Providing access through funding.
We work to ensure that both new and established feminist groups across the Middle East and North Africa can access the funding they need to grow their work. Our support is flexible, long-term, and rooted in the priorities of the communities we serve.
Let's see if you're eligible
Answer a few short questions to see whether your group fits our funding criteria before applying.
Question 1
Is your group based in, or working across, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region?
Grantmaking process
Applicants are invited to submit their proposals for core grants, project grants, or knowledge production grants. DFF offers a simple application form inviting applicants to share openly about their plans, and generate their own narrative about their work. Applicants may submit their proposals in Arabic, English, or French. The DFF team provides opportunities for applicants to connect with DFF and troubleshoot their applications throughout the open call period. DFF’s activist review committee conducts outreach and connects directly with potential applicants, supporting them through the application process. DFF also hosts informational sessions and webinars for potential applicants to learn more about DFF and ask any questions they may have. DFF calls for proposals are open calls, in which any feminist organization or collective in the MENA region is welcome to apply. The open nature of the calls for proposals offers the opportunity for DFF to review a wide scope of applications from different issue areas, employing a movement-informed approach to prioritising issue areas. While DFF does not pre-determine the grantmaking priorities in open calls for proposals, DFF works closely with the activist-advisory committee to identify opportunities, gaps, trends, and emerging issues to pay close attention to in the application review process. DFF also conducts regular research assessments across the region in order to build critical context on the priorities of the feminist movement ecosystem.
The DFF grants team and activist review committee collaborate on reviewing and shortlisting applications. The activist committee reviews the applications and provides feedback on all eligible applications. The DFF grants team then works with the activist committee to create a shortlist that is representative of the applicant pool, the priorities of the feminist movement ecosystem, and that aligns with the strategic priorities of DFF, as defined by DFF’s 2025-2030 Strategic Plan, ZAHA. DFF connects with each shortlisted applicant for more information about their work, and to follow up with due diligence processes. DFF initiates the relationship with potential grantee partners rooted in our core principles of care, solidarity, and trust. DFF’s due diligence process includes reaching out to the applicant’s listed references and referring to the activist committee’s expert knowledge of the context that the applicant works in. The applicants are consulted throughout the due diligence process to promote transparency and accountability.
The DFF grants team confirms the final list of grant recipients with the activist review committee, and officially shares award letters and grants agreements stating the grants period and terms of the grant with the grantee partner. Grantees participate in welcome calls with DFF staff and committee members to discuss the grantee journey, including reporting timelines, safety measures, and accompaniment opportunities.
Grantee partner thematic areas
The issues our grantee partners work on, across the region.
Testimonies from Our Partners
With DFF’s support, Midanik is now formally registered in Sudan and Uganda! This provided Midanik’s team with more confidence, visibility and recognition to sustain their work. Why it matters: in a context where feminist organizing is under severe pressure, flexible funding helped Midanik strengthen both its organizational survival and public legitimacy.
“Our work and partnership with DFF made it possible for queer-led and trans-led initiatives to exist and have our voices heard within the feminist movement in the SWANA region.”
“With the support of the DFF, Roots Lab Africa has made significant progress in strengthening queer and gender-diverse communities across Morocco through capacity-building, visibility, and community-led empowerment. The grant enabled us to implement a series of impactful activities that advance bodily autonomy, gender justice, and intersectional advocacy.”
“DFF’s accompaniment has been far more than a funding relationship. It has been a genuine partnership in feminist movement-building.”
“We completed a full seasonal cycle of workshops rooted in feminist ecology, collective care, and ancestral food practices. Following the initial gatherings and spring workshops, we organized three additional workshops that marked the transition into late summer and autumn food preservation practices. We held a burghul workshop where women collectively cooked, dried, milled, and prepared wheat, alongside bread-making and storytelling around childhood, labour, and survival. This workshop highlighted wheat as both nourishment and memory, and centered women’s embodied knowledge of food systems shaped by necessity, care, and resilience.”
“In 2025, the team focused on integrating climate justice, women’s empowerment, and community participation through the reforestation project in Afrin. Activities included trainings and the planting of 3,192 diverse seedlings with follow-up irrigation and maintenance to ensure sustainable growth.”
“Before this training, I thought climate change was something far from us. Now I understand how it affects our land and our work, and I feel that I can do something about it, even if it starts with a small step.”