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Prospera International Network of Women’s Funds, funders Registration, launch and the first 12 months:
and other movements. We consulted on the core building 2023-2024
blocks of setting up a regional women’s fund, registration
options, and the needs and priorities in the region. This was We became a registered Charitable Entity and an
all taking place against the backdrop of COVID-19, which Incorporated Trust Board in New Zealand on 22 February
threw new and unexpected challenges our way, especially 2023 and formally launched at the third Pacific Feminist
being limited to online consultations. Forum in May 2023. At the launch, we also released our
design document and our visual identity that is inspired by
the ocean that unites our island states. Since then, we have
The set-up and funding: 2022 co-designed with Pacific feminists our grantmaking approach
and learning and accountability framework, conducted a
In the Netherlands, the Dutch government made a pivotal scoping study - and opened our first grant call to identified
investment in a feminist global South-led consortium of organisations and groups in the North Pacific. You can read
four women’s funds called Leading from the South (LFS) all about this work in our inaugural Learning Report 2023-24.
and had indicated they wanted to support groups based in
Since we started the journey to co-create PFF and support
the Pacific. WFA was the closest regional partner but was
the Pacific feminist movement with the flexible funding so
uncomfortable to start funding in the Pacific, particularly
sorely needed, the global funding ecosystem for gender
because Pacific feminists were working to realise that vision.
WFA leadership were already great allies and partners justice and women’s rights has suffered some seismic shifts.
of UAF A&P and Women’s Fund Fiji, so this relationship In just the last few weeks, the United States government –
Left to right: PFF founding trustees, Virisila Buadromo, Teretia Tokam, ‘Ofa Gutteinbeil-Likiliki, Professor propelled LFS’ partnership with the nascent PFF, supporting under a Donald Trump presidency – has all but dismantled
Yvonne Underhill-Sem our foundational work. Deepening existing relationships of the United States Agency for International Development
(USAID) and renounced the United Nations Sustainable
trust, the New Zealand government’s Ministry of Foreign Development Goals. With the US being the largest bilateral
Pacific ways of being, knowing Affairs and Trade (MFAT) also stepped up to become the provider of Official Development Assistance (ODA), the
first bilateral funder to commit funding foundational and
grantmaking costs. At this point between 2022 and 2023, reverberations of this are profound, particularly in relation
to the defunding of programs focusing on women’s rights,
PFF’s staff team expanded to bring on the first of their two
and doing: Our emergence co-leads, a Resource Mobilisation Enabler, Grants Enabler sexual and reproductive health and rights, and LGBTQI+
and Strategic Finance Enabler. rights. European bilateral donors have also pulled back on
their commitments, with Germany, the United Kingdom,
As part of the MFAT consultations, the first iteration of France, Belgium and the Netherlands all recently announcing
PFF’s Theory of Change (TOC) emerged. We wanted to huge reductions in ODA.
by Rochelle Jones and Michelle Reddy give ourselves space in the TOC to build and strengthen
the Pacific feminist movement together and to tell the story While this presents obvious challenges, with women’s
rights and feminist organisations historically receiving only
together, which is why the first three years – the ‘inception’
a meagre amount of ODA (0.13% in 2021), it also highlights
The Pacific Feminist Fund (PFF) was a collective vision long clear, we needed to build our canoe, map the voyage (as best phase – focuses on listening and learning. The next two that feminist and women’s funds are critical actors. As
before it came into being. We have documented this labour we could!), and set sail away from safe harbours. Sometimes phases, spanning two years, focus more on increasing the resource mobilisation arm of local, regional or global
of love along the way, and to accompany the recent launch the way forward seemed laid out for us, like kismet, with the funding to the Pacific and strengthening the movement. movements, feminist and women’s funds are grounded in
of our inaugural Learning Report, are proud to share with you ocean opening up and rolling us ever forward. At other times, PFF’s role is to support and amplify the work and stories of
a timeline of the pathways, elements and partnerships that we floundered and looked to the stars and our own feminist our grantee partners, and to provide broader context and and led by movement priorities. Being ‘plugged in’ to the
movements makes it easier to respond to a need, or a crisis,
converged and contributed to our emergence as a regional knowledge to chart the way. We were always moving - so analysis to situate these stories. We need to be careful with finding ways to unlock new resources from an expanding
feminist fund for the Pacific. that we could create a Pacific feminist fund to support and power and foreground care, trust and respect, arriving as network of funders who understand the power of supporting
amplify the work of the Pacific feminist movement. people, not power positions. Ultimately, our TOC captures feminist movements directly.
how to put power into the hands of Pacific women, girls and
The foundational years: 2019-2021 In 2020, we got to work by setting up two voluntary gender non-conforming people - not the fund. PFF stands proud and tall as a new addition to the cadre of
groups, the Steering Committee and the Advisory Group, sister funds around the world, supporting and sustaining the
For a dream to become reality – for a journey to occur – each composed of Pacific feminists and women human We were learning that Pacific demands and challenges fight for women’s rights and gender justice worldwide. And
one must venture out. And in the venturing, there are well rights defenders, as well as established feminist funds such are as unique and expansive as the oceanscape, with many here in the Pacific, we are strengthening our bonds to support
grants needed for a wide variety of different groups spread
known sea marks, currents and signposts, as well as new as UAF A&P, Women’s Fund Fiji and Women’s Fund Asia each other with feminist solidarity and communities of care,
out over the Pacific islands. Consultations told us that many
experiences to face. One of these signposts was the 2019 (WFA). This happened with start-up funds from Foundation consolidating the Pacific feminist movement to advance
feminists felt a new approach to fundraising is required for
scoping study, Where is the Money for Women and Girls in the for a Just Society (FJS), initiated by and channelled through human rights and gender equality in a time of climate crisis.
Pacific? Mapping Funding Gaps, Opportunities and Trends PFF’s sister fund, UAF A&P – an existing grantee partner of the nature of their work, which attempts to hold the state
and other duty bearers accountable for their commitments to
commissioned by Urgent Action Fund Asia and the Pacific FJS. These critical start-up funds enabled the hiring of a part
women’s and human rights. A regional feminist fund would
(UAF A&P) and Women’s Fund Fiji. This study found that “less time coordinator, commissioning a design document and
de-risk donations from a variety of sources and deliver
than 1% of funding is reaching women’s organisations in the an options paper for registration. From there, the small but
funds to Pacific feminist and women’s organisations and
Pacific through direct funding.” A key recommendation was mighty PFF team leveraged a moment in time, where some
to create a regional women’s fund for the Pacific, which was bilateral funders were pivoting towards feminist foreign policy groups. The fund should also create more opportunities
for connection in the region, and engage internationally to
endorsed at the second Pacific Feminist Forum held in 2019, and recognising the power of directing funding for feminist
highlight the needs and priorities of women, girls, and gender
which brought together over 150 Pacific feminists, LGBTQI+ activism through women’s funds.
non-conforming persons in the Pacific. And crucially, rather
and women-led organisers at the frontlines.
In 2021, under the guidance of the Steering Committee than merely responding to the current funding ecosystem,
Our work since 2019 has been about bringing that and Advisory Group, we undertook a co-creation process the fund should proactively engage in funding spaces to
recommendation to life, and while our vision and purpose was by consulting with feminist movements in the Pacific, the shape financing currents and flows.
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34 Islands Business, March 2025