The past couple of years have been a whirlwind of growth and learning for FRIDA. In 2020, we entered a new phase of the FRIDAverse. We welcomed our largest cohort of grantee partners to date and delved into a new Strategic Plan; aiming to fulfill our community’s vision of transformation and growth, guided by five strategic principles to deepen our work with young feminist communities.
During this time of metamorphosis, we are deeply grateful to have been guided by Maryam Al-Khawaja who has served at FRIDA’s Interim Co-Executive Director for the last 15 months alongside Majandra Rodriguez Acha. In her time at FRIDA, Maryam’s skill, knowledge and fierce feminist leadership have been fundamental to the advancement of several internal processes in line with the objectives of our Strategic Plan. She has been integral to the implementation of FRIDA’s ongoing Organizational Development, ensuring that with our rapid growth, we continue to build feminist organizational cultures and remain accountable to diverse young feminist movements.
Even though Maryam joined FRIDA in the middle of a pandemic and a climate that only seems to be worsening, she held her role with the utmost care for the FRIDA community and led with her passion for feminist accountability and holistic security in particular. Maryam played a critical role in originating our Core Operations Mode strategy, and spearheaded the operationalisation of FRIDA’s first whistleblower policy which embodies our collective commitment to honesty and transparency. In addition to holding many other processes, she also added crucial expertise within the realm of digital security as we focus on deepening our work around digital care and creating safe, autonomous feminist digital platforms in accordance with our Principles to Guide Data & Technology.
Maryam’s strategic leadership over the last 15 months has fostered a space to bloom for FRIDA’s incoming Co-Executive Director, who will join the team and begin a new partnership journey with Majandra at the end of 2021. Although Maryam’s time as Interim Co-Executive Director has come to an end, as she transitions out of her role at FRIDA, we are abundant in gratitude and love for her work and lasting contributions to this organisation and community. She will be greatly missed but will always remain a part of the FRIDA family and we wish her nothing but the best in the continuation of her feminist journey.
