Upcoming Events
WD2026 || Funding Justice: Accountability and Resource Models for Feminist Futures
About the Event
Organized by the official WD2026 Resourcing Working Group, join this urgent session focused on actionable change in funding feminist movements. Through lightning talks and interactive discussions, speakers will explore sustainable models and accountability mechanisms and demystify funding narratives, emphasizing accessible and effective solutions, including the roles of philanthropy and official development assistance (ODA). Participants will unpack examples of how movements hold states accountable while building resilient infrastructures centered on feminist values. Leave equipped with concrete ideas and tools to enhance your resource mobilization efforts for a better future.
Event Details
Date: Wednesday, April 29, 2026
Time: 4:00-5:30 PM (AEST)
Location: Meeting Room 210, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre
*NOTE: To attend this event, you must have a confirmed registration to participate in the Women Deliver 2026 Conference.
Speakers
Celia Turner, Partnerships Managing Officer, Urgent Action Sister Funds
Sandra Macias Del Villar, Co-Director, Alliance for Feminist Movements
Lyric Thompson, Founder and CEO, Feminist Foreign Policy Collaborative
Nagla Abbas, Young feminist activist and Founder, Usawa Kwa Wote
Biographies
Celia Turner |
Partnerships Managing Officer, Urgent Action Sister Funds
Celia Turner (they/hem) is a feminist philanthropic advocate for gender, racial and economic justice organizations and movements. As the Partnerships Managing Officer for the Urgent Action Sister Funds, Celia raises the visibility of feminist rapid response and nurtures partnerships for the Sister Funds’ collective support of women and LGBTQI+ human rights defenders across the world. They previously lead and managed institutional and philanthropic partnerships at the Astrea Lesbian Foundation for Justice. Learn mroe about Celia’s background and experience here.
Sandra Macias Del Villar | Co-Director, Alliance for Feminist Movements
Sandra Macías del Villar (she/her) is a passionate intersectional Latinx feminist with extensive experience working in the human rights philanthropic sector. She has specialized in feminist grantmaking with women’s funds as well as resourcing social justice movements and grassroots organizations for more than a decade. Sandra is currently the Co-Director for the Alliance for Feminist Movements and has deep expertise in the crises, development and humanitarian sectors. In these spaces, Sandra has been a strong advocate with and for women, girls, trans and gender nonconforming people as well as historically marginalized populations.
Lyric Thompson | Founder and CEO, Feminist Foreign Policy Collaborative
Lyric Thompson (she/her) is the Founder and CEO of the Feminist Foreign Policy Collaborative, where she publishes and advises governments and thought leaders on feminist foreign policy. In her 2-decade career, she has advocated on women’s rights issues at the United Nations, G7/G20, White House, the U.S. State Department, USAID and the Department of Defense. She is an adjunct professor at the George Washington University, where she teaches a graduate level course on women’s rights advocacy. Previously, Lyric has served as: the Vice President of Policy, Advocacy, and Strategy at the International Center for Research on Women, the founding co-chair of the Coalition for Women’s Economic Empowerment and Equality, co-chair of Girls Not Brides USA, on the Executive Committee of the Civil Society Working Group on Women, Peace and Security, on the Women’s Human Rights Coordination Group of Amnesty International, USA and as the Senior Policy Manager for Women for Women International. Learn more about Lyric’s background and experience here.
Nagla Abbas | Young feminist activist and Founder, Usawa Kwa Wote
Nagla Abbas (she/her) is a young feminist lawyer and a youth and girls’ rights advocate from Zanzibar, working on justice, peace, and gender equality across Africa. She holds an LLB in Law and Shariah from Zanzibar University and has over five years of experience in human rights and access to justice. She currently works with Save the Children International – Zanzibar as a Legal Officer at One Stop Centres, where she supports survivors of gender-based violence and violence against children through legal aid, psychosocial referrals, and case management.
She is the founder of Usawa Kwa Wote, a youth-led initiative (implemented as part of her role as a Women Deliver Emerging Leader from the West African cohort), which has reached over 3,000 adolescent girls with SRHR education, menstrual health support, leadership training, and economic empowerment programs.
Through her legal aid work, she provides legal support and community education on sexual violence, digital safety, and land rights. She also works with Assalam Community Foundation on programs and fundraising, and is actively engaged in peacebuilding efforts in Zanzibar and Pemba.
She is a member of the Tanzania Women, Peace and Security Coalition and serves as a Commonwealth Youth Peace Ambassador.
WD2026 || Funding for Feminist Funds and Movements in a Post-ODA World
About the Event
There are more than a dozen dialogues and processes happening right now on how to reform and restructure official development assistance. Are we headed for a “post-ODA world” and what will it look like? Yet, just when activists are highlighting the urgency of supporting women's and feminist funds and movements, these processes are silent on financing for gender equality.
