In the first month of 2025, human rights defenders continue to struggle against the rise of authoritarianism and the repression of civic space. Facing violence, arrest, and threats to their lives, these activists rely on international funding and support to sustain their work — looking to governments, civil society organizations, corporations, and individuals who want to keep democracy alive.
But far too often, defenders and activists with marginalized identities are routinely left behind during funding rounds, leaving many women, trans, and nonbinary human rights defenders to fend for themselves in countries where civic space is restricted.
As activists, structural barriers and cultural norms make it harder for women and LGBTQ+ defenders to gain support for their movements, compounding the gendered threats and abuse that already plague their day-to-day experience. In regions prone to conflict or humanitarian crises, this particular group of human rights defenders encounters higher rates of gender-based violence while their aggressors enjoy impunity.
“Feminist activists around the world are risking their lives daily to fight oppressive systems,” Kate Kroeger, executive director of the Urgent Action Fund (UAF) for Feminist Activism, said. “While traditional philanthropy often retreats from risk, as the Urgent Action Sister Funds, we aim to match activists’ courage with bold, flexible support, as the greater risk lies in not taking decisive action while democracy and human rights hang in the balance.”
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), less than 1% of official development assistance, or government aid, supports women’s rights organizations. While financing for gender equality from the private sector has increased in recent years, there is a concerning lack of transparency regarding whether projects are inclusive of LGBTQ+ identities and relevant to gender initiatives. Adding insult to injury, far too little of this financing is directed to grassroots activists on the frontlines of conflict and crisis.
Simultaneously, countries traditionally known to be fierce supporters of human rights have recently started cutting their aid budgets. Coupled with the rise of the anti-gender movement, which received $3.7 billion from ultra-conservative grant-makers, private donors, religious institutions, corporations, and state-funded institutions between 2013 and 2017 — more than triple the amount of funding LGBTQ+ organizations received in the same period, according to the Global Philanthropy Project — feminist movements and equal rights are at enormous risk.
Acknowledging this funding oversight, the Urgent Action Funds was founded in 1997 by and for feminist activists to serve women, trans, and nonbinary human rights defenders in need of resources. As a consortium of four individual Urgent Action Funds (UAFs) based in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the United States, they collectively support feminist movements across more than 160 countries.
Across all four Sister Funds, UAFs have provided $50 million via more than 8,300 grants to thousands of women, trans, and nonbinary human rights defenders.
“Our work at the Sister Funds reframes philanthropy from giving to sharing, from charity to solidarity,” Virisila Buadramo and Vinita Sahasranaman, co-leads of Urgent Action Fund, Asia & Pacific, shared. “We are transforming philanthropy from a hierarchical transaction into an equitable redistribution of resources that amplifies grassroots solutions.”
Care as a bedrock of support
Though UAFs operate independently to serve the defenders in their particular regions best, the bond uniting them is their focus on collective care. By providing care, rather than charity, to feminist activists in need, the Sister Funds can sustain their community of human rights defenders and prepare for harmful trends impacting the world.
“We are facing interwoven global crises that amplify historic and systemic injustices, demanding bold and transformative responses,” Sofía Marcía and Terry de Vries, co-executive directors at Urgent Action Fund, Latin America and the Caribbean, said. “Funders must step up as partners by centering the leadership of those most affected and closest to the issues, engaging with and following their guidance on investment and resourcing, and centering care by ensuring their safety and protection.”
Around 90% of grantees come from areas where civic space is considered closed, repressed, or obstructed, as the CIVICUS Monitor indicates. In these contexts, defenders who speak out against human rights violations are constantly facing the threat of reprisal, which can have a devastating effect on their physical and mental health.
Working with over 700 activist advisors across 165 countries, the Sister Funds ensure grantees receive funding for whatever they believe is most useful for their activism — from advocacy efforts to security and well-being. In the name of the collective care model, the sister funds encourage defenders to seek funding for resources less commonly funded by grantmakers, such as initiatives focused on rest.
