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End of the year reflections: Women political leaders building power, defending and reimagining democracy
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As we close this year, we do so with both clarity and conviction. Across the world, the context for women political leaders has grown more dangerous. Anti-rights forces are expanding, digital violence has intensified, and civic space continues to shrink, especially for those at the frontlines of change. Yet, amidst these realities, we have witnessed extraordinary courage. We have seen women political leaders, movement builders, and our partners not only persevere, but impact their communities in ways that remind us what is still possible.
This year, Colmena Fund deepened its commitment to resourcing womenβs political power. We conclude the year with 17 partners reaching 33 countries. The work of our partners impacted over 1,400 women who stepped into leadership pathways, more than 100 declared their intention to run for office, and seven new political support networks emergedβfrom Uganda to Jordan, from Thailand to Latin America. These are not only numbers; they are shifts in political possibility.
We are seeing Afro-descendant, young, queer, rural women step into political arenas that were never designed for themβand they are committed to reshaping them. We saw male Kenyan elders persuaded to back anti-Female genital mutilation policy after a single Futurelect fellow leveraged her new political skills training to protect girls in her community, contributing to a 37% reduction in cases. We saw fellows from Progressive Movementβs new Women Leaders Academy in Thailand produce 1,000 policy books to rewrite the narrative of who holds legislative power. We saw women in Tunisia, Jordan, Uganda, and Thailand reclaim town halls, challenge party gatekeeping, and build new solidarity across political divides.
In challenging moments, our partners are turning toward each otherβbuilding mental-health support for women facing online attacks, advancing legal protections for LGBTQIA+ political leaders, and creating a regional Afropolitical Womenβs Network designed by Afro-descendant women themselves. Their work strengthens not only gender equalityβit strengthens the civic spaces in which all people can demand justice and dignity.
We also witnessed, with heavy hearts, deepening crises around the world, contexts where women are systematically targeted, and where peace processes continue to exclude the very leaders who hold communities together. As Sudanese advocate Samia El-Hashmi reminded us in our Africa convening in Johannesburg: βWe donβt inherit peace. We build it, generation by generation.β Women are building it, often without recognition, resources, or protection. Yet they persist.
This year reinforced a truth we know intimately: women political leaders that advance feminist values and the movements they are part of are essential defenders of democracy. Women are often the first targeted by authoritarianism, to document abuses, to mobilize communities, and often the ones holding the line when institutions fail. When women organize, they defend not only their rightsβthey defend all our rights.
That is why Colmena Fund exists. Not to create symbolic representation, but to accelerate real, transformative political power: women in office shaping policy, shifting institutions, reimagining governance, expanding freedoms, and securing justice. Power that is rooted in movements, grounded in communities, and built collectively.
As we look ahead, we carry both urgency and hope. Urgency to counter rising digital violence, to support women leading peace and democratic transitions, to strengthen climate leadership, and to expand political power across Africa and beyond. Hope, because we have seen what happens when women deeply committed to democracy and human rights -rooted in movements- step into leadership with the support, resources, and solidarity they deserve. Hope, because our partners show us every day that courage is contagious. And hope, because even in the darkest contexts, women continue to resist, and to reimagine a world where equality, dignity, and democracy are not ideals, but lived realities.
To all our partners, advisors, colleagues, and supporters: thank you for walking with us, challenging us, and believing in the transformative power of womenβs political leadership. Your commitment strengthens our resolve and fuels this work.
In a year marked by both fracture and possibility, we end with deep gratitudeβand with the knowledge that together, we are building something that will endure.
May we continue to resist with clarity, persist with purpose, and reimagine with boundless imagination.
Suyen Barahona
Executive Director
Colmena Fund
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Our hiveβs impact in numbers
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Following the global βSuper Election Yearβ of 2024, Colmena Fundβs inaugural cohort of grantees has focused on sustaining hard-won gains and strengthening the broader ecosystem needed for womenβs political power to thrive. Their achievements reflect meaningful progress in building leadership pipelines and fortifying feminist political ecosystems: expanding mental health and safety infrastructures, advancing legal protections, developing innovative advocacy tools, and deepening support networks essential for womenβs leadership to endure and grow.
To fully appreciate the scale of this impact, please refer to the infographic below.
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In the last quarter, Colmena Fundβs team and partners organized and participated in the following events:
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4th Ministerial Conference on Feminist Foreign Policies
In October, Colmena Fund joined nearly 450 global leaders and advocates at the 4th Ministerial Conference on Feminist Foreign Policies in Paris. The gathering brought together 55 state delegations, international organizations, civil society actors, grassroots activists, philanthropic partners, and researchers. For the first time, 31 countries endorsed a Political Declaration reaffirming a shared commitment to advancing womenβs rights amid growing global backlash.
