The Kaagapay Solidarity Fund for Feminist Resilience responds to the increasingly volatile context faced by women, girls, trans, intersex and other groups in Asia. We stand in solidarity with women, girls, trans, and intersex activists and groups living through complex emergencies and crises.

Application for Kaagapay grants is only open to WFA partners, and is strictly by invitation only.

The Bhoomi Initiative is a partnership between the Foundation for a Just Society (FJS) and WFA, seeking to address the urgent need for developing and strengthening leadership and organisational skills among young people from South Asia’s most historically oppressed communities, particularly Dalit and Oppressed-Caste women and queer-transgender communities.

In Nepal, LGBTQIA persons face harassment, sexual violence and exclusion in their daily lives, due to oppressive heteronormative social norms. In this context, Unity for Change, an LBTQIA+ led organisation was supported through DFAT resourcing to create safe spaces for 53 transmen to share their diverse experiences and stories. These safe spaces created belongingness and peer support for the participants and also generated evidence of exclusion and challenges to advocate with policymakers and relevant stakeholders for inclusive laws and policy. For example in one session at Dhangadi in western Nepal, participants raised the discrimination faced by transmen seeking hormone therapy at public health institutions. The limited availability of knowledgeable healthcare professionals and the stigma surrounding transgender healthcare were cited as major barriers. The partner used the evidence built in the session to train 17 medical professionals in Bajhang on gender affirmative care and the needs of transmen seeking healthcare.

The partner also conducted two provincial level stakeholder consultations with municipal authorities in Dhangadi and Tillotama, a city in Lumbini province in western Nepal. The Tilottama municipal authorities committed to establishing space for LGBTQIA children in the admissions process at Shanti Namuna Higher Secondary School. They also committed to conducting a survey to identify LGBTQIA persons within their municipal limits and the issues they face. The Dhangadi municipality committed to allocating funds for increasing transmen’s access to municipal services. 

In India, victim-blaming, social humiliation, and apathy toward victims of SGBV are deeply ingrained societal issues. Although legal protections exist, many women lack access to rights-based information, safe and confidential reporting mechanisms, and supportive community networks. These gaps, combined with the pervasive fear of retaliation, often deter survivors from pursuing justice, perpetuating a cycle of injustice.

Over three years of sustained support, WFA’s grantee partner in rural Uttarakhand has engaged hundreds of marginalized women through a transformative legal empowerment program. Beginning with foundational yet comprehensive training on gender laws—including protections against domestic violence, workplace harassment, and marital rights, women gained the confidence to engage directly with the judiciary. The program expanded to address emerging threats like cybercrime and fostered women’s participation in governance. A major milestone was the creation of Women Forums, grassroots pressure groups that now serve as whistle-blowers, advocates, and safe spaces for survivors, actively linking communities to police, legal aid, and helplines. To complement these efforts, Legal Rights Handbook for Women and Government Schemes for Women—were developed and widely distributed. These resources are now being utilised in community training sessions, women’s networks, and self-help groups to sustain legal awareness and accessibility.

In total, the program has facilitated access to legal knowledge, awareness and community support for over 900 women through different rounds of training and forums. As a result, women survivors took on leadership roles, actively guiding other women in their communities to navigate government legal aid services and file formal complaints; this shift highlights both increased legal awareness and the emergence of sustainable, community-driven support systems for gender justice.

In Malaysia, open conversations about SRHR remain taboo. LFS II grantee partner Reproductive Rights Advocacy Alliance Malaysia (RRAAM) built a community of feminist youth champions, with each young activist championing SRHR within their own communities. The Youth Advocacy Institute of the organisation, which was set up to build youth leadership in advancing awareness and access to SRHR and services, trained 50 young activists on SRHR and leadership, deepening their understanding of activism in Malaysia. Among them, 10 were hired by RRAAM in their own programme and the other youth activists are leading conversations with their peers on SRHR in their own communities and on social media.

In Bangladesh, only 5% of women own land, and they are systematically dispossessed by discriminatory laws and gender norms. Coercion and fraud routinely steal families’ security, with women having no recourse or voice to resist.

Badabon Sangho recognises that this injustice demands both grassroots action and policy change. Since receiving their first WFA grant in 2019, they’ve built a comprehensive approach: providing practical training to navigate complex bureaucracies, building awareness on land rights, and mobilising women for collective action. Their strategy transformed individual vulnerability into collective power. Over three years, Badabon Sangho reached more than 14,000 women, girls, and trans people. They didn’t just educate—they organised, mobilising over 4,600 women from 11 districts to create the Women Land Rights Network.

This network became a force for legislative change. Through strategic advocacy, they helped shape the Land Crime Prevention and Remedy Act 2023—groundbreaking legislation that criminalises forced eviction and related crimes. The transformation goes beyond policy. Women who once feared speaking even at home, now lead public gatherings and advocate for others.

“Women who didn’t speak even inside the family are now speaking in public gatherings. They have built a movement that seeks not just land rights for women but greater economic justice. This is our biggest achievement,” says Badabon Sangho’s Chairperson.

In Indonesia, where a large dam project has displaced indigenous communities and increased their vulnerability to landslides and other disasters, a severe problem of water pollution has occurred due to river water around the dam’s construction area becoming polluted with excavated soil, creating an environmental risk for people who live in the surrounding areas. In this challenging context, WFA grantee partner Solidaritas Perempuan Mataram has created vital spaces for women from 5 villages most affected by water pollution to put their problems to policy makers such as village, district and provincial governments through a mechanism of regular public hearings. The partner also compiled Fact Sheets, which detail the larger impact of the dam construction and operation. This Fact Sheet was then put before representatives from the Health Office, the Environmental Service, the River Basin Agency and the construction company. The Fact Sheet was featured in mainstream and social media, bringing attention to these crucial environmental issues.

A grantee partner in the Philippines implemented critical intervention amidst a complex context marked by  conflict, recurring natural disasters like Typhoon Paeng, and ongoing political tensions. The grant strengthened the  institutional capacity of five emerging women’s organisations; with the main goal to improve the mental health and well-being of women survivors in various crisis situations. Safe spaces were created and prioritised through the psychosocial and self-care sessions for the five organisations; sessions on addressing trauma, stress management and worklife balance with over 100 women’s participation.This resulted in increased awareness of psychological self-care and renewed energy for organizational work, and revitalized relationships within their groups. Most significantly, each organisation established permanent ‘Committees on Mental Health and Well-Being’, three-member teams now leading implementation of customized action plans. To incorporate sustainable interventions like psychological first aid training, peer counselling networks, team-building activities, and alternative healthcare approaches, ensuring lasting mental health support structures within the communities. These efforts are now more responsive community-based initiatives, aligned with both partner needs and broader advocacy goals.