Learning and Exchange in 2025/26

Last year, we took a deep dive into the progress of our strategy to 2030 – Our Feminist Future. Womankind undertook reviews of our grantmaking, partnerships, operations and financing. 

Our partners have been instrumental in shaping how we work and design our processes. Their input informs our collective advocacy and influencing at the global level. We are grateful for how they both keep us grounded in the realities of feminist organising and ensure our funding approaches reflect their priorities and lived experiences, rather than being driven by donors. 

Last year, we responded to requests for learning and exchange from our partners. Here are two examples: 

Collective leadership and advocacy

Collective learning is a core way to strengthen movements and expand women’s participation and leadership. In February 2026, we kicked off the second iteration of a partner advocacy and leadership training under the Accelerate Programme offered by the Nguvu Collective. Three partners, Sunita Foundation, Ethiopian Women with Disabilities National Association (EWDNA), and Kabul Orthopaedic Organisation have been part of the programme. Together, they are focusing on global advocacy, movement building and feminist leadership. 

They are developing skills in narrative building, influencing policymakers, media strategies including running advocacy and communications campaigns. 

Facilitating this type of focused and adaptive space for learning and exchange is a central part of how our feminist partnerships operate. It is how we all continue to learn and grow together within the feminist movement and stay on track to achieving a feminist future. 

Feminist storytelling for change in Nepal

As a commitment to sharing power with partners and decolonising our practice, we surveyed all Movement Strengthening Fund (MSF) grantees in early 2025 to ask them what movement strengthening topics they would like to learn about. 

Partners responded with an overwhelming preference to learn about feminist storytelling, and to be involved in the design and leadership of future sessions. 

Across our focus countries, we have one partner whose work is entirely dedicated to feminist storytelling – Voices of Women Media (VOWM) in Nepal. We chose to pilot the learning session in collaboration with VOWM through a two-day workshop in November 2025 in Kathmandu. 15 participants from across the women’s rights movement in Nepal took part, with strong representation from indigenous women based outside of Kathmandu. 

Day One of the workshop created a safe space for participants to discuss the moment of political change and tension happening at the time and understand how feminist storytelling links to this. Day Two provided technical training on a range of participatory storytelling techniques. 

Womankind and VOWM listened to participants who said they would like further training in technical camera usage. A further workshop was held in March 2026 and focused on photography and videography using resources available to all participants such as cameras and mobile phones. 

After the workshops, 100% of participants felt their confidence in feminist storytelling had increased and that they would be applying the skills learned to their work. 

With feminist storytelling being a critical way to disrupt and change anti-rights narratives that are growing as part of the backlash to women’s rights, resourcing learning and exchange on this is movement strengthening in action. 

“The model for this workshop (with Womankind) was equal and collaborative and empowered VOWM. The partnership was not intrusive and there is still an ongoing need to be in real connection and learn about partner’s work.” Pooja Pant, Voices of Women Media