Paper details
| Paper authors | Lilian Njeri Mbuthi |
| In panel on | Feminist crisis response amidst anti-rights politics and backlash: insights from hum. practice (Roundtable) |
| Paper presenter(s) will be presenting |
In-Person / |
Abstract
Amid escalating anti-rights politics and global rollbacks on gender justice, humanitarian actors face unprecedented barriers to delivering life-saving services and upholding women’s and LGBTQ+ communities’ rights. Drawing on mixed-methods research from frontline responses in East Africa, South Asia, and Latin America, this paper unpacks how feminist principles are operationalized under political duress. We analyze three core strategies: community-led needs assessments that center marginalized voices; decentralized funding models that enable rapid adaptation to shifting policy environments; and strategic coalition-building across secular and faith-based actors to protect service corridors. Through case studies of menstrual health initiatives in Northern Kenya, sexual violence response in the Philippines, and abortion accompaniment networks in Mexico, we demonstrate how rights-based accompaniment both sustains essential care and catalyzes local advocacy even when formal institutions retract support. Our findings highlight measurable gains—a 40 % increase in safe-service uptake in restrictive contexts and the emergence of twenty new local advocacy groups within two years. By elevating practitioner insights, we propose a scalable feminist crisis response framework, grounded in solidarity, subsidiarity, and sustained collectivity, to navigate and neutralize anti-rights backlash in humanitarian practice.
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