Africa: Power, Funding, Accountability - Feminist Lessons for Multilateral Reform At Women Deliver

29 April 2026
Spotlight Initiative (New York)

NARRM/MELBOURNE, Australia - During the last week of April, more than 6,000 people convened in Australia for Women Deliver 2026, a global gathering to advance gender equality. During the conference, Spotlight Initiative's Civil Society Global Reference Group (CSGRG) hosted a panel exploring what feminist multilateralism could look like in practice.

This session drew on lessons from Spotlight Initiative to examine how power can be better shared, how resources should flow and how accountability can work in both directions between civil society and institutions.

Speakers included Co-Founder of Girls Congress and CSGRG member Shamah Bulangis; Former Director of Women's Action Group and CSGRG member Edinah Masiyiwa; Founder of Soul Talk Samoa, Congregational Christian Church Samoa and CSGRG member, Lemau Pala'amo; Chairperson and Ex-Officio Board Director Fund for Children-Youth Leadership Council, Veronica Papa; and former Fellow at Center for Inclusive Policy and CSGRG member Dr. Samaneh Shabani. Spotlight Initiative Global Coordinator Erin Kenny acted as responder and the panel was moderated by researcher, writer and CSGRG Coordinator Lara Fergus.

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In her opening remarks, Ms. Fergus highlighted Spotlight Initiative's ambition of bringing together and coordinating previously piecemeal investments to eliminate gender-based violence, and the critical importance of securing high-level political commitment alongside support to women's movements. "Really importantly to the strengthening women's movement part of the programme, 49 per cent of programme funds went to civil society and the vast majority of those were women-led organizations," said Ms. Fergus.

Former Director of Women's Action Group and CSGRG member Edinah Masiyiwa said that the Initiative's capacity-building for civil society organizations had helped many to expand their funding base. "We were able to support community-based organizations to respond to violence and also to seek funding on their own. This was very important. We capacitated organizations to register as entities and even today, they can still secure funding outside of Spotlight Initiative," she explained.

Shamah Bulangis, Co-Founder of Girls Congress and CSGRG member, highlighted the need for government and civil society to co-create tools from day one: "Then, ownership becomes real - and that distinction determines whether gains survive the funding cycle." Even exemplary design could not always protect against "the failure of global funding architecture," said Ms. Bulangis, and some activities were forced to close - however the trust built between civil society and government often continued after programmes ended. "The relationships did hold. You can't defund a relationship," said Ms. Bulangis.

Co-Founder of Soul Talk Samoa, Congregational Christian Church Samoa, and CSGRG member Lemau Pala'amo echoed those sentiments. "From the heart, it was the most wonderful thing that happened in our country. Whether it be funding or resources, it empowered us to say, 'Let's do it [let's end violence against women and girls]... It empowered all those survivors who were suffering from violence. Children, women, men - they all came forward. It got people talking and we will never stop now."

Chairperson and Ex-Officio Board Director Fund for Children-Youth Leadership Council, Veronica Papa, emphasized how funding shortages, the climate crisis and the shrinking of civic space has left young people struggling to survive, let alone participate in activism or advocacy. "At present, we are being asked to live in unlivable circumstances, to come into a sector in the development world that is unsurvivable," she said. "Young people are forgetting so many pieces of activism... because we are trying to find funding and money, ways to make a living."

Former Fellow at the Center for Inclusive Policy and CSGRG member Dr. Samaneh Shabani addressed how reduced development funding was impacting on women with disabilities and how multilateral cooperation could promote integration between gender and disability programmes. "The current biggest threat - shrinking funding and fragmented, shortened projects - affects a lot of women with disability organizations. Some positive practices from Spotlight Initiative countries like Zimbabwe, Uganda and Samoa meant that the disability sector was active [in programming to end violence against women and girls]. It was great to see that finally, at this level of international, UN programmes, disability organizations had found dialogue and solidarity with the gender mainstream."

Spotlight Initiative Global Coordinator Erin Kenny reflected on the lessons from phase one of the Initiative: "I'm incredibly proud of what we built at Spotlight Initiative and what these women have designed and delivered with me." She concluded, "What we have is a true model of what the multilateral system can do when you have all the pieces together."

Read the original article on Spotlight Initiative.

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