A Voice For the Voiceless
The Advocacy Project helps marginalized communities to tell their story, claim their rights and produce social change.
We are currently recruiting graduate students to volunteer as Peace Fellows with partners.
- News Service
- Bulletins
- By Country/Territory
- Afghanistan
- Bangladesh
- Bosnia
- Brazil
- Czech Republic
- Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Ecuador
- El Salvador
- Guatemala
- Iran
- India
- Iraq
- Kenya
- Kosovo
- Macedonia
- Malaysia
- Nepal
- Nigeria
- Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel
- Peru
- Russia
- Serbia
- Sri Lanka
- Trinidad
- Uganda
- United Kingdom
- UN Backs the Dale Farm Travellers in Their Fight Against Eviction, April 29, 2009
- Dale Farm Travellers Face Eviction After UK Appeals Court Ruling, January 22, 2009
- Dale Farm Travellers Face Racism and Prejudice as Court Mulls Appeal, December 19, 2008
- Dale Farm Community Center Faces Demolition as Eviction Threat Resurfaces, September 26, 2008
- Britain's High Court Lifts the Threat of Eviction from the Dale Farm Travellers, May 13, 2008
- Defiant Travellers Open Community Center as Britain's High Court Prepares to Rule on Their Eviction, May 5, 2008
- Dale Farm Eviction Crisis Reaches the British High Court, February 14, 2008
- Dale Farm Travellers Win Key Concession as Eviction Deadline Approaches, December 11, 2007
- Success for Traveler Advocacy in UK As Eviction Threat Lifts at Dale Farm, July 9, 2007
- AP Peace Fellow Defends Traveler Rights, Arouses British Ire, June 12, 2007
- Urban Sprawl Trumps Minority Housing Rights in UK as Dale Farm Travelers Again Face Eviction, March 2, 2007
- Traveler Evictions in the UK Are ‘Hazardous to Environment and Children’s Health’ Claim Advocates, November 1, 2006
- Travelers Face Eviction Despite Intervention, July 29, 2005
- Showdown Looms as Advocates Seek to Avert Violent Eviction of 600 Travelers in the UK, July 13, 2005
- English Gypsy Women Warn of Possible “Deaths” from Forcible Evictions, and Appeal for International Mediation, April 8, 2005
- Roma Evictions Erupt Across Europe as New ‘Decade’ Seeks to End Discrimination January 31, 2005
- Dictionary.com Removes Offensive Gypsy Definition in Response to Grassroots Campaign, September 22, 2004
- New Funding Grants $8,000 to International Roma Women’s Network, June 1, 2004
- Roma: Roma Women Activists Challange European Governments Over Health Crisis, September 11, 2003
- The International Roma Women's Network is Launched, March 8, 2003
- Vietnam
- Other
- By Issue
- By Date
- Newsletters
- Multimedia
- Global Issues
- AP Diaries and Staff Blogs
The Impact of Service
|
Translate this page:
New Funding Grants $8,000 to International Roma Women’s Network, June 1, 2004
**********
AdvocacyNet
News Bulletin - Number 18, June 1, 2004
**********
London, UK, June 1, 2004: The International Roma Women's Network (IRWN) has received approximately $8,000 from The Funding Network (TFN), a London-based group of funders that has pioneered an innovative new approach to supporting social change.
This is the first grant for the IRWN, which was established on May 8, 2003 by Roma women activists from 18 countries. The Advocacy Project has provided advice and training for the network.
TFN members meet regularly to review a limited number of proposals, which are presented in person by activists. The latest TFN meeting, held at a medical center in London on May 27, raised $41,000 for five groups, including the IRWN. 18 TFN members contributed a total of $8,000 to the IRWN.
The IRWN presentation was led by Catherine Beard, Campaign Coordinator for the IRWN and Secretary of the (UK) National Association of Gypsy Women, and Iain Guest, director of the Advocacy Project. Ms. Beard explained how the IRWN uses its e-mail distribution list to keep members informed and lobby governments. Over the past year the IRWN has lobbied the governments of Germany and the UK, the UN and the European Commission on behalf of Roma women.
The TFN funds will improve communications between the IRWN's five committee members and expand the IRWN's e-mail lobbying. The project will also pay for an IRWN website, to be designed by a Roma web designer from the Roma Information Project (RIP). RIP began in 2002 with support from the Open Society Institute and Advocacy Project, and registered as an NGO in Bulgaria earlier this year.
It is hoped that the TFN grant will also attract the attention of other funders to the IRWN, and make it possible for the IRWN's 18-member network to meet, formalize a constitution, and develop a long-term campaigning strategy.
Meanwhile, TFN is receiving publicity and praise in the UK for making it possible for individuals to support social change while engaging directly with those seeking funds. According to one newspaper article, TFN turns charitable giving into a 'more collaborative and collective experience, and (makes) giving as enriching to the donor as to the recipient.'
Since it was set up in 2002 by Frederick Mulder, a UK-based philanthropist, TFN has raised over $500,000 for scores of community-based initiatives that would otherwise find it extremely difficult to raise money. There is interest in establishing offshoots of TFN in several UK cities, and even Australia.
- Learn more about the Funding Network through email: or write to The Funding Network, 83 Belsize Park Gardens, London NW3 4NJ, UK. Tel (44) 020 7586 1442.
Back