Call for Applications: Women Interrogating Trade & Corporate Hegemony 2023-2024

Deadline: 15-Apr-23

The Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) invites grassroots women rights organisations and movements to take part in this exciting Feminist Participatory Action Research on Women Interrogating Trade & Corporate Hegemony that aims to develop capacity, tools and resources by women movements and strengthen women’s movements to demand their rights and justice against neoliberal trade and investment regimes that empowers corporations at the expense of the peoples and the planet.

APWLD believes that in order to challenge the current development model and to claim women’s human rights, a strong and autonomous feminist women’s movement is needed. It must extend to strengthening women’s capacity to exercise real power and control over their own lives and the terms on which they engage with social and economic structures – including over trade and investment regimes.

They must be supported to build their capacity to document the impact of loss of seeds, decent work, local livelihoods and public commons such as water, health, energy, education; have meaningful engagement in decision making process of trade and other economic policies; able to form a strong local feminist movement that works with other movements to demand accountability from state and corporations, and able to push the government in tackling systemic barriers to women’s economic, development and democratic rights. To address the need to increase evidence-based advocacy and the need to have women as vocal and effective organisers, advocates and campaigners in human rights.

APWLD will also support the young women researcher and their mentors to participate in three regional trainings that will allow participants to conduct research programmes that relate to their constituencies’ needs, use findings for advocacy and build and strengthen movements. Through a combination of face-to-face and online modules, they will share the frameworks within their communities and learn practical research skills. By the end of 2024, sub-grant partners will have developed and commenced a community-based research plan.

Focus area for the research

• For the WITCH FPAR programme 2023-2024, six to eight organisations in Asia and the Pacific will work together with the community to conduct FPAR and document evidence approximately from August 2023 – November 2024 to focus their FPAR on:
  • The impact of trade and investment regimes and corporate hegemony on women’s human rights at the local or country level, specifically in  these following streams:
    • Women Defending the Commons – includes the acquisition and privatisation of public services1 including water, healthcare, education, energy, social protection and essential services (public transport, roads, bridges, etc) by corporations and/or through trade agreements and its impact on women’s human rights and community access to basic goods and services;
    • Women Defending Labour Rights and Challenging Corporate Power – includes direct and indirect impacts of corporates on people working in various sectors like public sectors (health, education, energy, etc), agriculture (farm workers, fisherfolks, plantations workers, etc), industries (garments workers, electronic workers, manufacturing workers, automobiles workers, shipping, etc).
  • Community-owned initiatives include genuine and meaningful participation of women and communities in economic and trade rules decision making at all levels and demands for economic rights, people-centric trade models and systems and development justice.

Specific Objectives

• Develop the capacity of women and their organisations in 6-8 communities to research and document evidence to use in promoting human rights, women’s human rights and development justice in trade and investment policies and challenging corporate hegemony;
• Foster knowledge, campaign and advocacy resources on the impact of corporate hegemony, trade and investment policies, practices and projects on women at the local level, national and regional levels;
• Establish strategic advocacy plans and opportunities that challenge corporate hegemony to support women’s own position and solutions for policy change at national, regional and international levels;
• Propose and develop a trade and investment frameworks that challenge corporate hegemony to protect, respect and fulfil human rights, women’s rights and promote development justice; and
• Strengthen institutional development of sub-grant partner organisations to challenge corporate hegemony through leadership development and movement building.

Funding Information

• APWLD will provide eight organisations with a small sub-grant to employ a young woman researcher and carry out the research including salary and on-costs with the approximate amount of USD 12,000. Sub-grant partners will need to appoint a mentor to assist this young women researcher throughout this research programme.

Participants

• A group of 12-16 women are working from grassroots organisations in the region representing indigenous, rural, migrant and urban poor, workers and other marginalized women.
• Two participants from each organisation/country will form a team to conduct FPAR on evidence-based advocacy using the skill they learn from the training.
• The team should consist of 1 (one) young woman researcher (below 35) and 1 (one) mentor from the same organisation or APWLD member organisation – one of them must be from the community involved in the research.
• Organisation participants should have experience in organisational work and advocacy for women’s human rights and commitment to the women’s movement.

Selection Criteria of the Research Partners

• APWLD will select six to eight grassroots women’s rights organisations that will lead the WITCH FPAR in Asia-Pacific. We are seeking non-governmental, non-profit, grassroots-based organisations that are:
  • Committed towards the enjoyment and realisation of the human rights of women and people in the face of neoliberal and unjust trade regimes and increasing corporate hegemony in their lives.
  • Committed to conducting the 15-month Feminist Participatory Action Research (FPAR) process.
  • Committed to using feminist participatory methodologies that increase democratic participation and leadership of marginalised women in the research.
  • Committed to appointing a young woman researcher and mentor, either a mentor or young women researcher should come from the community where the FPAR will be conducted.
  • Able to provide internet and computer access for regular online communication with the APWLD secretariat and online training
• APWLD will consider the following when selecting partner organisations for this programme:
  • Sub-regional representation;
  • Recommendations/ references by APWLD members;
  • Issues and concerns represented in the research focus area.

For more information, visit WITCH.