December 11, 2025
For Women in Migration Network (WIMN), this has been a year of significant change and profound growth. It concludes with a growing sense of power, clarity, and renewed purpose for the organization amid shifting global landscapes and evolving challenges for migrant and feminist movements.
We seek your support for what will no doubt be another challenging year, one which we face with deepened commitments, expanded outreach, and strengthened voices of our members around the world.
Here’s a snapshot of our activities this past year:
Click to read our full 2025 end-of-year report
Advancing Gender in Migration Governance
WIMN started 2025 with renewed energy from the Feminist Forum on Migration and Displacement (FFMD), co-convened in Bangkok, Thailand in early December 2024. The FFMD strengthened our mandate to build a bottom-up, intersectional feminist migration policy agenda (FMPA) – a collective commitment carried into all of WIMN’s initiatives this past year.
We have engaged in a round of activities towards next year’s UN International Migration Review Forum (IMRF), focusing on solidifying and enhancing the gender-responsive gains achieved in the Global Compact for Migration (GCM). With contributions from grassroots activists, leading organizations and issue experts, we are preparing a new Spotlight Report on Global Migration with support from Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung; it will be released early next year towards the IMRF in May. We’re advocating for a Gender Rapporteur in the IMRF, mobilizing grassroots input to preparatory reviews, and pushing member states to advocate for robust, actionable gender language during the often-complex intergovernmental negotiations.
Among other migration governance activities this past year:
At the 69th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69) in March, we issued the brief, 30 years since Beijing: Women in migration still seek inclusion in the Gender Equity and Equality Agenda, assessing progress and highlighting deficits regarding women in migration over the last three decades. Together with side events and mobilization for the “No Backlash to Women’s Rights” rally, we pushed back against the rise of global political opposition targeting women’s rights.
- We released our Open Letter in Response to the United Nations Network on Migration’s Statement on Remittances, published in June.
- Representatives from several WIMN organizations convened in Riohacha, Colombia, for the 15th Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) in September, promoting feminist perspectives on a range of migration issues.
- In a side event during the UN General Assembly in October, we co-organized a side event with the UN Special Rapporteur on Migration, with participants speaking to the disproportionate and gendered impacts of externalization policies on women and girls, bringing a much-needed human rights and gender lens to this growing practice.
- As a partner in the FeMig Project, an initiative to develop a Feminist Migration Policy “from grassroots to the global.” led by the Gender+Migration Hub at the International Migration Research Centre at Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada, we are helping to expand and update an online map of organizations working on gender and migration and convene civil society participants around the world — in Thailand, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador and Nepal to date.
Leadership development
Following two initial years of our Leadership in Global Advocacy program (LIGA), this year we worked with cohort participants to reflect on the program and envision the next steps in the program’s development. Participants from 8 grassroots organizations have participated in LIGA so far. In their words, “LIGA has already set a high bar, but I envision it growing into an even stronger global movement—expanding its reach, bringing in more voices, and fostering deeper collaboration. I would love to stay engaged, contribute to its growth, and mentor future participants. The bonds we formed here should not end; they should evolve into a lifelong network of change-makers!”
Addressing climate change impacts
This year WIMN continued to engage in dialogues on climate change, gender and migration, with two of four dialogues conducted in 2025 and spotlighting grassroots resistance struggles for environmental and climate justice in the Philippines and Kenya. From these dialogues and those in previous years we have produced 4 graphic summaries, each with key messages and demands from our allies.
Climate Justice at the Intersection of Gender and Migration: a WIMN Summary of Activities and Lessons details our evolving work in this arena – lessons also highlighted in an op-ed, Climate related migration: it is all about political choices, written by Chus Alvarez and published in Migrant Women’s Press in November.
WIMN’s Governance
2025 has also marked a year of transition with Roula Seghaier stepping into the role of International Coordinator in June. The transition commenced as two of WIMN’s founding members and co-conveners stepped down from those positions: Catherine Tactaquin in December 2024, and Carol Barton in June 2025. In addition to Cathi and Carol, Helena Olea and Claudia Interiano stepped down from positions on the Board of Directors.
Members’ Assembly 2025
In October, our Members’ Assembly reflected on how far we’ve come this year, and where we will be going as a network. Prior to the two-day virtual Assembly, we collected input from our membership on their priority concerns as they navigate the world of gender and migration. The responses overwhelmingly revealed concerns with the rise of authoritarianism—which were aired during the Assembly.
Members also made recommendations on expanding WIMN’s membership and creating a process for responsible expansion while maintaining diversity and ensuring representation of underrepresented regions and themes.
New members for the Board of Directors
As a result of our Board of Directors election, we are welcoming new members Cindy Clark, Fulya Pinar Özcan and Berenice Valdez, and welcoming back Carolina Gottardoand Michele Levoy, elected for 2nd terms on the Board.
Women Archives
With thanks to Carol Barton, WIMN’s documents and materials are now in the archives at UMASS Amherst. A huge accomplishment!
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As we turn the corner into 2026, being more effective and accountable in our advocacy, growing our membership, strengthening our staffing and operational capacity and expanding resources remain paramount. We invite your continued connection and support of WIMN on this journey.
Please consider an end-of-the year donation to WIMN. Your support helps us to amplify the progress of the past year and move forward with exciting plans for the next year and beyond as we make space for women in migration to shape the policies that impact their lives.
Closing the year, we stand grounded in our values and energized for what comes next.
Thank you – and our best wishes for the holidays and the New Year.