REST and RESIST
Sister Funds Retreat
22-27 January 2024
Suan Bua Hotel and Resort, Chiang Mai, Thailand
Latest Update • October 26, 2023
Welcome to the official website for our upcoming Sister Funds Retreat! This website will be your central hub for all information related to this transformative retreat. It is here that we will connect, communicate, and inspire one another in the lead-up to, during, and after the event. Please bookmark this site!
The host organization, UFA-Asia and Pacific, is looking forward to welcoming staff members and facilitators (104, as of our last count) to the Land of Smiles on a pioneering journey of shared healing, empowerment, purpose and celebration! In this space, we hope to sow the seeds.
Venue
We will gather at the Suan Bua Hotel and Resort located in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Suan Bua, which means “Lotus Garden” in Thai, is a local and women-owned mountain retreat built in 1991, offering 16 acres of lush tropical flora, water pools, and traditional Thai Lanna-style architecture. It is a 30-minute drive from the airport, train station, and downtown Chiang Mai.
Purpose
The Urgent Action SisterFunds’ first-ever All-Staff Retreat aims to unite staff in a dynamic environment of shared storytelling and visioning, while igniting a passion for collective action. Together, we will develop actionable plans for spearheading feminist crisis responses globally.
Outcomes
- Integration: Spend time together to deepen in understanding and application of Sisterfunds shared resources.
- Community: Build connection and shared analysis between SisterFunds with appreciation for the distinctions that make each SisterFund unique.
- Care and Celebration: Enjoy intentional space to engage in locally informed care practices and to lift up the accomplishments of our evolving Sisterhood.
- Impact: Understand how we measure and collect stories of impact.
Process
Learning from each other, aligned strategy and vision.
Calendar of Events
We will hold two (to make sure time zones are friendly to everyone) open houses to address questions and concerns where we will discuss anything that has to do with logistics – flights, accommodation, local transport, reimbursements, meeting spaces, dietary requirements, childcare, Covid policies, security protocols, among others. We will also discuss the run-through of the retreat and the agenda.
The calendar invites will be shared with your logistics and design focal persons.
This is open to all staff members.
Collective Gatherings
Smaller Group Meetings
Meet the teams behind the Rest and Resist Retreat
For any questions or feedback, please link directly with your focal persons and copy the Coordination and Facilitation teams.
| DESIGN | SECURITY | LOGISTICS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| UAF FA | HUONG | INDIA | INDIA |
| UAF LAC | ALEJANDRA HELBEIN | ALE HENRIQUEZ | ADRIANA |
| UAF A&P | SUNAYANA | ESTHER | SETAITA |
| UAF AFRICA | NANCY & JEAN | EDMOND MUGISHA | CHIEDZA |
| COORDINATION TEAM | AVA, MICHELLE, CELIA, FAITH | BEE/PROTECTION INTERNATIONAL | MICHELLE, KAUSHI |
| CO-FACILITATORS | LISA AND PRAMADA | ||
| SUPPORT FACILITATORS | SHALINI AND TIFF JOY |
| Area of Support | Description | Contact Person |
|---|---|---|
| Agenda | Agenda, sequencing of events, purpose, objectives and process | Primary: Design Team member CC: Ava |
| Air Travel/Flights Specific Logistics | Booking flights, seat & travel accommodations, ticket changes, or special requests. Flight booking will commence at the start of October. | Primary: Logistics Link Person cc: Michelle |
| Onsite/Venue Logistics | Event venue & facilities, local transportation, and unique accommodations. | Primary: Michelle CC: |
| On-Site Venue & Facilities Support | Support specific to meeting rooms, technology, space set-up and layout, and materials. | Primary: Michelle CC: |
| Security | Safety and security protocols | Primary: Michelle CC: |
| Policies and Protocols | Travel with children/childcare, + language justice needs. | Primary: Michelle CC: Ava |
| Budget Related Questions | Processing: UAF A&P Finance team: Michelle receives & reviews invoices → Submitted to Fareen & Stacey for payment Budget Expense Report: Per Core Group/ Sister Fund, reviewed by Ava & Michelle Invoicing: UAF A&P invoices each Sister Fund for meeting costs. Specifics are allocated to the Sister Fund overseeing core group & action team meetings | Primary: Michelle CC: Celia and Ava |
| INTERPRETATION | EN-SPA-EN: Beatriz Canal and Diana Jacobson |
Breakout Sessions
From Wednesday to Friday, there will be different spaces for smaller groups to connect and learn that staff members can choose to be part of. On Wednesday (January 24), the UAF A&P team collaborated with Chiang Mai-based groups who agreed to open their doors (literally and figuratively) to us to better understand the feminist movement in the region, and to learn about stories that we bring from our respective regions. On January 25-26, staff members who are not members of core groups and ECJ, can opt to participate in the core groups discussions (please connect with your team members), learning labs and wellbeing sessions. The Wednesday sessions have limited slots so these will be allocated on a first-come first-served basis. Deadline for sign-ups: January 15. Spanish interpretation will be provided.
January 25 Sessions
Learning Labs
- Transnational Activism (10:00 am – 12:00 pm) led by UAF A&P and Pramada – We live in a world of constant, complex, intersectional, and layered crises forcing the displacement of many people. In this informal and free-flowing space, we hope to share stories of displacement and activism across movements and gain insights on how the Sister Funds can strengthen coordination to support transnational activism better.