“As we started to receive requests for well-being, we began to engage with defenders about the personal costs of their work. We learned about the violence they faced, the pain and trauma they held, the physical and emotional burnout they experienced, and the damaging impacts on their lives, organizing, and movements.” Delta Ndou, strategic communications manager for the UAFs, told Global Citizen. “Born from a feminist commitment to honor and sustain the well-being of activists and their organizing, we have deepened and evolved our collective care work in each of our regions.”
More than 50% of grants administered by the UAF include a collective care component, which can range from funding for therapy and wellness retreats to ancestral healing practices.
“Effective crisis response demands deep local expertise, trusted networks, and equitable partnerships with Indigenous communities,” Ndanatsei Bofu-Tawamba, executive director of Urgent Action Fund, Africa, said. “Centering local wisdom and providing holistic support, from rapid response grants to collective care resources for activists, creates more sustainable solutions to mounting global crises, from armed conflict to climate change.”
Feminist activism in action
Women, trans, and nonbinary human rights defenders often put their lives on the line to advocate for human rights, pushing forward political and social issues like reproductive justice, free and fair elections, and environmental land rights. Recognizing the intersectionality of human rights activism, the UAFs are careful not to put too many restrictions on grant requirements so that resources can effectively impact communities.
When the ongoing Sudanese civil war broke out in 2023, UAF-Africa supported human rights defenders who were trapped in conflict zones. Facing threats of sexual violence and economic hardship, more than 33 grantees were relocated while the Sister Funds established the Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) unit to document cases of gender-based violence that occurred during the conflict. This unit helps provide survivors of gender-based violence with medical and psychosocial support, all the while continuing to advocate for justice at the international level.
The Sister Funds also support organizations that regularly apply for funding.
For instance, RightSide NGO, the first organization dedicated to serving transgender people and the sex-working community in Armenia, has applied for grants since 2016. The organization provides a range of services to com
“The UAFs are so important,” Lilit Martirosyan, founder and president of RightSide NGO, told Global Citizen. “Their flexibility has allowed us to get the support we actually need for our community.”
Shortly after being established, RightSide NGO applied for a grant from UAFs for Feminist Activism to secure an office space for the community. The funding allowed them to install a security system and cameras to ensure community members felt safe, particularly from anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment. Additionally, UAF-for Feminist Activism has supported RightSide NGO’s annual retreats focused on anti-burnout strategies for LGBTQ+ human rights defenders.
“The transgender community cannot get local support from the government; we have to rely on outside support,” Martirosyan said.
The funding model employed by UAFs is unique not simply because they support defenders excluded from traditional philanthropy but also because of the speed at which they operate.
Typically, funders may issue a call for grants once or twice a year, spending months looking through applications before announcing which organizations or individuals are awarded funding. Recognizing this as a barrier to defenders needing quicker access to resources to advocate for human rights, escape a dangerous situation, or support their community, the UAFs set up a rapid-response grantmaking model to turn grants around as fast as possible.
“[Our sister funds] were born in the 1990s because feminist activists looked at the landscape and saw there was no funding source available to provide resources to activists and urgently respond in a situation,” Celia Turner, partnerships managing officer for the UAFs, told Global Citizen. “Whether it’s for advocacy work or to sustain operations during a crisis, these grants need to be turned around fast to actually make a difference.”
How global citizens can help address the funding gap for feminist activism
When the UAF was launched, organizers intended for grants to be split evenly between security support and resources for advocacy. Today, due to intersecting crises and the repression of civic space globally, the sister funds report that more than half of its grants are earmarked for security and well-being.
“This is reflective of the broader global context we’re living in, but also the way that we have shifted our work to adapt to the needs of the activists we work with,” Turner said. “We’re constantly checking to make sure our support is meeting the needs of activists.”
As more women, trans, and nonbinary human rights defenders need emergency support and resources to sustain their operations in hostile environments, funding for feminist activism dwindles each year. This will make it harder for activists to remain safe from harm and prevent a barrier to tracking and improving human rights globally.
To support the UAFs’ mission and help feminist activists in need of support, you can donate to the sister funds here. Additionally, raise your voice to encourage governments and corporations to fund feminist movements globally and adjust their aid budgets by taking action with Global Citizen.