Grantee name: International Indigenous Women's Forum/Foro Internacional de Mujeres Indígenas (FIMI)

Mission: The International Indigenous Women's Forum/Foro Internacional de Mujeres Indígenas (best known as FIMI, by its Spanish initials) is a network of Indigenous women leaders from Asia, Africa, and the Americas. IIWF/FIMI's mission is to bring together Indigenous women activists, leaders, and human rights promoters from different parts of the world to coordinate agendas, build unity, develop leadership and advocacy skills, increase Indigenous women's role in international decision-making processes, and advance women's human rights.

IIWF/FIMI's work aims to:

• Amplify Indigenous women's voices in the international arena;
• Strengthen local Indigenous women's organizations; and
• Promote collaboration between the Indigenous women's movement and the non-Indigenous global women's movement.

IIWF/FIMI's vision is a world in which Indigenous peoples can exercise all their human rights, access economic justice, and participate fully and effectively in all the decision-making processes that affect their lives at local, national and international levels, free from all forms of discrimination.

IIWF/FIMI's vision is a world where all women, independent of their differences, fully enjoy their fundamental human rights, where a new paradigm is established that overcomes racism, social exclusion, and inequality so that Indigenous women can participate fully under equal conditions in the decisions and activities linked to the development of their communities. It is a world in which young women can realize their life's dreams, ideas, and projects.

Location: Global network

Website:  http://indigenouswomensforum.org/

YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/user/fimimadre

Channel Grants: Channel made a grant (through the fiscal sponsorship of CHIRAPAQ, Centro de Culturas Indígenas de Perú) to support the new Indigenous Women’s Fund, the philanthropic arm of IIWF/FIMI, a grant-making body that will provide long-term, flexible funding for Indigenous women’s organizations as they respond to key political changes taking place locally, nationally, regionally and internationally. The Fund supports the Indigenous women’s movement, builds Indigenous women’s leadership and strengthens institutions that advance Indigenous women’s rights. Via grants, the Fund supports groups implementing programs that advance Indigenous women’s rights in one or more of the following areas: 1) Educational Empowerment; 2) Economic Empowerment; 3) Political Participation; 4) Institutional Strengthening. (2009)

Impact: The Indigenous Women’s Fund launched its first call for proposals through different organizations from the Americas, Asia and Africa. The selection prioritized projects that were innovative, sustainable, and promoted indigenous peoples’ “well being,” in many cases giving organizations their first grants. By gaining experience in resource mobilization, design, execution and evaluation of projects, indigenous women’s organizations develop and strengthen capacities in order to access to greater resources. To read more about the first round of grantees of the Indigenous Women's Fund, please download FIMI's Powerpoint.

Through a contribution to AWID’s Movement Building Fund (intended to facilitate the participation of grassroots women leaders and activists from various social movements all over the world at the AWID Forum), Channel supported the travel and participation of several women from the International Indigenous Women’s Forum to attend the 11th AWID International Forum on Women’s Rights and Development in Cape Town, South Africa on Nov. 14-17, 2008, The Power of Movements. With FIMI, Channel helped design and facilitate an interactive session called “Transformative Learning and Leadership: Feminist Voices from the Ground,” with indigenous women leaders from Peru, Bangladesh, South Africa and the Philippines. (2008)

Partner:
The Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) is an international, multi-generational, feminist, creative, future-orientated membership organization committed to achieving gender equality, sustainable development and women's human rights. A dynamic network of women and men around the world, AWID members are researchers, academics, students, educators, activists, business people, policy-makers, development practitioners, funders, and more.  AWID’s mission is to strengthen the voice, impact and influence of women’s rights advocates, organizations and movements internationally to effectively advance the rights of women.

All photos courtesy of the Channel Foundation.