The Feminist Leadership Convening Manifesto

On September 10-11, the Feminist Leadership Hub is organising the first-ever virtual Feminist Leadership Convening. Read on to learn more about why and how we’re putting this event together.

Why we’re convening

From attacks on DE&I to slashed public funding and shrinking space for civil society, it’s clear that the social impact sector is in a deep moment of crisis. And in crisis, we tend to revert back to what’s familiar – like traditional leadership structures and approaches. But those structures are part of what got us here.

Now is the time to come together, collectively strategise, and re-energise our efforts and movements towards a more feminist world – starting with our own ecosystems, from international NGOs to grassroots initiatives.

And this can be more than a defensive reaction, if we want to be: while the developments of the past years have been devastating, we now have the opportunity to not just reconstruct what was, but build something more resilient, more inclusive, and more just.

In this context, the Feminist Leadership Convening serves as a time and place to forge new connections, exchange knowledge, and strengthen our solidarities.

How we’ll convene

In Feminist Leadership, how we do things is just as important as what we’re aiming to achieve; the how is fundamentally intertwined with the what. Or as Ursula K. Leguin wrote, “What if there never is an end? Then all we have is means.”

Just as with the Feminist Leadership Hub, we aim to run the Feminist Leadership Convening according to our values, principles and politics. Here’s how:

A participatory approach: we conducted a survey and focus group discussions to guide both the content and format of the convening and ensure it meets your learning needs
Interpretation: we offer simultaneous French/English interpretation for sessions with external guests; while we realise this leaves a long way to go when it comes to language justice, we hope using our limited resources in this way can make the convening more accessible to some
Attention to care and rest: In addition to sessions on these topics, all sessions (with the except of the 30-minute sessions) will end 5 minutes early to allow for a moment of transition
Challenging knowledge hierarchies: we want to recognise and platform the vast knowledge of our community, so the majority of the Feminist Leadership Convening is made up of sessions run by Hub member
Guidelines for all session hosts: to try to ensure the Convening is a safer space across the two days, we shared our values with all session hosts, and requested they use slides in presentations to accommodate neurodivergence and language differences
Celebration and creativity: each day will end with musical performances, because creating moments of joy and celebration is key to sustaining ourselves
Documentation: to make the knowledge shared during the Convening accessible to those who couldn’t attend, we will record all sessions (with host permission) and note key takeaways
Feedback: we will solicit feedback from Convening participants and session hosts so that we can learn and grow as a community-led platform

Shared principles

In addition to following the Feminist Leadership Hub Code of Conduct, in each session, we aim to collectively uphold the following principles (based on guidelines developed by We Are Feminist Leaders):

We will uphold the principle of confidentiality – what is said in the breakout rooms will stay in the room, unless permission is given to do otherwise. Only hosts’ input will be recorded.
We strive to create an environment where everyone listens deeply, with curiosity and respect
We will “step up” by sharing our thoughts and experiences while being mindful of to create space for others to do the same (“stepping down”)
We encourage everyone to cultivate an awareness of their respective levels of power and privilege in relation to others – we invite you all to consider what this means for how you show up in the online space
We won’t shy away from difficult conversations – they are so necessary to our growth
We will support each other to interrupt expressions of oppressive power, should they occur in any of the sessions
There may be hierarchies and unequal relations of power between us as participants/facilitators, but even in a hierarchy, we can be equal as thinkers. We will treat each other as peers, with valuable insights to share

So, want to experience this space for yourself? Check out the Feminist Leadership Convening programme and if you’re not already a member of the Hub, sign up now to register for sessions!