UAF Mentioned in Chronicle of Philanthropy

On March 1 Chronicle of Philanthropy published an article calling on funders to step up to increase funding for peace and security in response to the war in Ukraine. Urgent Action Fund is linked in the article as an example of an organization offering flexible, rapid response funding to frontline activists - the kind of support the author of the article, Alexandra Toma, deems essential at this current juncture.

As part of Bread & Net’s yearly conference on digital rights, Urgent Action Fund hosted an online panel discussing digital security and rights from the feminist prespective on November 24.

Bella Bat-Erden, Grants Officer at UAF, opened and closed the session, with Lina Abou Habib from Doria Feminist Fund moderating the conversarion and panelists Senda Ben Jebara from Astrea Foundation, Nadia Elboubkri from FRIDA Feminist Fund, Jac Sm Kee from Numun Fund, and Elsa Saade from UAF joining the conversation. Together, the panelists spoke about how funders can support the digital security and rights of communities at risk in the Middle East. 

Grantee Highlight: Deystvie
 

Bulgaria does not recognize same-sex marriages, and as a result, has refused to grant birth certificates and identity papers to children born to parents of the same gender. Thanks to the advocacy of Urgent Action Fund grantee Deystvie, this is no longer the case. Using funding from UAF, Deystvie raised awareness of the issue using video and media coverage to reach thousands of people across Bulgaria and Europe, and also participated in a hearing before the Court of Justice of the European Union.

In part as the result of their efforts, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that Bulgaria now must issue identity papers to the children of same-sex couples - a huge victory!