1. Background (brief history)

The Foundation for Women (FFW) is a non-governmental organization (NGO) based in Thailand that was formed in 1984 with the agenda of protecting and promoting women’s rights.  The main objectives of the organization include raising awareness about and reducing incidents of human trafficking and gender-based violence, as well as, economically and socially empowering women by developing innovate initiatives to provide educational, counseling, and training services to them.  

 

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   2. Areas of expertise

Classification area: Gender

The Foundation for Women (FFW) largely focuses on ensuring gender equality and protecting and accelerating women’s rights in all sectors in Thailand.  In order to carry out this agenda, FFW focuses its initiatives and work around 1:

• Developing and promoting public education and training services to young women and girls to prevent child prostitution and human trafficking.

•  Advocating and campaigning for women’s rights through producing newsletters, books, articles, social media initiatives, etc., that are circulated nationally with the support of other civil society organizations (CSOs) to encourage law enforcement services and citizens to protect the rights of women.

• Providing direct financial assistance and legal and work-related training services to victims of gender-based violence and female migrant workers.

 

   3. Strengths in the ICPD

With FFW’s key focus on the areas of violence against women (VAW), human trafficking, and women’s empowerment and economic and social mobility, its mission greatly intersects with the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) agenda in many ways.  FFW works to implement the ICPD agenda and its own mission by providing the following services and strategies:

• Collaborating with other Thai NGOs, such as, Women Workers Unity Group and Empower, to celebrate and organize “End Violence Against Women Day” in Thailand and create activities following up to the event including drama performances, self-defense training classes, and two-day national workshops for government officials for the purpose of discussing alternative ways to solve violence against women (VAW) problems.

• Providing counselling and advisory services through the Women’s Information Center (WIC) for women who are planning to work or marry abroad so that they can make informed decisions and to reduce the incidents of human trafficking and sexual violence.

• Socially and economically empowering rural women and educating them about sexual violence by training them to become para-social development workers through the Para-Social Development Workers (PSDW) Training Project.

• Educating college students about healthy relationships, gender issues and equality, the sex trade and sexual violence, and positive attitudes towards women through the “Education Project on Equality in Sexual Relationships.” 

 

   4. Quality assurance/ previous evaluation

The Foundation for Women has a long-standing partnership with UN Women in Thailand in which UN Women has especially provided funding and technical assistance in the areas of disseminating information on and teaching youth about violence against women and supporting victims of gender-based violence. 

 

   5. Experience in South-South Cooperation initiatives

FFW is a member of the Global Alliance Against Traffic of Women (GAATW), which is a network of over 100 (NGOs) from different countries around the world who share their knowledge and working experiences on approaching human trafficking and work to enhance the effectiveness of collective anti-trafficking initiatives.  Additionally, GAATW serves as a platform by which the FFW and other NGOs can develop collective ways to prevent human trafficking, which include securing better livelihoods and working opportunities for women and children, providing women with better education, and eliminating forced labor practices.