- Sister Funds RRG Models (2:00 – 4:00 pm) led by UAF FA- We will build on the virtual learning circle in April 2023 with the rapid response grantmaking teams. The session will dive deeper into each Fund’s grantmaking process and provide space to learn from challenges and innovations.
- Queer and Trans-inclusive Feminisms (2:00 – 4:00 pm) – A collaborative exploration of what queer and trans-inclusive feminism means for us and how we can push back against anti-rights and anti-gender forces
- NO NEED TO PRE-REGISTER: Radical Re-imagination of our Collective Care Practices (whole day) – In this unstructured and unfacilitated space, people are free to drop in and out and explore and reimagine our collective Sister Fund value of care and well-being. We will build on learnings from the Care at the Center core group mapping of each Sister Fund’s collective care practices and policies and explore the question, “How can we revolutionize our organization’s practices to ensure collective care is at the heart of our culture?” We hope to walk away with inspiration that would help further strengthen our internal organizational collective care policies and practices.
Care Corner
- Art Workshop: Dreaming and Affirming Through Art ( 10 am – 11:00 am) led by Sonaksha Iyengar and Tiff Joy – Affirmations can not only be an important part of your self-care practice, but can also be a powerful tool to dream of the just futures we want to create, or a thoughtful way to connect and create a little gift for someone you connect with. At this workshop, you’ll create your own visual affirmation card to take back with you or gift to someone you meet at the retreat. Everyone can draw and paint (it’s true, I promise), but if you don’t want to get your hands really messy – you can also collage your way to a beautiful affirmation card.
January 26 Sessions
Learning Labs
- Building Resilient Institutions (10:00 am – 1 pm) facilitated by Pramada Menon – A collaborative discussion with our operations team (HR/Admin/Finance) to explore work strategies for navigating the effects of crises on both our personnel and processes.
- Early Warning Systems: How Will We Know? (2:00 pm -4:30 pm) – This session will explore how each Sister Fund navigates and approaches crisis response and what the systems and networks in place are to inform when and how we respond to a crisis in our respective regions. How do we define a crisis? How do we know in advance when crises are about to erupt? How do we gather information to inform our response? We will share concrete stories that would demonstrate these.
January 24: Tapestries of Resistance: Sharing Stories Across Movements
Through the day on Wednesday, 24 January, the Sister Funds are invited to journey into the rich and varied histories of human rights in Thailand. Each session is a window into the work, knowledge and lived resistance of a Chiang-Mai based activist group. The invitation for us as the UAF Sister Funds, is – to understand the landscape of the feminist movement in the region, its contextual nuances, and the practices that hold community. We invite you to co-create a space where conversations traverse across regions, where knowledge, stories and care are shared to foster solidarity.
- Resistance Through Feminist Academia & Archiving Indigenous Knowledge (1:00 – 3:00 pm) – In 1986, members of the Faculty of Social Sciences started up an unofficial Women’s Studies Program at Chiang Mai University (CMU). Their efforts started to bear fruit in August of 1993, when the Women’s Studies Center (WSC) was officially established and recognized as a new department under the Faculty of Social Sciences. It is the first Women’s Studies Center in the country. Through its work, the WSC has attempted to address three specific issues from feminist perspectives: law, human rights, and development. In 2008, the Department of Women’s Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, was established. The Department of Women’s Studies aims to encourage and broaden the horizon of academic works regarding women’s issues. The department is laying its foundation for social change and sexual equality encouragement. Participant capacity is 25. LOCATION: Chiang Mai University (tbc)
- Pride and Solidarity (2:00 – 4:00 pm) – Sapphic Pride is a network that emerged from a growing wave of young activists pushing for queer human rights in Thailand both online and offline. They are a group of women-loving-women who campaign on LGBTQIA+ rights, with a focus on LBQ+ community. Sapphic PRIDE and friends from Burma are excited to co-organise an afternoon of arts, movie screening and conversation around queerness, feminism, resistance & transnational solidarity with queer feminists and activists from Thailand & Burma. This event will take place at Sapphic Riot, Chiang Mai’s first sapphic/LBQ+ (lesbian, bisexual, queer +++) bar, and a ‘multi-space’ for the queer and feminist activist community. This space serves as a venue for various community workshops, discussions, events, etc. They also sell books from Feminista (a local feminist publisher), as well as other little knick-knacks and artisan goods from local queer artists! Please come with an abundance of stories, curiosity and joy. You are also welcome to bring books, arts and crafts to share. We can accommodate up to 20 participants.
- EMPOWER: Sex Workers’ Rights (5:00-7:00 pm) – Started in 1985, Empower Foundation is a community organisation owned and managed by sex workers. Empower uses a human rights framework to meet the needs of the sex worker community today and to move toward a future in which sex work is accepted as work and sex workers can work safely, free from stigma and criminalisation. Empower’s activities include educational programmes, outreach, and counselling as well as individual and country-wide legal advocacy to improve the working conditions and lives of sex workers. We can accommodate up to 40 participants. There is a bar (Can Do Bar) and a museum tour (This is US Museum).
Please note that slots are limited, and there is travel time between one location to the other, so please prioritize one session.
Gallery
