FRIDA : The Young Feminist Fund

The ideology of Feminism took birth back in the 19^th century and since then has been subject to widescale appreciation and criticism from citizens all over the world. But even today Feminists continue to remain a butt of jokes with hurdles at every stage through the track to a world of gender equality. And then there comes an organization that prolifically champions the cause of women on a global scale.

Established in 2010, FRIDA The Young Feminist Fund sets it eyes solely on providing support to global young feminists, with an aim of not just advocating for gender equality in society, but also at fearlessly voicing the need for emphasis on human rights and social justice movements.  FRIDA, in its name and also in its soul, stands for Flexibility Resources Inclusivisty Diversity Action.

With the help of donors coming from different walks of life from around the world,  FRIDA supports initiatives led by young women and transgender youth under the age of 30 with grants of up to $5,000 USD. Till date, FRIDA has completed five grant cycles and has cumulatively supported 150 different groups of young feminists in over 80 different nations across the globe, awarding 1.3 million USD in direct grants. This year they plan to award 275,000 USD in grants to 55 new young feminist groups in 51 countries!

These philanthropic intentions prioritize organizations and initiatives that are less than six years old and have little probability of being funded by others, owing to them being ‘insignificantly’ small or even simply because they are experimenting with ideas.

The inception of FRIDA takes the founding members down the memory lane to a coffee break at a meeting coordinated by the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) and Global Fund for Women (GFW), Marrakech, Morocco, where the fundamental issues that were discussed were the birth of feminism in global purview, lack of funding for such initiatives, need for advancing sustainable alternatives and also the need to mobilize resources.

6 years old now, FRIDA today finds representatives all across the globe, with 4 team members being from India —Anisha Chugh, Deea Ranganathan, Gopika Bashi, Shivani Gupta as the Treasurer, Communications Officer, and Advisors respectively.

The team believes that when young women, girls, and trans youth come together, they can create lasting change. FRIDA, through its initiatives, associates with neonate feminist organizations to collectively reach their common goal of impacting as many communities as possible. FRIDA is known to have funded Mexican organizers working for women’s and LGBTQ rights, who led self-defense classes and used art to acquaint the public about how gender violence results in hate crimes against women in their area.

FRIDA’s grantee partners bring social justice to their communities by raising awareness at the individual level, increasing equitable access to resources and services, transforming the legal & policy environment, and transforming social values, practices and norms. FRIDA works across borders and FRIDA grantees even organized a massive campaign on HIV+/AIDS through 42 cities in Turkey.

Young feminists who become FRIDA grantee partners have access to special online platforms, an accompaniment program, webinars, and additional funds to invest in their own organization’s capacity development, from finance training and registration fees to hiring consultants and buying equipment.

FRIDA facilitates  learning exchanges between grantee partners, convenings for activists to build stronger communities and travel for young women, girls, and trans youth to be heard at key decision-making spaces and international platforms as they believe that young feminist groups can have a stronger impact if they work in tandem with each other, rather than working in an isolated fashion.

FRIDA will invite applications for general grants for 8 weeks between November and December. At present, they are launching a special grant round for young feminist and young women-led groups focused on Climate and Environmental Justice in targeted regions and countries.

We at Feministaa are all praises for an organization so deeply dedicated towards such noble issues without any ulterior motive and extend our heartfelt gratitude for working relentlessly in this domain.