance and service delivery. EPICS will strengthen women’s empowerment, primarily through supporting coalition building among local and grassroots organisations. Through improving PA viability and legitimacy, it will help reduce the drivers of instability and extremism.
Tristan da Cunha Provision of Technical Assistance and Essential Infrastructure 2023 to 2026
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
To enable the Administration of Tristan da Cunha to provide appropriate public services to meet the basic health, education, safeguarding and governance needs of the island community, through the provision of professional expertise and training.
Kenya Institutional Strengthening Programme (KISP)
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
To improve governance, democracy, human rights and support to anti-corruption efforts in Kenya as part of UK-Kenya Strategic Partnership.
UK Embassy Fund (Small Projects) - Philippines
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
ODA fund to support Post's small projects (former International Programme projects) and work on Open Societies, Human Rights, and Democracy in the Philippines.
Subscription: Human Rights OHCHR Subscription
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
UK Contribution to Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) funding OHCHR activities across a range of UK priority countries.
International Programme support for development in Lesotho
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
Support for development objectives in Lesotho to address issues of climate change and greater use of renewable energy, tackling violence against women and girls, supporting an evidence base for governance reform, assisting health system strengthening, and promoting inclusion of people with disabilities.
Strengthening Human Rights Compliance of the Multinational Security Support Mission to Haiti
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
The UN-backed Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission to Haiti is supporting the National Police to bring greater security and stabilisation to the country by reducing the control of violent gangs. This Programme, implemented by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), will help the MSS achieve its objectives by i) building the capacity of mission personnel to prevent, identify, investigate, report, and act on human rights violations, gender-based violence, and sexual exploitation and abuse; ii) advancing human rights protection of Haitian local communities and civil society; and iii) strengthening the capacity of Haitian rule of law entities collaborating with the MSS, such as the police, judiciary and prison administration, to conduct operations in accordance with international human rights standards.
Human Rights Magna Carta Programming
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
To improve human rights and provide better access across the world by providing posts with funding for small flexible programme
Corridors for Growth
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
To increase Tanzania’s infrastructure for trade in three ways (i) Co-financing the Dar Port expansion together with the World Bank and Tanzania Port Authority will double port capacity and enable Tanzania’s entire trade volume to increase by two thirds. (ii) Project preparation funding for six more major regional transport projects are expected to catalyse up to £600m of development finance incorporating climate resilent design. (iii) Launching a new approach to Public-Private Partnerships will improve infrastructure in municipal areas and build capacity for larger PPP’s in the future.The programme is expected to reduce the costs of doing business in Tanzania, contributing to growth, more jobs and lower poverty. The short-term beneficiaries will be users such as traders, logistics providers and public citizens. International business including from the UK will benefit from better access to trade.In the medium to long run employment is expected to increase from indirect effects.
John Bunyan Fund Programming
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
Small centrally funded projects to promote Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) by protecting human rights and improving Improving social, economic and political inclusion human rights and provide better access across the world
LGBT+ Rights Programme – supporting LGBT+ rights organisations
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
This programme will transform the lives of millions of LGBT+ people around the world by reducing violence and discrimination against the LGBT+ community and by improving access to services and legislative reform. This will be achieved through the provision of technical and legal support , learning, evidence and advice and support for grassroots LGBT+ organisations
International Justice and Accountability Programme
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
Human Rights central funding to build international justice capacity through programming and small scale funding to posts to promote accountability e.g. Ukraine.
Modern Slavery - Supporting Global Action to End Modern Slavery II
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
To develop new approaches to tackle modern slavery and human trafficking across a range of sectors in high prevalence countries. This programme focuses on thematic priorities of eradicating forced labour in supply chains, tackling the worst forms of child labour, and ending the exploitation of women and girls, and it will support and empower survivors of modern slavery across all these priorities. The programme supports bilateral programmes in high prevalence countries and contributes to multilateral organisations on global policy and advocacy work. The programme will also develop research and evidence on different forms of modern slavery to inform future interventions. This programme contributes toward SDG 8.7 to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour.
Central Asia Small Projects Programme
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
This programme will provide the mechanism for embassies to develop small projects to further the aims of the Country Business Plans and develop learning to support wider programming initiatives, with the overall aim of supporting development in the region.
Global Land Governance programme
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
The goal of the Land Facility is to improve stability, inclusive growth and responsible investment by promoting more effective, efficient and equitable rural and urban land governance. The programme will help build basic capacity and systems and mobilise the necessary political support, so governments can implement and resource sustained land governance reform, leading to improved tenure security for all. Improved tenure security will contribute to a number of climate benefits; transformational change, reduced deforestation, increased resilience and sustainable land management practices. It will run for 7 years and will initially work in up to 10 countries in Africa and South East Asia depending on size and needs.
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