“Flexible funding like that from Womankind is not just supportive, it is radically necessary. In a world that often demands we flatten our work into outputs and logframes, this kind of funding dares to trust our knowledge. It meets us where we are, holds space for what we carry, and stretches to match the complexity of feminist and queer organising.” (MWA Kenya)
In 2024, Womankind organised our first Flexible Funding Convening in Kenya. The convening brought together grantees of all three funds based in Kenya to envision the utopia of feminist funding, discuss the challenges to feminist movement building and share what they are learning from flexible funding. In response to grantee feedback, we’ve rolled out several good practices, such as:
- Facilitating a webinar prior to each fund opening so applicants can ask questions before drafting their applications.
- Holding start-up calls with each grantee to discuss queries and expectations.
- Creating a bespoke due diligence process for grassroots groups which enables them to access funding without formal registration or organisational structures.
While we’ve made a lot of progress in making our flexible funds clear, accessible, and responsive to our partner’s needs, there is still work to do. We’re continuously working to deepen our feminist and decolonial funding practices and incorporate grantee feedback. This includes further streamlining our application forms and processes to ensure partners know which fund to apply for, and don’t waste time putting together an application if they don’t meet the criteria for a given fund. We’re also reviewing grant cycles to ensure that partners have plenty of notice about all funding opportunities in advance and can plan accordingly.