The conference strengthened collective ambition to build robust feminist coalitions and underscored feminist foreign policy as a vital geopolitical and strategic lever for addressing digital, environmental, cultural, economic, and security challenges.
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VoteLGBT Book launch in New York
We joined our partner organization VoteLGBT and allies for the New York launch of “Care and Courage: Facing LGBTphobic Political Violence in Brazil”, a groundbreaking study documenting how LGBTphobic political violence operates as a structural force undermining democracy and silencing dissident voices.
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Our Hive Present at Reykjavik Global Forum
We were thrilled to support and join this powerful gathering on November 10β11, where 500 global leaders from across the public and private sectors convened in Iceland under the theme βPower, Together for Change!β
Preethi Herman, CEO and Co-founder of Nguvu Collective, our new partners, and our Executive Director, Suyen Barahona, participated in Gates Foundation LeadersTalk session: Framing Power: Womenβs Leadership in a Shifting World, alongside Heather Benjamin, Founding Executive Director, Nebula Fund; Pamella Makotsi-Sittoni, Senior Advisor; Athari Communications; Public Editor, Nation Media Group and Adewunmi Emoruwa, CEO, Gatefield (Nigeria).
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Our ED, Suyen Barahona, was also part of the mainstage panel: βPeace & Gender Equality: Why Inclusion Is Imperativeβ, alongside Maria Leoni (Director, GQUAL Campaign), Memory Kachambwa (Executive Director, FEMNET), and Amrita Kapur, Secretary General, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. Chair: Emma Belcher, CEO, Ploughshares.
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Side Events During the 2025 G20 Summit in South Africa
The Colmena Fund hosted a convening in Johannesburg (November 20β21, 2025), on the sidelines of the G20 Summit, to center the advancement of womenβs political leadership, aligning with the G20 theme of Solidarity, Equality and Sustainability.
More than 40 diverse women leaders from the Global South gathered to define collective strategies to strengthen feminist and democratic womenβs leadership for a more just and inclusive world.
The convening culminated in a powerful act of solidarity, joining the Women for Change movementβs βG20 Womenβs Shutdownβ campaign, which brought national attention to South Africaβs high rates of gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF). As a result of these efforts, the South African government officially declared GBVF a national disaster.
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We also co-hosted these high-level side events:
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November 19: βFrom Protection to Counteraction: Advancing Online Safety for Women in Politics,β organized by Better Politics Foundation, the Coalition of Feminists for Social Change, Colmena Fund, FundaciΓ³n Multitudes, Nalafem, Pollicy, and the Solidarity Alliance of Women in Politics.
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November 21: βAccelerating Womenβs Political Leadership in Conflict and Crises,β organized by Akina Wa Mama Afrika, Better Politics Foundation, Colmena Fund, the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Center, FEMNET, the Forum for Women in Democracy, Nalafem, Pollicy, and the Solidarity Alliance of Women in Politics.
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November 21: High-level dinner: Womenβs Political Leadership as a Catalyst for Sustainable Development, organized in partnership with Open Society Foundations.
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7th Pan Africa ILGA Regional Conference
Our Program Officer, Lucinda van der Heever, participated in the 7th Pan Africa ILGA Regional Conference and the Global Philanthropy Project (GPP) pre-donor conference in Johannesburg.
Bringing together over 400 African LGBTIQ+ individuals, the ILGA conference centered on the theme: “Unbreakable: Our Pride, Our Power, Our Future,” reflecting resistance against global anti-gender and backlash movements. The GPP meeting gathered donors to address the impact of funding cuts on LGBTIQ movements. A key focus was defining strategies to strengthen solidarity and ensure sustained commitment to better support African LGBTIQ partners and the ecosystem.
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Resist, Persist and Reimagine β our podcast video edition
During this quarter, we launched the video edition of Resist, Persist and Reimagine, our podcast amplifying the voices of diverse women transforming politics worldwide.
Listen to the full series here.
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#16DaysOfActivism
For this yearβs 16 Days of Activism, we launched a campaign highlighting the words of diverse women leaders on the frontlines fighting for democracy and lasting change amidst conflict and crises. On Human Rights Day (December 10), which marks the end of this period, we shared important data on the barriers and violence that prevent women from participating in politics.
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