Feminist Food Sovereignty: Women transforming and rebuilding food systems

Breaking Out of Marginalisation (BOOM) Feminist Participatory Action Research (FPAR) 2026-2028

 

Feminist Participatory Action Research for Change!

Support to Rural, Indigenous, Grassroots Women’s Organisations and Movements

 

Date posted: 5th June 2026

Deadline for application: 5th  July 2026

 

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

APWLD invites grassroots women’s organisations and movements in Asia and the Pacific to take part in the Feminist Participatory Action Research (FPAR) on Feminist Food Sovereignty. This FPAR cycle will support women-led and community-driven research, collective action and advocacy to document, analyse and advance women-led alternatives that reclaim community control over food systems, natural resources and knowledge while challenging corporate control and structural inequalities in food and agriculture.

Focus of the Food Sovereignty FPAR

Across Asia and the Pacific, neoliberal economic policies, trade liberalisation, corporate concentration, resource grabbing, militarisation and market-based climate responses continue to reshape food systems and undermine people’s control over land, water, seeds and other productive resources. Rural, Indigenous and grassroots women are disproportionately affected through displacement, loss of livelihoods, exclusion from resource governance, undervaluation of their labour and knowledge, and increasing corporate control over food and agriculture.

At the same time, women across the region are rebuilding food systems through feminist food sovereignty: agroecology, community-led seed conservation, collective land and water governance, Indigenous food practices, alternative economic models, legal and policy advocacy, and organised resistance to corporate and state capture. This FPAR cycle will document and strengthen these alternatives as strategies for Development Justice and systemic change.

For the Feminist Food Sovereignty FPAR 2026-2028, six (6) national grassroots women-led organisations in Asia and the Pacific will be selected to work with their communities to conduct FPAR, generate community-led evidence and develop collective advocacy from 2026 to 2028. Their FPAR may focus on one or more of the following thematic streams:

  1. Community-led Sustainable Food Systems: women-led agroecology, ecological farming, community-based production, biodiversity restoration, farmer-to-farmer learning and alternatives that reduce dependency on external inputs and challenge corporate agriculture.
  2. Seed Sovereignty and Indigenous Knowledge Systems: women’s roles as seed keepers, biodiversity custodians and knowledge holders; community seed banks; seed exchange networks; Indigenous food practices; intergenerational knowledge transmission; and resistance to corporate seed regimes, seed privatisation, genetically modified seeds and restrictive seed laws or policies.
  3. Land, Water and Territorial Rights: women’s struggles against land and water grabbing, forced displacement and resource dispossession; community governance of land, water, forests and coastal resources; defence of commons; and impacts on women’s productive work, unpaid care work and community responsibilities.
  4. Access to Food Justice and Systemic Transformation: women-led legal, policy and justice strategies that challenge unjust laws, corporate control, trade regimes and structural inequalities; grassroots organising and advocacy; community-led governance, cooperatives, community markets and alternative food economy models.

Selected partners may focus on one or more streams relevant to their communities. APWLD will prioritise initiatives that strengthen Indigenous knowledge, collective governance, ecological sustainability, feminist transformation and women’s leadership.

The power of local feminist movements

APWLD believes that challenging the current development model and reclaiming women’s human rights requires strong, autonomous feminist and grassroots women’s movements. Feminist Participatory Action Research is conducted by and for women, positioning them as knowledge producers, decision makers and agents of change. Through FPAR, women generate evidence from lived experiences, analyse policies and power structures, and take collective action to challenge gendered inequalities and human rights violations.

This FPAR cycle will strengthen grassroots women’s leadership, collective organising, intergenerational learning and feminist movement building, while developing advocacy strategies to promote women-led alternatives and systemic transformation.

 

JOIN OUR FEMINIST PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH!

APWLD will provide each selected FPAR partner organisation with a sub-grant of up to USD 14,000 to support the employment of a young woman researcher and cover direct research, implementation, advocacy and capacity-building costs. The sub-grant does not include costs related to institutional sustainability or maintenance.

Each selected partner will implement the FPAR over a period of 16 months and identify two women – a mentor and a young woman researcher below 35 years of age – who will lead the process. At least one must come from the community or constituency where the organisation has ongoing food sovereignty work, including grassroots women, rural women, Indigenous women, small-scale food producers, peasants, fisherfolk or women advancing women-led food sovereignty alternatives.

APWLD will support young women researchers and mentors to participate in capacity-building workshops, advocacy and networking opportunities. Through regional training, community consultations and ongoing accompaniment, partners will strengthen their political analysis, participatory research skills, documentation, collective action, advocacy and movement-building strategies. English will be the main working language for communication, training and reporting.

For more information on the Feminist Food Sovereignty FPAR, please check the Concept Note .

 

Selection Criteria of the Research Partners:

APWLD will select six (6) national and/or grassroots women-led organisations in Asia and the Pacific as partners in the Feminist Food Sovereignty FPAR. We are seeking non-governmental, non-profit, women-led and/or grassroots-based organisations that demonstrate the following:

  • Experience in working with grassroots women and their communities;
  • Ongoing work related to food sovereignty and women-led alternatives such as agroecology, seed sovereignty, Indigenous food systems, collective resource governance, food justice, legal or policy advocacy, or resistance to corporate control of food systems;
  • Familiarity with the impacts of neoliberal globalisation, corporate concentration, resource grabbing, climate false solutions and structural inequalities on women, communities and food production systems;
  • Commitment to provide a dedicated mentor and young woman researcher throughout the entire FPAR period;
  • Capacity and commitment to conduct participatory, feminist and community-led research that strengthens grassroots women’s democratic leadership;
  • Commitment to community organising, collective action and feminist movement building to advance food sovereignty;
  • Ability to communicate in English, as English will be the main working language for communication and participation throughout the FPAR process, including regional training sessions and submission of narrative and financial  reports. and

 

Highly desirable partner organisations:

  • Organisations in Asia Pacific region working directly with rural women, Indigenous women, small-scale food producers, peasants, fisherfolk, women with disabilities, migrant women, urban poor women and other marginalised women groups;
  • Experience in conducting participatory research methods;

 

  • Direct experience in advocacy, campaign work or movement building related to food sovereignty, women’s human rights, land and resource rights, food justice, climate justice or Development Justice;
  • Experience in developing community-based alternatives, including agroecology, community seed systems, Indigenous food practices, collective governance, cooperatives, community markets or alternative food economy models; and
  • Recommended through a letter of endorsement from APWLD members.
  • Organisations from Central Asia, East Asia and the Pacific sub-regions with the abovementioned qualifications are highly encouraged to apply. 

 

How to Apply?

Interested organisations may submit their application through either of the following options:

Option 1: Submit via Google Form
 Please complete and submit the online application form through this Google Form link

Option 2: Submit via email
Applicants may also download and complete the Application Form and submit it, together with the required documents, via email.

 

Interested organisations shall submit:

  • Completed application form
  • Recommendation/reference letter from at least one women’s or grassroots organisations

For more information about the Food Sovereignty FPAR, you can download the Concept Note. 

 

Applicants should email their application to Eloisa Delos Reyes at eloisa@apwld.org  and Tasmiah Juthi at tasmiah@apwld.org  by 2nd July 2026. Please use the subject line: “Application for FPAR Feminist Food Sovereignty 2026_name of your organisation” when sending via email. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please note that only selected applicants will be subsequently contacted.

 

DEADLINE OF APPLICATIONS IS ON Sunday, 5 July 2026