Global South Women's Forum 2024 Colombo, Sri Lanka 1 - 3 October 2024 Theme: Dreams of Disability Joy and Justice. Image description: behind the theme are illustrations of two yellow clouds. Under the text is a collage of hands reaching up to touch the clouds and the text. The color of the hands alternate between purple and yellow. Interspersed between the hands are small stars.

Celebrating Joy. Demanding Justice. 

IWRAW Asia Pacific’s flagship event built by and for Global South feminists is back and this year, we’re taking it offline!

The Global South Women’s Forum on Sustainable Development (GSWF) returns for its ninth iteration to an in-person modality for the first time in four years. Travelling to Colombo, Sri Lanka and co-hosted by the Women Gaining Ground consortium, GSWF 2024 will be convened under the theme of ‘Dreams of Disability Joy and Justice’. 

The theme of ‘disability justice’ was intentionally chosen with the understanding that it encompasses a feminist and intersectional approach towards interrogating and addressing ableism, inequality, structural discrimination, and everyday violence but also relies on the broader human rights framework.

Moving toward disability justice is not possible without interrogating the anticipated and material conditions of the world we live in.

It evokes a stronger but constructive lens of the need for community and interdependence while questioning the capitalist-patriarchal framework that gives meaning, power, and value to only certain body-minds.

An illustrated image of three people with diverse identities sitting in a garden. One woman is sitting on a tree stump. She has short black hair, dark skin and is wearing glasses. She reaches up to catch a falling white flower. Next to her is a walking frame. Sitting in front of this woman is another woman wearing a pink robe and a white hijab. She is sitting on the ground cross-legged and is holding a bunch of flowers on her lap. She is also looking upwards at the falling flowers while smiling. To the right of her is another person who is lying down on the grass and has headphones on while reading a book.
Illustration by Veshalini Naidu for GSWF 2024

We resist the idea that a global political agenda and feminist solidarity are not possible while asking what this looks like from a disability justice approach. With that GSWF 2024 is structured around three key themes:

An illustration of a group of people. At the front of the group is an older woman sitting in a wheelchair. Next to her, is a younger woman sitting on a chair and holding her hand. Surrounding them is a large group of women wearing with diverse body types, skin tones and outfits.

Leadership and Political Participation

An illustration of diverse women standing on top of the world. They stand hand in hand surrounding the globe.

Disability in the Context of a Changing World

An illustration showing a diverse representation of women. Some of them are wearing headscarves and glasses while others have hair shades of blonde, grey and black.

Building our Political Agenda and Collective Ways of Work

The aims of GSWF 2024 are:

Strengthen our understanding, learning, and analysis of some of the most emerging and contemporary political issues from a disability justice lens
Building a collective political agenda and strategy that is rooted in feminist and disability justice values and practices
Bring visibility to feminist approaches to disability rights and justice from Global South to other stakeholders
Examine ways in which these conversations can inform our movements’ advocacy, accountability, and norm-setting

In October 2024, GSWF will welcome Global South activists in all their diversity from across movements into a safe, accessible, radical and affirming space that allows us to, once again, dream together.

What is the Women Gaining Ground consortium?

Women Gaining Ground (WGG) is a Global South-based consortium led by three organisations with deep experience in feminist leadership, movement-building, advocacy, and working with marginalised groups: CREA, Akili Dada and International Women’s Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific (IWRAW AP). Incepted in 2020, the consortium works in partnership with 16 strategic partners across Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda. 

At its heart, WGG works on addressing gender-based violence and increasing political participation driven by two primary constituencies of young women and women with disabilities.  

A group photograph of approximately fifty members and partners of the Women Gaining Ground Consortium from Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Rwanda and Uganda. They are standing on the steps of the front entrance of a hotel. They are all smiling and laughing, while some of them are hugging each other and showing finger signs of peace and love.
Women Gaining Ground, All partners meeting. New Delhi, 2022. Photo credit:Prajesh Rana, CREA
An illustration of two people sitting by a river and under a tree. One of them is lying down on a blanket laid over the grass. They has short green hair combed over to one side while wearing black shorts and a pink top. They are looking at a woman sitting next to them, also on a blanket. She has dark skin and is wear pink knee high socks with grey pants and a yellow tank top. She is holding a sketchbook over her knees. In front of the the two people is a river. In the river, there is a reflection of protest. There are bits and pieces of imagery of people holding up a banner which says 'Dreams of Disability Joy and Justice'
Illustration by Veshalini Naidu for GSWF 2024

FAQs

GSWF 2024 is designed as a strategic consultation. The forum will be attended by participants who are active in the feminist movement, disability rights movements, and other social justice spaces with a strong interest and commitment to disability justice work. The attendees have been nominated by either WGG partners or the GSWF advisory group. WGG partners are feminist and disability rights organisations in East Africa (Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda) and South Asia (Bangladesh and India). The GSWF advisory group comprises activists from the women’s rights and disability movement working at the international, regional and grassroots level who have experience in disability rights and justice work, funding and feminist advocacy.

We regret not being able to accommodate more participants due to our limited team capacity and budget which prioritises accessibility and reasonable accommodation. However, we have plans to continue the work beyond the physical event in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Watch this space!

Unfortunately, we cannot offer online or hybrid participation modalities for GSWF 2024 due to privacy and security concerns. We will share the outcomes from the forum in the form of a report, videos, and post-GSWF advocacy events. In case you would like to keep in touch or have ideas for collaboration, please write to us at gswf@iwraw-ap.org.

The three specific themes of the forum: leadership and political participation, disability justice in a changing world, and global advocacy/movement building were chosen keeping in mind the interest and learnings from the implementation of the WGG project. Considering the intersectional nature of our work, we believe these conversations are just entry points into the multifaceted nature of the work we all do. 

We would love to hear from attendees about their work – please write to us at gswf@iwraw-ap.org. While it may not be possible to accommodate all requests during the formal schedule of the forum’s programme, we have arranged informal networking sessions during the forum days for partners to get to know each other. We would also love to collaborate on GSWF plans with you. 

Microsite design: Anika Verma for GSWF 2024