As backlash against gender rights grows across the world, so does the resistance against it. Feminist and queer movements, organisations and activists are engaged in intense and difficult processes of developing and implementing strategies to counter this backlash.

The Solidarity Network is a community of practice, bringing together some of these individuals and organisations who are supporting women’s and LGBTQI+ rights and countering gender backlash in Asia, southern and western Africa, South America, and the MENA region.

Led by the Institute of Development studies, we bring together a cohort of six IDRC funded projects, with the aim to:

• Recognise the nature of backlash and what works to counter it
• Reflect on praxis; document and amplify what works
• Restore and Revitalise feminist energies through healing care and support
• Recreate feminist and queer alliances across fractures

Addressing a lack of collective and synthetic knowledge about backlash and effective counter-strategies, the Solidarity Network tackles loss of hope and community that processes of shrinking civic space, increasing polarisation and increasingly hostile spaces have signalled for feminist and queer activists.

We deploy a feminist ethos and participatory methods involving co-constructed conversations and activities. These mutual and inclusive spaces of collective sharing and learning strategically disseminate information and practices of feminist and queer organisations and movements, thereby amplifying their voices and documenting pathways for building stronger alliances and webs of solidarity.