A few years ago, the directors of Semillas and the Solidarity Action Fund (Fondo Acción Solidaria—FASOL) had an important revelation about the potential for cross-movement organizing in Mexico. Semillas—a women’s fund based in Mexico City—had found that grassroots groups seeking financial support for women’s rights were increasingly incorporating environmental sustainability into their approach. At the same time, FASOL—an environmentalist fund based in Baja California Sur—had observed an increase in the number of environmental justice projects being proposed by women-led groups. In response, the two funds established a joint “Gender and the Environment” program aimed at both strengthening knowledge of environmental justice among grassroots women’s rights defenders, while also promoting a gender perspective among local environmental justice groups.
For this joint program, Semillas and FASOL prioritized local resource mobilization, as part of a shared commitment to strengthening rights-based Mexican philanthropy. With the exception of a small donation from a donor in the United States, the Semillas-FASOL alliance is currently funded entirely by Mexican foundations. The first phase of the joint program had an overall budget of approximately US $175,000, of which 94% came from Mexican foundations.
This alliance brought to light many key lessons, not only in terms of how to facilitate synergies between the feminist and environmentalist movements in Mexico, but also regarding the importance of mobilizing resources through the lens of solidarity.
