WUNRN
Grassroots Organizations Operating Together in Sisterhood
(GROOTS International) is a global network of women-led grassroots
organizations. It was founded in 1989 from a shared vision that grassroots
women's groups needed to be at the center of decision-making processes
affecting their lives and their communities. Grassroots women have always been
responding to the needs of their communities and women working to create change
in their lives and their communities have unique knowledge and skills related
to their work. GROOTS was formed from these women-led community groups
organizing to give voice and power to grassroots women's local visions and
initiatives.
Grassroots women are uniquely placed as potential advisors,
implementers, and evaluators for development projects in their communities
because of their experience and knowledge and the impact placing grassroots
women as decision-makers has on power relationships within a community. GROOTS,
as a movement, advances the knowledge of grassroots women and champions them as
experts in order to influence policies and programs related to community
development to engage grassroots women in decision making processes.
GROOTS believes that grassroots women's groups need to be
at the center of decision making processes affecting their lives and the
development of their communities. GROOTS International and member organizations
work to develop poor rural and urban communities and empower women through
valuing their work and creating opportunities for poor, grassroots women to
speak on their issue with local authorities and at international events,
meetings, and conferences. GROOTS offers a pro-poor perspective on women and
gender debates and gives voice and power to grassroots women's local visions
and initiatives.
Local groups, though the largest and most effective
actors working towards community development, are underappreciated and
underfunded. GROOTS counters this pattern by focusing attention on the work and
expertise of grassroots women through peer learning processes. The work of
GROOTS is driven by its goals.
GROOTS' Goals:
• Strengthen women's participation in the development of communities.
• Support urban and rural grassroots women's groups to identify and share their
successful practices.
• Focus international attention on grassroots women's needs and abilities.
• Increase the opportunities for grassroots women's groups to network directly
across countries.
GROOTS has four thematic programs that grew from the work
of member organizations and is a space for organizing locally, nationally, and
internationally surrounding particular themes. The campaigns are Governance,
AIDS, Caring Community Development, and Community Resilience. Being a member of
a global campaign such as these thematic programs provides increased
opportunities for member organizations to negotiate policy shifts towards ones
that support and fund their work.
The needs of poor women are not met by current
development programs and approaches. Because of long standing patriarchal
structures that guide and dominate decision-making, women and particularly poor
women are seen as receivers of aid money and development strategies rather than
active participants in community development. In direct contradiction, GROOTS
works to recognize and value women's knowledge and experiences and insert their
voices into the planning, creation and implementation of development policies
and programs.
Recognizing women's skills and knowledge in community
development, GROOTS utilizes methodologies that value that experience and
develops strategies to bring grassroots women into decision making processes.
Peer learning offers a unique opportunity for women to present their work as
experts and collaborate on common goals. This methodology also promotes the
creation of strategies by member organizations in preparation for global
advocacy work.
GROOTS recognizes the power in collaborative women's work
and relationship building. Relationships within GROOTS are based on mutual
support and a shared set of values and vision for the future. As a network,
GROOTS utilizes the power of strong relationships and women working together to
bring a collecting message on the needs of grassroots women to the global stage
especially within the UN system.
The GROOTS programs were created to utilize the
collective struggles of grassroots women worldwide to challenge the power
structures that exclude grassroots women. GROOTS supports local leaders to link
up and work together to demand recognition, inclusion, and funding from the
local level all the way to the United Nations.
Connecting with other groups through being a part of a
global network offers grassroots women an opportunity to learn and share
information pertinent to their work. Women are also more able to influence
policy surrounding the inclusion of poor rural and urban women in decision
making processes when organized and are more likely to be heard in a global
arena.
GROOTS also uses partnerships to advance the work of
grassroots women. Key partnerships provide an opportunity to redefine
relationships between grassroots women and professionals. In equitable and
mutually supportive partnerships, grassroots women are valued for their
expertise and leadership while partner are valued for their commitment to
supporting community driven development. Partnerships can give voice to
grassroots women and extend the reach of their message.
GROOTS see itself as a movement committed to long term
change. The work of GROOTS not only addresses immediate needs of member
organizations, its methodologies are meant to challenge existing power
structures. Through utilization of these methods, GROOTS works to empower women
and redefine the way international development is approached and how other
engage with grassroots womens' organizations.
GROOTS International is an active founding member of the
Huairou Commission and has been pivotal in its continued development. GROOTS
also serves as the host for the Secretariat of the Huairou Commission in its
international headquarters in
AIDS
The efforts of the Huairou Commission AIDS Campaign are
led by GROOTS members, particularly in the area of Home Based Care. As a
response to the AIDS pandemic in their communities, many of the GROOTS groups
in
Resilience
GROOTS also leads the Resilience Campaign for the Huairou
Commission. Grassroots women are regularly responding to disasters, playing key
roles in rebuilding after disasters and preparing communities to be more
resilient to disasters and climate change. However, women are consistently left
out of planning and monitoring resources coming in to their community after a
disaster. GROOTS member organizations are working with the Resilience Campaign
to strengthen the strategies of grassroots women to reduce community
vulnerability. GROOTS established the Community Disaster Relief Fund (CDRF) to
channel funds directly to community based organizations and women's groups.
