Southern Feminist Practice of Action Research

Isis International conducts action research using Southern feminist analysis as a framework to examine the emerging issues that affect women in the Global South. It also surfaces their experiences and strategies in their struggles for equality and justice based on the intersectionality of gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, age, religion, class, caste, citizenship and location, among many others. The topics of these researches vary from media and ICT, migration, peace and conflict, sexuality and heteronormativity, and more. The research findings are disseminated through various Isis’ publications and information services with a global reach. These researches also facilitate the strengthening of social movements as well as contribute to Isis’ advocacies and policy interventions in different levels.

Capacity Building

Isis activist school for feminist development communications

Effective advocacy has, at its core, good communications strategies. Isis International conducts in-house and on-site training seminars for women activists and development practitioners on the theory and practice of feminist development communications. These seminars are structured around specific themes, such as: women’s participation in peace building; gender-based violence, sexual diversity and wellbeing; disaster management and climate change, among others.

Participants gain a deeper appreciation on the role of diverse media in cause-oriented advocacy work and develop and sharpen their skills in community radio; journalism and publications, film and video, ICTs for advocacy and networking; and convergent media technologies. Throughout the trainings, we promote democratic access to technology with the use of free and open source software.

Gender Sensitivity Training for multiple partners and stakeholders

Isis International works with organisations and government agencies to include gender as a crosscutting concern and an integral part of their organisational management, development work and political commitment.

Resource Centre

Isis International maintains a dynamic repository of feminist and genderfocused resources and documentation, housed in its Resource Centre. Here are a wealth of archives ranging from early feminist publications from all over the world, current journals, magazines and audiovisual materials, to digital and photo archives from various women’s international meetings and events. The staff can also assist feminist researchers, gender advocates, development practitioners and students in their subject of study.

Information and Communication

Women in Action (WIA) is the Isis International flagship magazine, which popularises visions, strategies, and information relevant to women’s movements. It challenges dominant discourses on development issues and presents southern feminist analyses derived from both feminist theory and praxis. It supports advocacies and campaigns on various issues and links women’s organisations, feminist networks, and other social movements. Each WIA magazine focuses on a specific issue. Some themes include gender and climate change, food crisis, fundamentalisms, reproductive and sexual health and rights, and gender, media & ICTs.

We! is the bi-weekly online current events news bulletin with subscribers from all over the world. It highlights and focuses the advocacy agendas of women’s movements, especially in Asia and the Pacific, covering issues regarding community and independent media, global governance and social movements, cultural diversity, gender and economy and sexual well-being. It is also a space for information exchange, disseminating the various messages from women’s movement and civil society organisations.

The Isis International website, www.isisinternational.org is a rich resource on the various issues and themes covered by our advocacy areas; including onsite reportage of events, directories of NGOs, training modules, toolkits and royalty-free artwork for publications.