Being an activist is incredibly hard. You need to be visible even when it’s dangerous. This exposes you to potential harassment, threats, hate campaigns, arrest, violence, and exclusion. To avoid adding to the risks of visibility, Mama Cash has always offered the activists that we support the option of complete or partial anonymity. Our grantee-partners’ security has always been the most important thing in our work.
By Vanina Serra, Deputy Director of Programmes, May 2025
Foreign agent laws
USAID stop-work order
- In January 2025, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) issued a blanket stop-work order to all its partners, instructing them to immediately halt USAID-funded activities and confirm compliance. This sudden freeze has also affected Mama Cash grantee-partners who were directly or indirectly funded by USAID, deepening existing challenges in the global funding landscape.
It’s no secret that in the last few years, we’ve seen an increase in the volatility of our grantee-partners’ security, and, at times, their connection to us can make things even worse. Governments and banks are keeping a closer eye on financial movements and money transfers. And with all the anti-civil society legislation out there, it’s very hard to register an organisation, which is often necessary to get funding. Several countries have adopted ‘foreign agent laws’ that see receiving international funding as equal to being a foreign agent, and therefore a danger to national interests. Furthermore, the strength of anti-gender movements is increasing around the world. The first few months of 2025 have further worsened this already dire situation, with the USAID stop-work order affecting thousands of organisations. Being connected to a funder such as Mama Cash, with our clear positions on abortion, LBTQI rights, and sex work, would offer one more reason to harass and endanger the activists that we support. How, if, and when we decide to make our grantee-partners work visible can have immediate real-life consequences for them.
Visibility and transparency versus safety
At Mama Cash we have always strived to balance the need for transparency with the protection of our grantee-partners’ anonymity when needed. This is why we have, for years, kept an up-to-date list of our grantee-partners on our website while at the same time consistently checking in about whether it’s still safe for them to do so. After careful consideration, however, we have concluded that it wouldn’t be responsible for us to keep having a list of grantee-partners publicly available on our website. The security threats and possible retaliations are too big, too real, and too unpredictable for us to continue playing this balancing act.
That’s why we’ve decided to take down the list of grantee-partners from our website and publicly display their work only and, as always, in agreement with them, and when we are sure that this won’t put them in any kind of danger. We still want to display the amazing work that we are privileged to support, but we need to make the most important thing, the most important thing, so to speak. And right now, the most important thing is making sure that the need for visibility and transparency don’t jeopardise the safety of our grantee-partners.
Digital security or digital rights?
- Creating safer digital spaces for feminist activists involves both digital security, which protects data and online activity, and digital rights advocacy, which addresses how technology reinforces discrimination and exclusion, particularly against groups that have been structurally pushed to the margins. Our grantee-partners are making technology more inclusive by building feminist tech tools and networks, tracking online gender-based violence, sharing online safety tips, and working toward a safer and more just internet for all.
Making digital spaces safer
At the same time, we keep funding not only the activities grantee-partners carry out, but also their holistic security infrastructures to make sure that feminist activists are resilient and can continue their important work through these difficult times. In a world where life happens increasingly online, this also means supporting some of our grantee-partners’ work on digital security and digital rights advocacy. In an effort to increase the security of feminist activists around the world, we’re showcasing the work of our grantee-partners below, sharing the digital tools and platforms that they’ve produced to make the digital space safer for feminist activists – and all of us.
Holistic security
- With ‘holistic security’ we mean everything that helps activists do their work in a safe and healthy way. This includes digital and physical security, as well as care of their mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health and wellbeing, both at the personal and collective levels.
Tools of resistance: Feminist approaches to digital security
How do you stay safe online as an activist? In this overview you’ll find tools and tips from our grantee-partners who are working to make the digital space safer and more inclusive for everyone.
Numun Fund: changing tech and philanthropy
Language: English
Based: worldwide
Numun Fund is the first fund focused entirely on feminist tech. They support groups around the world to build and grow the tech tools and networks that feminist movements need. Numun Fund sees digital technology as a key part of how movements organise and create change. Their work helps connect feminist tech communities, strengthen social justice movements, push for change in the tech world and in philanthropy, and support the creation of technologies that work for most people, not just the powerful few. To receive news about feminist tech, subscribe to their mailing list.
