‘We do not want to be part of the system that has generated social injustice, the climate crisis, and violence against women. We want to create new ways to advance our objectives, new ways to communicate with others. We want to invent as we advance transversal, flexible, efficient efforts that are functional to our own objectives, our struggle and that of our ‘compañeras’’.
Silvia A., feminist activist from Bolivia
In 2022, we conducted a research project titled ‘Building the field of philanthropy and gender justice in Latin America and the Caribbean’ (‘Construyendo el campo de la filantropía y de la justicia de género en América latina y el Caribe’) that allowed us to identify a trend that runs through the region that we call de-NGOsation, which is nothing else than a rebirth of the heart and soul of civil society that contrasts with the phenomenon of past decades of legal formalization and bureaucratization of the associative ecosystem.
These new ways of associating call themselves groups, grupas, bodies, collectives, and initiatives. They represent 37 percent of the mapping of women´s rights and feminist organizations we carried out in the region. In Brazil the situation is even more important since the percentage rises to 56 percent according to a recent study by the Elas+ Fund[1].
It is essential to understand the complexity of today’s philanthropic system to acknowledge that there are thousands of invisible groups at the edges trying collectively to create responses to the deep fragility of the system, and compare this situation with what was happening in the years 1980-1990 when, thanks to a large extent to international cooperation, there was a significant growth of NGOs (non-governmental organizations) especially in urban centers. For too long a good part of civil society has been established with the purpose of helping others: beneficiaries in need of training or services, following an agenda defined elsewhere, such as foundations and companies in the private sector, the public sector, the churches, and the international cooperation.
The de-NGOsation should be welcomed because it suggests a re-foundation of the heart of civil society and feminism; people, generally ordinary women who come together to do something about an issue that hurts them, that makes them fragile and that in many cases puts their lives at risk.
There are at least two reasons to explain the process of de-NGOsation. The first is rebellion against the oppressive system they are fighting. The second is the infinite bureaucracy that the public system requires for formalization (administrative cost, time, lawyer fees, notary and accounting depending on each country) and the state control that it would mean for the organization. This is especially difficult at a time when Latin America is going through a considerable increase of well-funded anti-rights groups operating inside in public and private organizations.
The data collected in Ellas’ research allows us to confirm that we are facing an important change in the physiognomy of the feminist movement. The most outstanding features of the change include: specific territories of action (localization), very young people (16 to 25 years old) focused on very specific social objectives, mostly made up of women who have been themselves victims (or their fellows), and generally with an important presence on social networks. In that sense, pain, fear and the need and hope to combat a social system that is unfair and abusive towards women is the common thread that sustains daily struggles. A struggle that includes debates about dignity, equity, power, politics and ‘good society’.
The de-NGOsation should be welcomed because it suggests a re-foundation of the heart of civil society and feminism; people, generally ordinary women who come together to do something about an issue that hurts them, that makes them fragile and that in many cases puts their lives at risk. And in this process, they create new relationships with other women, and new reflections, and they form networks of support, care, trust, and advocacy.
The de-NGOsation or transition to informality of these women’s groups is important because it focuses energy to the center of the scene and allows women to invest their own resources, ideas, experiences, and assets. This emerging phenomenon seems to have a much deeper legitimacy in its communities of belonging and a greater capacity for long-term social transformation, thus strengthening its activist character, its ability to demand rights, and a critical perspective on public policies and private actions.
However, the flip side of this phenomenon is that the vast majority of these groups are financed primarily based on volunteer work which include small individual donations from their members and various local fundraising strategies such as events, sale of products, and sale of services. They do not seek scalability, nor to become a large multi-financed organization, but rather to avoid self-exploitation (which is a very relevant concern among women in the South).
For those funders committed to advancing a social, environmental and gender justice agenda, the question arises about how to accompany this important transition of the feminist and women’s movement in the region. This implies a greater diversity of organizational forms, the emergence of new narratives and an expansion of thematic agendas.
The next few years will be crucial to observe the impact of these important changes on the philanthropy system.
Florencia Roitstein is the co – founder and Executive Director of Ellas since 2016. She has overseen its development as the leading Latin American voice on women led grassroots philanthropy for gender justice.
[1] ‘Building the field of philanthropy and gender justice in Latin America and the Caribbean’. Thompson A., Roitstein F. (2022)
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