In 2024, the ACT Alliance Gender Justice Programme continued to demonstrate significant impact in advancing gender justice, through collaborative programme implementation, including gender just policies, interconnected advocacy from national to global levels, theological resources, and new research reports and briefs.
Short description
The International Gender Justice Community of Practice collaborated in several different UN advocacy spaces, including the UN Commission on the Status of Women, and the UN Human Rights Council. Partnership was also strengthened with the Human Rights and Development Community of Practice, and plans developed for 2025 on ways to counter internal backlashes and promote gender-transformative language in UN texts.
In collaboration with ACT EU, the Gender Justice Programme convened members for an event on advancing gender justice in difficult times and the role of faith-based organisations and the EU. The session highlighted how faith-based actors are strategically working to counter backlashes from the grassroots to the global. The collaboration included the creation of a new publication, “Advancing Gender Justice in Challenging Times: Examples of Projects by ACT Alliance Members.” This comprehensive booklet highlights the efforts of ACT members across the globe in advocating for gender justice, women’s and LGBTQI+ rights, and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).
The Africa Gender Justice Community of Practice prioritised peer learning on key themes such as transformative masculinities, gender and security, and women in leadership. The ACT Ethiopia Forum hosted an in-person regional workshop, which served as a dynamic space for strengthening member capacity in transformative masculinities, and security related to women human rights defenders. Collective regional plans were also established that integrate theology, advocacy, projects, and policy.
The Asia-Pacific Gender Justice Community of Practice advanced gender-transformative practices through virtual workshops and prioritised capacity sharing in women in leadership. This led to the creation of a pilot Women in Leadership Academy in partnership with WCC – a six-session online course that convened pioneering national, regional and global leaders to share strategies for challenging patriarchal structures and norms. More than training, the academy served as a catalyst to mobilise and advocate for transformative change, empowering women in all their diversity to lead and thrive.
The MENA Gender Justice Community of Practice remained focused on advancing equality in family laws, strengthening regional partnerships with the Global Campaign for Equality in Family Law. Although plans for an in-person meeting were postponed due to wars in the region, a virtual solidarity event enabled critical dialogue on family law reform in times of crisis. Ongoing virtual meetings provided space to analyse emergency contexts and reinforce gender justice within humanitarian responses.
In May, ACT Alliance convened members in Colombia to discuss regressive agendas and how to counter fundamentalist narratives. This resulted in the development of regional strategies and a shared agenda that includes gender justice as a cross-cutting priority. Following the workshop, working groups have been established and a localised implementation plan developed for national forums. An additional key outcome is Argumentario: A Collective Effort Against Fundamentalisms – a theological resource born from regional collaboration that systematises tools, reflections, and strategies to challenge fundamentalisms and promote gender justice within faith spaces.
In 2025, the Gender Justice Programme aims to strengthen gender-transformative action by rolling out the revised ACT Gender Justice Policy, accompanied by global and regional capacity strengthening and an implementation plan approved by the Governing Board. The programme will mobilise members to align programmatic actions with the Gender Justice Programme, pursue joint resource mobilisation, and build strategic funding partnerships to advance concrete political, legal, and social change.
ACT will continue to integrate a gender and power lens into intersecting programme areas, enhancing collaboration with other programmes such as Climate Justice towards COP30 in Brazil, and supporting joint initiatives on gender, peacebuilding, and adaptation advocacy. The programme will also strengthen the evidence base for gender justice work by producing new research and publications on Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR), and by amplifying learnings from diverse regional contexts to inform advocacy and programming.
Efforts will focus on building the capacity of faith leaders, theological actors, and technical staff through strategic accompaniment, technical briefs, and co-produced theological reflections to advance gender justice across faith spaces.
ACT will sustain and deepen its global advocacy by ensuring strategic participation in key UN policy spaces such as CSW, CPD, CEDAW, and the Human Rights Council, while building partnerships with faith and rights-based actors to counter backlashes and advance gender justice, including SRHR and LGBTQI+ rights, at global, regional, and national levels.