Currently, a Community Platform is being created in partnership with UNISDR as
a space for grassroots women to act as advisor and evaluators of the Hyogo
Framework for Action (HFA) that seeks to build more resilient communities. CDRF
and the Community Platform are main initiatives of the Resilience Campaign for
the Huairou Commission. For more information on grassroots women's approaches
to disaster resilience, see our Community Resilience Campaign page.
Land & Housing and Governance
Many of the GROOTS members are actively participating in
the Land and Housing Campaign and the Governance Campaign. GROOTS International
members were instrumental in the piloting and replication of the Local to Local
Dialogue, a process promoted by the HC Governance Campaign. GROOTS has also
supported many of its members to carry out Local to Local Dialogues, further
developing the process and contributing to its recognition as a tool for participatory
local governance. To learn more about these campaigns, visit the Land
& Housing Campaign page and the Governance
Campaign page.
Developing Tools and Methodologies
GROOTS International has also been pivotal in the
development of the Tools and Methods implemented and promoted
by the Huairou Commission. The values of recognizing women's knowledge and
individual empowerment are expressed in these methods, particularly through the
act of peer learning. During Peer Exchanges, women's groups visit
another group to exchange experience and reflect on their expertise in the
field of development. Grassroots Academies are larger peer
learning spaces that bring women from different communities, organizations, and
countries to share their knowledge and experiences to develop policy
recommendations. A Local to Local Dialogue is a process
through which grassroots women meet with local authorities on issues that
affect them the most to present their knowledge and advocate for policy
changes. GROOTS members also implement the Leadership Support Process, a
women's empowerment methodology developed by the National Congress of
Neighborhood Women in the
Since the establishment of GROOTS International,
grassroots women have consistently occupied spaces at global conferences such
as the World Urban Forum, the UN Commission on Status of Women, UNISDR Global
Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, International and Regional AIDS
Conferences, etc. Women are actively representing themselves and their
communities because of the work of GROOTS and there are increasing
opportunities for the voices of grassroots women to be included in the global
arena.
Member organizations are engaged in mutually beneficial
partnerships with donors and policy institutions (UN agencies, bilateral
donors, INGOs, research and policy organizations and private donors).
Grassroots women are continually asserting their authority and negotiate policy
shifts towards ones that recognize, support, and fund their work.
Grassroots women's groups are conducting action research
projects to gather knowledge of their communities and use this knowledge in
advocacy work. Through this work, grassroots women are continuously proving
their capacity to serve as knowledgeable resources in their communities.
Many grassroots women's organizations have developed into
national level networks after joining GROOTS, enabling them to expand their
membership, support and power. Groups have strengthened their leadership and
capacity to articulate their collective knowledge. With the support of other
women in GROOTS, individual grassroots women leaders have grown into greater
leadership roles, guiding a global movement.
The methodologies developed and promoted by GROOTS have
enhanced the capacity of grassroots women to lead sustainable development
projects on the ground. These methodologies have been recognized as effective
tools for women's empowerment, sharing of knowledge, and creating strategic
advocacy messages. The
Associacao das Entidades de Apoio ao Desencolvimento
Sustentavel de Pintadas (Brazil)
Ntankah Village Women Common Initiatives Group (Cameroon)
Common Initiative Group of the Women Farmers of Bogso (Cameroon)
GROOTS Canada (Canada)
Alianza de Mujeres Costarricense (Costa Rica)
Czech Mothers Centers (Czech Republic)
Movimiento Nacional de Mujeres de Sectores Populares, Luna Creciente (Ecuador)
Mother Centers International- MINE (Europe)
Grassroots Sisterhood Foundation (Ghana)
German Mothers Centers (Germany)
Comite de Emergencia Garifuna (Honduras)
Convenant Center for Development (India)
Swayam Shikshan Prayog-SSP (India)
Working Women's Forum (India)
Cork Women's Education Initiatives-CWEI (Ireland)
Jamaican Sistren Theatre (Jamaica)
GROOTS Jamaica (Jamaica)
GROOTS Kenya (Kenya)
Union de Cooperativas las Brumas (Nicaragua)
International Women's Communication Center (Nigeria)
Mokosoi Grassroots WOmen;s Association- GROOTS Papua New Guinea (Paupa New
Guinea)
GROOTS Peru (Peru)
Mujeres Unidas Para Un Pueblo Mejor (Peru)
La Central de Bancos Comunales del Augustino y Santa Anita (Peru)
Servicios Educativos del Augustino-SEA (Peru)
Red de Mujers Lima Este (Peru)
Confederacion Nacional de Mujeres Organizadas por la Vida y el Desarrollo
Integral-CONAMOVIDI (Peru)
DAMPA (Phillippines)
Rwanda Women's Network (Rwanda)
Foundation for the Support of Women's Work (Turkey)
UCOBAC (Uganda)
The National Congress of Neighborhood Women (United States)
Girl Child Network (Zimbabwe)
GROOTS Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe)