Women’s Voice and Leadership Learning Partnership

Women’s rights organizations and their networks are critical agents of change and have been the focus of strong Canadian support since 2017 through the Women’s Voice and Leadership Program. This CAD150-million, Global Affairs Canada program was renewed in 2023 with a further commitment of CAD195 million, focusing on countries affected by crisis and conflict. Through 21 projects across 31 countries, the renewed WVL Program supports the work of more than 2,200 women’s rights, feminist, and LGBTQI+ organizations.

Despite being a driving force in challenging systems of oppression, women’s rights organizations are underfunded. In 2022, the Association for Women's Rights in Development reported that many operate with less than USD30,000 (about CAD42,000) a year and with little access to flexible and general multi-year support. At the same time, the movement of past decades towards greater rights and freedom, such as sexual and reproductive rights, has reversed or is at risk of backsliding in many countries.

This IDRC-Global Affairs Canada partnership supports a learning agenda to enhance the efforts and impacts of the renewed flagship Canadian program. Over five years (from 2025 to 2029), the Women’s Voice and Leadership Learning Partnership will accompany the program’s partner organizations using peer-learning, evidence gathering and organizational strengthening for them to better advocate for change and more effectively challenge harmful and discriminatory social beliefs and practices.

The Learning Partnership will contribute new knowledge and evidence around what works and does not work for feminist and gender-equality movements striving to advance, sustain and defend women’s human rights and gender justice around the world.

Peer learning, evidence and capacity

The Learning Partnership centres around three pillars.

• Pillar 1: Peer-to-peer learning to share lessons and evidence emerging from a collective learning agenda and key learning questions and priorities co-designed with partner organizations.  

• Pillar 2: Support for the renewed program partners to lead participatory action research, building more evidence on the strategies and interventions that work and to learn from strategic  thematic evaluations. 

• Pillar 3: Capacity strengthening for feminist monitoring, evaluation, accountability and other organizational needs, harnessing wherever possible the core expertise of the renewed program partners.

Global and Regional Learning Hubs

The Women’s Voice and Leadership Learning Partnership is anchored by a network of five Learning Hubs, comprising a Global Learning Hub and four Regional Learning Hubs.

• The Global Learning Hub is led by FEMNET (African Women’s Development and Communication Network) in collaboration with the Arab Institute for Women (AiW) at the Lebanese American University and FLACSO Argentina, with support from feminist experts in South Asia.
• The East and Southern Africa Learning Hub is led by Akina Mama wa Afrika in collaboration with Gender at Work.
• The West and Central Africa Learning Hub is led by Make Every Woman Count (MEWC).
• The Latin America and the Caribbean Learning Hub is led by VOZES in collaboration with ACAPACÁ, Red MAAD, and Red Compañera.
• The Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe Learning Hub is led by Wedu, in collaboration with the Center on Gender and Forced Displacement (CCFD) at the Asian Institute of Technology.

Together, the Global and Regional Learning Hubs will facilitate peer learning, evidence generation, synthesis, and knowledge exchange across the Women’s Voice and Leadership community, grounded in feminist principles and regional realities.
In addition to these key learning activities, a series of participatory action research grants to renewed program partners, in collaboration with academia and civil society actors, will gather evidence and data on successful interventions and changes to promote and protect gender equality.   

Global and regional learning hubs, chosen through competitive processes, will lead key learning activities. Through small grants, the renewed program partners, in collaboration with academia and civil society actors, will gather evidence and data on successful interventions and changes to promote and protect gender equality.  

Activities will use feminist programming principles of  

• transformative approaches, examining the underlying causes of inequality and seeking to address power dynamics between key actors 
• intersectionality, considering multiple vulnerabilities stemming, for example, from race, class, sexual orientation and ethnicity, in addition to gender 
• local leadership in design and implementation to ensure local knowledge and expertise are valued and to shift power over decision-making and resources to local organizations and feminist movements 
• flexibility to respond to evolving local contexts and different ways of working in support of feminist and gender equality movements

Defending rights during crisis and conflicts

The Learning Partnership expects to benefit more than 2,200 women’s rights, feminist and LGBTQI+ organizations under the renewed Women’s Voice and Leadership Program. Its research and action will strengthen programs and advocacy and foster organizational sustainability. The organizations will gain new insights on strategies and practical ways to improve human rights and gender equality.

Investments to defend the rights of women, girls and other vulnerable groups help to reduce poverty and build stronger communities. This support, especially in situations of crisis and conflict, can lead to more inclusive and open economies and a more stable world.

For more information about the Learning Partnership, contact lp-pa@idrc.ca. 

Top image: Nikita Abuya/IDRC