Delete Nothing: tracking online gender-based violence
Languages: Sinhala, Tamil, and English
Based in: Sri Lanka
Delete Nothing is a trilingual online tool that tracks tech-related gender-based violence in Sri Lanka, especially as experienced by girls, women, and queer and trans people. It explains what this kind of violence looks like, how to deal with it, what legal protections are out there, and where to get help. The platform is part of a bigger website with resources, support links, and tips on how to document incidents. You can also find it on we-gitalheroes, a learning platform about digital rights, security, and online know-how for young people.
Using feedback from the tool and interviews with grassroots and civil society groups, Delete Nothing put together Digital Shadows: Understanding Online Gender-based Violence, a report that shows what online gender-based violence looks like, how it’s changing, and how it affects people. It includes recommendations for activists, governments, researchers, and tech platforms.
Demystifying the ‘F-word’ – Feminism In India
Language: English
Based in: India
Feminism in India is an award-winning digital intersectional feminist media platform that makes feminism accessible, especially for young people. It aims to break the stigma around the ‘F-word’ and build awareness through media, art, tech, and community. The platform amplifies the voices of women and communities that are pushed to the margins.
Feminism in India has published several reports, including Online Violence Against Women in India, which analyses the threats faced online by women and communities that are pushed to the margins in India, and examines how Indian laws affect these problems. Another key resource is their Media Ethics Toolkit On Sensitive Reportage, a practical guide for journalists on how to report on sexual violence with care.
Who has access to technology? – Flame
Languages: traditional Chinese, English
Based in: Taiwan
FLAME (Feminist Leadership and Mobilization on the Edge), or Bainbian Nuli in Chinese, stands for women’s power at and with the edge. They imagine a culturally diverse, sustainable, and safe society where gender and sexual minorities live with dignity and equal rights. Their work focuses on making technology more accessible and inclusive for women and queer communities.
For FLAME, access to tech isn’t just about infrastructure, it’s also about language, affordability, and the power to connect, speak up and be seen. They’re reclaiming tech for everyone. FLAME also offers resources like an online game in Traditional Chinese about fighting digital gender-based violence, and links to support services for those experiencing online harm.
Dish of the day – Transfeminist Network of Digital Care
Languages: English, Portuguese, and Spanish
Based in: Brazil
The Transfeminist Network of Digital Care researched how funders can better support human rights groups with digital safety. Their report, Digital Care and Philanthropy, explores the barriers these groups face, like lack of time, tools, and long-term support. It also offers practical steps for philanthropy to help, such as creating spaces for collaboration among funders and helping human rights organisations build autonomous digital infrastructures. Their approach sees digital security as part of everyday care, not just a tech issue, and calls for more local, inclusive, and sustainable solutions.
The network also created a playful, multilingual site called Dish of the Day, where digital safety tips are served like dishes. It invites you to think about tech use the way we think about food: something that can be intentional, political, and nourishing. The site offers ‘dishes’ in the form of simple tips: like checking your privacy settings, using strong passwords, or using free software. For extra spice, they suggest tools for things like file sharing, encrypted calls, and video meetings. Don’t forget to do the dishes (wipe your date when you’re done) and never accept food from strangers (phishing).
Care Kit for a Dissident Internet – Luchadoras
Language: Spanish
Based in: Mexico
Luchadoras is a feminist collective active in physical and digital spaces. They share stories, promote the use of information and communication technologies, build a safer and more inclusive internet, and create spaces where women’s knowledge, strength, and power are recognised and celebrated. On their website, they also offer tips on how to stay safe online.
Their Care Kit for a Dissident Internet is a toolkit for those who don’t feel fully safe or seen online. It brings together voices from trans inclusive feminist communities to challenge dominant tech narratives and imagine a freer, more caring internet. Inside, you’ll find reflections on online activism, collective resistance to digital violence, and strategies for self- and community care. It begins by breaking down what we mean by hate speech and why it matters, then explores alternative ways of being online – grounded in solidarity, creativity, and mutual support.