On June 5th, World Environment Day, community members at the southern coast of Guatemala protested against the rapid spread of large-scale palm oil, sugar cane and banana plantations in their region. Utz Che', our local partner organisation, joined the march.
Clive Chibule from Zambia won the Gender Just Climate Solutions Award at the climate conference in Katowice, Poland. His project "Community strategies for climate-resilient livelihoods" aims at training rural women on leadership and climate resilience. A very important project, as Zambia is already feeling the effects of climate change, and rural women are affected most.
We were very pleased that James Anaya, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, visited Panama to speak with the indigenous Ngäbe Buglé community and to take a close look at the developments around the Barro Blanco dam.
In the global fight for women’s rights, grassroots organisations are at the forefront of driving positive change within their communities. Fondo Centroamericano de Mujeres (FCAM), a partner of Both ENDS, has been pioneering a participatory grantmaking approach to fund feminist and women’s movements across Central America. Going beyond traditional donor-driven grant delivery, FCAM shifts decision-making power about how funds are distributed and used to the organisations themselves. The approach is based on the conviction that self-led women, non-binary and trans people organised to respond to the problems they face, are best suited to determine their needs and propose solutions for lasting change. What does this mean in practice? How to go about it? Programme Coordinator María Estelí González highlights the key elements of FCAM’s approach and reflects on the organisation’s contributions towards a more just and equitable funding landscape.
'Water for development' was the topic of the annual World Water Week (WWW), which was held last week in Stockholm for the 25th time. Thirza Bronner, Sanderijn van Beek and Cindy Coltman of Both ENDS were present, together with partners Serah Munguti of ‘Nature Kenya’ in Kenya, and Suu Lam from the ‘Centre for Social Research and Development (CSRD)’ in Vietnam. In light of this year’s theme, Both ENDS decided to invite these two outspoken women leaders to this conference to bring strong civil society voices to the table. They took part in a roundtable session that was marked by enthusiastic participation of policy makers, donors and NGOs. During the session, Munguti and Lam told us about their organisational objectives, their experiences and how ‘water for development’ translates into their practice.