The year 2015 was an exciting and important one. With our staff and our advisory committee growing, FRIDA is proud to have, for the first time, its Transitional Board of Directors!
In the last five years of its existence (yes! FRIDA turned five recently!), FRIDA has grown rapidly and shown massive transformations. Drawing on the wisdoms and support of established organizations, FRIDA was incubated in partnership with the Association for Women’s Rights in Development and the Central American Women’s Fund, while also housed as a Collective Action Fund of the Tides Foundation. In this hybrid structure, FRIDA has successfully run four participatory grantmaking cycles and awarded almost $800,000 USD to over 70 groups of young feminists in over 60 countries.
These achievements have demanded significant growth and maturity in FRIDA’s programs, operations, and administration. And we realised that it is now time for FRIDA to spread her own wings and set up as an independent institution. The formation of the Board of Directors is an essential step in this process, to ensure FRIDA will always have the strategic direction, necessary resources, and financial oversight to fulfill its mission and uphold its core values.
While deciding to set up a Board was fairly straightforward – deciding who should be on it and how the selection process should be organized so that it is truly aligned to FRIDA values was much harder! In consultation with our grantee partners, advisors, and donors, it was decided that the Board of the young feminist fund must honor its intergenerational beginnings and act as an example for social justice movements everywhere. FRIDA’s Board is made up of diverse young people from around the world under 35 years old, with support of two multigenerational advisors that can be any age.
Because of the nature of the tasks our first Board needed to immediately fulfill, we focused our first selection process based on candidate’s’ familiarity with FRIDA and a special skill set. We drew primarily on our own Advisory Committee and close partners. However, we are committed to creating a more open and participatory nomination and election process for the recruitment of new Board members in 2016.
So without further ado, we are pleased to introduce to you our Board!
