Spaces, solidarity and solutions. These were the themes of the Women Deliver 2023 Conference (WD2023) and these perspectives were echoed by advocates from Asia and the Pacific region who participated at WD2023 with ARROW’s support. At one of the largest multi-sectoral convenings to advance gender equality, these delegates discovered spaces to share their lived realities and regional narratives, fostered a sense of solidarity with like-minded advocates and grassroots activists, and identified solutions to drive change. 

ARROW invested time and energy to ensure that the priorities from the region, represented by partner advocates, allies and organisations from the feminist and women’s rights movements, were front and centre. In the lead-up to WD2023, ARROW facilitated the formation of the Regional Steering Committee, of key organisations, which then ran national level and regional level priority setting conversations in the lead-up to Kigali. This was one of the first times ever that regionalisation of Women Deliver had happened and we were excited to be part of this momentous process.

ARROW also played a key role in co-organising the Climate Justice pre-conference prior to Women Deliver, and presented the SRHR agenda as an essential part of Climate Justice at the opening plenary in the pre-conference as well as at Women Deliver’s official plenary on climate justice. This was seminal as the region continues to face the onslaught of climate change induced typhoons, floods, and droughts in an unprecedented manner. ARROW was also part of the High Level opening plenary of UNFPA’s pre-conference on Bodily Autonomy and SRHR, as part of the leadership of the GEF Action Coalition on Bodily Autonomy and SRHR. This pre-conference demonstrated the full intent of the SRHR movement to press forward for progressive change on realising bodily autonomy in a world fractured by the politics of anti-gender and anti-rights movements. The need for south-south learning and cooperation was noted by Sivananthi Thanenthiran, Executive Director, as she felt Asia could learn from Africa on the progress made towards ending FGM/C and from Latin-America on the progress made on access to safe abortion.

The ‘Catalyzing Global Action to End FGM/C’ pre-conference, co-organised by ARROW, which brought together over 100 survivors, grassroots activists, CSOs, donors, international organisations and government representatives from around the world, including Africa, North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle-East. The pre-conference promoted and encouraged knowledge exchange, interregional collaboration and global cooperation amongst various stakeholders working to address FGM/C and to create momentum as a catalyst for collective action and movement building. Through a grant from the Wallace Global Fund, ARROW funded the participation of seven members of the Asia Network to End FGM/C – civil society actors from Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, India, and Sri Lanka. Their participation was even more meaningful as the Asia Network was conceptualised at Women Deliver’s FGM/C pre-conference in 2019. Fast forward four years later, the Asia Network is a thriving platform of over 80 activists and allies working together to promote the abandonment of FGM/C in the region. Besides the pre-conference, these Asia Network members engaged in side events, panel dialogues and concurrent sessions at the main conference.

Nabeela Iqbal, a peacebuilder from Sri Lanka who works for women’s and minority rights, felt inspired by the energy at WD2023. With support from ARROW and Orchid Project, Nabeela made an intervention at the ‘Accountability for Gender Equality Commitments Plenary’ session to deliver the blueprint of the ‘Kigali Declaration’, a joint call to action launched at the FGM/C pre-conference. In her speech, Nabeela urged world leaders and the donor community to significantly increase funding to the end-FGM/C sector and highlighted the need to shift the funding to grassroots organisations. “We are in a race against time. Failure is not an option anymore,” she asserted.

Dr. Hannah Nazri, a Malaysian medical doctor and activist and Sharmeen Hakim, a journalist and human rights advocate from India, expressed their gratitude at being able to participate at WD2023 and follow the different tracks of the conference which synergised with their work. It offered the opportunity to share insights on sexual and reproductive health rights issues in their country contexts and opened up new avenues and possibilities for collaboration. “At the pre-conference on FGM/C, I felt the impact and need to stand testament to FGM/C’s deep rooted prevalencein Asia before a world that continues to believe girls aren’t ‘cut’ here,” Sharmeen added.

In global conference spaces like these, representation matters. All seven partners shared that WD2023 gave them renewed hope and strengthened their resolve to continue their advocacy at national and regional levels. Nevertheless, they reflected on the lack of representation of voices from the Asia region on the plenary stages.   

ARROW was also able to support the in-person participation of six delegates and virtual participation of 10 delegates for WD2023. These young people from Nepal and Myanmar received scholarships from their participation in ARROW’s Intersectionality Webinar series. They actively participated at various panels, side events and plenaries.

Pema Wangmo Lama, an indigenous rights activist from Nepal, was part of a panel at the Gender and Climate Crisis Pre-Conference where she spoke on indigenous people’s perspectives on climate change and learnt about best practices in other countries, which she is eager to replicate in her own work at the national level. However, she was sad that there was only one event dedicated to indigenous women and hopes that in the future, their voices and challenges will be included in these spaces.

Nepali intersectional queer youth activist Bibek Magar felt that WD2023 provided an inclusive, safe space where they could mingle with diverse individuals from all walks of life. However, they also shared a realisation that there is still a long way to go, in reference to some plenaries that used  binary and outdated terms at a conference that has claimed to be an inclusive space. They felt disconnected as a non-binary individual due to limited and overlapping queer-oriented events. Meanwhile, David Bawi Tha Sang of Myanmar felt that the conference space promoted and empowered young people’s participation in decision making.

ARROW staff, partners and allies visited ARROW’s exhibition booth to network with other delegates and learn more about ARROW’s work in the Asia-Pacific region. Some of ARROW’s key publications were on display at the booth and our promotional merchandise including bags, stickers and badges were snapped up like hot cakes. We also shared our booth space with partners including the Women of the South Speak Out (WOSSO) consortium, Orchid Project, Sahiyo, the End FGM European Network, and IPPF Arab World Region. The Asia Network to End FGM/C hosted listening sessions at ARROW’s booth as well as the Equal Measures 2030 booth in order to raise awareness on FGM/C in Asia. 

Post-WD2023, ARROW will be hosting a Global Dialogue session in the coming months to launch our latest publication, the ARROW for Change (AFC) journal on Reproductive Justice. The AFC aims to showcase various perspectives and voices on reproductive justice in the Asia-Pacific region and how it intersects with a variety of human rights issues. The virtual launch will showcase articles that aim to ground the concept of reproductive justice to ensure that health outcomes are fair and equitable to marginalised and vulnerable populations in the Asia-Pacific region and nuance reproductive rights discussions, with those who are not able to access these rights. In addition, ARROW is also co-hosting a Global Dialogue on the outcomes of the FGM/C pre-conference. The webinar will feature the ‘Kigali Declaration and Call to Close the Funding Gap’, a call to action for increased financial commitments to achieve the elimination of FGM/C.