Join us at Women Deliver 2026 for a strategic discussion on how we can bring feminist analysis and priorities into these conversations.
Event Details
Date: Tuesday, April 28, 2026
Time: 2:00-3:00 PM (AEST)
Location: Resourcing Hub — Exhibition Hall, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre
*NOTE: To attend this event, you must have a confirmed registration to participate in the Women Deliver 2026 Conference.
Sponsors
Prospera International Network of Women’s Funds
Alliance for Feminist Movements
Hivos, Walking the Talk
Feminist Foreign Policy Collaborative
Speakers
Fadekemi (Kemi) Akinfaderin, Chief Global Advocacy Officer, Fòs Feminista
Alison McLachlan, Assistant Director, Gender Equality, Disability and Social Inclusion Branch, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Government of Australia
Benjamin Overton, Senior Project Manager, SEEK Development
Beth Woroniuk, Senior Fellow, Feminist Foreign Policy Collaborative; Resourcing Expert, Prospera International Network of Women’s Funds
Biographies
Fadekemi (Kemi) Akinfaderin |
Chief Global Advocacy Officer, Fòs Feminista
Fadekemi (Kemi) Akinfaderin (she/her) joined Fòs Feminista as Chief Global Advocacy Officer to lead the organization’s Global Advocacy for Change Unit. Kemi is a feminist thought leader and connector in women’s sexual and reproductive justice movements whose intersectional feminist voice and deep experience in movement building and trust-based grantmaking energize Fòs Feminista’s national, regional and global advocacy work and partnerships.
Kemi brings more than 20 years of experience working in partnership with women’s rights organizations, funds and feminist and social justice movements in Africa and globally. Throughout her career, she has been an activist for sexual and reproductive health, rights and justice and has built close relationships with feminist sexual and reproductive health and rights organizations and leaders in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean and the Pacific. She has the drive to “positively disrupt the status quo” and the commitment to elevate the voices of feminist activists globally. Learn more about Kemi’s background here.
Alison McLachlan | Assistant Director, Gender Equality, Disability and Social Inclusion Branch, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Government of Australia
Alison McLachlan (she/her) manages the Accelerating Investment in Women’s Rights and RiseUp! partnerships in the Gender Equality Disability and Social Inclusion Branch at the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Accelerating Investment in Women’s Rights is Australia’s flagship investment in women’s rights organisations and networks in the Indo-Pacific. RiseUp! is Australia’s key investment in Young Women’s Leadership. Alison has worked in Australia’s international foreign affairs, trade and development program since 2011, specialising in Gender Equality and Social Inclusion.
Benjamin Overton | Senior Project Manager, SEEK Development
Benjamin Overton (he/him) is a Senior Project Manager at SEEK Development. His experience spans over 10 years in philanthropy, resource mobilization, and impact investing within the non-profit, government, and private sectors. At SEEK, he leads our work in Climate Adaptation and Global Education.
Benjamin has extensive experience in leading strategy development processes, resource mobilization efforts, and multi-stakeholder dialogues and partnerships, enabling him to work in close partnership with clients to explore strategic questions and to effectively manage complex processes.
Benjamin’s previous experience has focused on the intersection of human rights, economic empowerment, and effective development assistance. He worked most recently as Partnerships Manager at Yunus Social Business, where he gained experience managing large institutional funding contracts and innovative financing models for development. He also brings extensive experience in philanthropy and corporate social responsibility gained as a Programme Officer at the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Benjamin began his career in resource mobilization for the International Crisis Group and Humanity in Action, a human rights education organization.
Benjamin has a Master’s of Public Administration, a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Asian Studies, and a Certificate of Nonprofit Management from the University of Washington.
Beth Woroniuk | Senior Fellow, Feminist Foreign Policy Collaborative; Resourcing Expert, Prospera
Beth Woroniuk (she/her) has worked to advance gender justice and feminist approaches to policymaking for over 35 years. She is particularly interested in financing for gender equality, feminist foreign policies and women, peace and security. Beth has advised and worked with bilateral aid agencies, women’s funds, UN entities, international NGOs and feminist organizations, strengthening their work on gender equality and women’s rights. She has developed analytical tools, supported policy development, carried out research, blogged, conducted evaluations, organized, lobbied and testified before the Canadian Parliament. Until early 2024, Beth served as the Vice President of Policy at the Equality Fund. In 2025, Beth received the King Charles III Coronation Medal and served on the G7 Gender Equality Advisory Council. She is currently a Senior Fellow with Feminist Foreign Policy Collaborative.
As part of the inaugural class of the Feminist Foreign Policy Collaborative’s Visiting Fellows Program, Beth's thought leadership focuses on current feminist foreign policy discussions — both globally and in Canada — and financing for gender equality.