Women-led organizations advancing women and girls' rights in Honduras: The case of the Association of Mutual Support between Women - Honduras (APOMUH)

• In Event: Highlighted Session: Breaking Barriers: Formal and Community Education Efforts to Support the Rights of Women and Girls in Latin America

Proposal

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) play a vital role in advancing gender justice (DeJaeghere et al., 2013). This paper examines how women-led NGOs reclaim, co-construct, and co-shape bottom-up social transformations by mobilizing individuals and communities to defend the rights of women and girls. It explores how, through non-formal education initiatives, women and girls can advocate for and learn about gender equity. The research is driven by the critical approach to empowerment discourse of comparative and international education scholar Erin Murphy-Graham. Murphy-Graham (2008) regards knowledge, self-confidence, and awareness of gender equity as the three essential pillars to consider when envisioning education as a tool for empowerment. The research question is: What are the challenges and opportunities women-led civil society organizations in Honduras face to advance the rights of women and girls, particularly in promoting access to non-formal education about sexual and reproductive rights, as well as gender-based violence? The paper employs a case study methodology about the NGO Asociación de Apoyo Mutuo entre Mujeres (APOMUH) (Association of Mutual Support between Women in English). This NGO was established in 2003 to promote the individual and collective rights of women and girls in Honduras (APOMUH, 2018). APOMUH’s programming includes community-based training and educational workshops for women and girls. These initiatives focus, for example, on sexual and reproductive rights and gender-based violence (GBV). Analyzing an interview with its founder and co-leader, the paper identifies a lack of funding, resistance against sexual and reproductive health education, and structural inequalities against women as key challenges for APOMUH to execute its activities.

Authors

• Amanda Earl, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Sara M. Pan Algarra, Columbia University Teachers College