Behind Every Number, a Story
Our 2024 Grantmaking
2024 was a year of growth, milestones, and learning at Urgent Action Fund A&P. We continued our bread and butter work, processing an average of 92 applications and disbursing 52 grants per month, in spite of highly restrictive financial laws, government hurdles, and close surveillance of human rights activists and defenders by state authorities across our regions.
Our grantmaking total in 2024 was the highest in our history and is indicative of the increasing levels of far-right pushback and crises in our regions. We processed an average of 92 applications and disbursed 52 grants per month, in spite of highly restrictive financial laws, government hurdles, and close surveillance of human rights activists and defenders by state authorities across our regions. We worked across a number of new and continuing crises, including contexts of conflict such as Afghanistan and Myanmar, and natural disasters, such as Vanuatu. In total, we made 625 grants to 34 countries in our region.
Activists continued to face crisis in the course of their work. Seventy-four percent reported attacks against personhood and reputations, such as receiving threats, sexual and psychological harassment, and hate speech. They also reported attacks on life, bodily and mental integrity (69%) violations of freedom of expression, association, and assembly (65%).
Despite such high levels of risk and threat, we had to make some difficult decisions regarding unmet needs. Most of these cases occurred in the latter half of 2024, when it became evident that needs in our regions far outstripped the resources we had to meet them. Most of the declined requests were applications from partners in Myanmar or Afghanistan. Given resource constraints, we had to screen applications, prioritising urgency, risk levels, or whether the request was for follow-up funding.
Different kinds of crises over the years have prepared us to respond in different ways, be it in terms of how we mobilise resources or how we redistribute them. In dealing with a sudden crisis, we recognise the need to make resources available quickly to those directly impacted, even if it means granting smaller amounts of money over a short span of time. This prevents the situation from escalating further, as we observed in our timely response to activists impacted by the Vanuatu earthquake in December 2024.
In 2024, we continued to support grantees safety and wellbeing through our rapid response grantmaking, in ways that work for them through 446 Security & Wellbeing grants. This involves everything from CCTV installation to baking bread, and ranges from the personal to the collective. Other activities covered include security assessments, covering medical expenses, supporting psycho-social counseling, supporting basic needs such as shelter and housing, legal aid and fees, physical security infrastructure, and more.
“Beyond just financial support, it gave me peace of mind and the strength to navigate through critical situations, knowing that I had a reliable safety net to rely on. It made a tremendous difference in our lives when we needed it most.”
— Grantee
Security & Well-being Grantee from Papua New Guinea
We also provided 107 Resourcing Resilience grants, which supported grantees by allowing them to regroup in the aftermath of crisis by sharing knowledge, amplifying marginalised voices, building unity and strategising to prepare for the future. Grantees note that they are able to work with renewed confidence and build an increased sense of belonging and trust within their communities.
“By blending therapeutic practices with environmental stewardship, the grant cultivated a sense of agency, belonging, and purpose, paving the way for a healthier, more inclusive community committed to both personal growth and environmental conservation.”
— Grantee
Resourcing Resilience Grantee from Pakistan
Across our grants, we worked across a number of priority thematic areas, including LGBTQI+, environmental and climate justice (ECJ), migrant/refugee issues, disability justice, and sex workers rights.
We make our grants with the hope that grantees will be able to continue their activism safely and securely. Some grantees note they have paused their activities until they are able to get to a safer location, but many others are continuing their activism to the extent possible, such as by keeping activities private or online from a safe location. Others were in a phase of transition or recovery, using the time to rest, recharge, and strengthen support networks. Still, most were able to continue their activism with improved safety and resilience.
The effects of increased safety and having basic needs met allowed activists to obtain peace of mind and the confidence to continue their activism and better prepare for future risk. We also re-affirmed that an increased sense of belonging and community-building are key aspects to improving holistic safety, well-being, and resilience.
We also recognise that short term, immediate support needs to be followed up with long term support. To be able to sustain their work, grantees note it is important to have a combination of multiple resources, and multiple types of resources. This includes other grants, but can encompass legal aid, volunteers who donate skills, having a safe space to conduct activities, building community, and sharing knowledge.
In addition to our rapid response grantmaking, our Webs of Safety and Care grants were conceptualised with the aim to support the all-round safety, care and well-being of women, trans, and non-binary defenders and activists as they navigate multiple crises on a daily basis. In 2024, we provided 35 grants to enable grantees to assess risks and existing support structures, create their own community-based structures and allocate resources through which they are able to build and strengthen their safety and care needs, expand existing efforts, and create connections with other activists and defenders. We also offered 11 Shifting Narratives Fellowships to artists and cultural rights workers from eight countries, to advance their artistic resistance against harmful narratives affecting their communities.
2024 has pushed us to reflect on alternate ways of assessing and responding to crises, challenging the hierarchy that exists between and within them. There is a need to ensure equity in the availability of resources so that the unspoken and unheard needs of marginalised communities in countries ignored by mainstream international media are not ignored. In addition to resourcing and powering their resistance and resilience as they confront the fundamental democratic, gender, climate, and humanitarian crises of our times, we intend to meet defenders with audacious care. We will forge ahead by embracing risk, nurturing and sustaining relationships, and showing up for each other in the everyday.
This blog is written by Chae Yeon Kim, Data & Storytelling Facilitator at UAF A&P.
