Regions Refocus

New publication alert! 🥁 The✊🏾 @GenderandTrade Feminist Trade Agenda ✊🏾, which presents 16 policy proposals aimed at advancing our collective efforts toward feminist trade justice, is now available in English, French, Portuguese, & Spanish. regionsrefocus.org/convenings/fem…

🔥 At the forefront of resistance, feminist civil society & allies continue to lead the way in discussing, proposing, mobilizing, & implementing the alternatives needed to transform the current economic system into one based on justice, redistribution, & accountability.

🗣️ After witnessing once again the empty rhetoric of those who benefit from the system as it is, the importance of speaking truth to power remains: the current multilateral trading system does not serve development. If anything, it's hindering development - & this must change.

It's a wrap! This week, the 2026 ECOSOC Financing for Development Forum took place in NYC. As the first Forum since FfD4 in Sevilla last year, it was an important moment to reflect on progress & challenges of development in a changing world.

📍 Now at #FfDForum2026: “A Systemic Approach to Equitable Borrowing: Which Normative Instruments?” Developing countries face unfair borrowing costs & practices, driven by complex, interconnected factors. We’re discussing concrete pathways 4 change in the #FfD follow-up process.

Day 3️⃣ 🎥 Erica Leverson from @RegionsRefocus Focus on trade: rules, power, and the growing push for a fairer system ✊ 🧵👇

📍 Erica Levenson @RegionsRefocus warns WTO trade system is failing development, driven by profit, not equity 💰➡️🌍 and increasingly used as coercion. Time to re-imagine trade for people, not power ✊ #FfDForum2026 #FfD4People

#FfDForum2026 Day 3: Focus on trade 🌍 Trade rules are being bent & broken by those in power. A system that can be ignored by some and imposed on others is not fair. It MUST change. Development cannot be sidelined by shifting geopolitical priorities & strategic competition 🚫

🗣️Current global trade & investment systems not only fail to address climate change but also harm the environment & marginalized communities. Ranja Sengupta (@3rdworldnetwork) delves into this argument at the latest GTC event. Watch her full intervention: youtu.be/1gDa-U88ijM

Join civil society for a key reflection on the future of #FfD! Our Future is At Stake: Civil Society Reflects on Present and Future of FfD 📅 TOMORROW April 22 | 🕓 4:45–6:00 pm 📍 CR-8, UN HQ, New York #FfDForum2026 #FfD4 #Fin4Dev

Join us during #FfDWeek in New York! 🗓 21 April | 🕒 13:30–15:00 EDT 📍 UN Women HQ, Conference Room 1925 Co-organised by the Feminist Workstream and EJR Action Coalition, with support from @unwomen ⚠️ Limited spots! Please RSVP by 20 April, 5 PM: ow.ly/FImj50YJxGk

🚩 Trade agreements are putting women's economic rights & interests up for sale, instead of protecting them. 🔊 Sadhana Sanjay (@ITforChange) on the importance of resisting the appropriation of women's time, labor & energy by corporations & private interests.

What does trade have to do with war & conflict? In our latest event, Nela Porobić Isaković (Feminist Anti-Militarist Collective) analyzes how trade can be a tool for exploitation – or for mutual aid & solidarity – in (post)conflict contexts. Full video on our YouTube channel.

Trade isn’t just about markets — it’s about our daily lives. Food, water, healthcare, jobs, and who gets to decide. When trade rules shape how we live and impact women and marginalized communities differently, they become a feminist issue. 🔊 Mariama Williams

We are in Yaoundé for the @wto's 14th Ministerial Conference (#MC14), pushing for a structural view of gender & trade. Gender fixes cannot solve problems unleashed by unfair agreements. It’s time for the WTO to deliver on its promises. Read our statement: bit.ly/GTCtoMC14

Did you miss our CSW70 virtual parallel event, "Building for Feminist Alliances: Towards Radical Economic Healing & Rebuilding"? You can now watch (and rewatch!) the recording of the event here ⬇️ gendertradecoalition.org/events/gtcatcs… 🫱🏿‍🫲🏾 @FemnetProg @RegionsRefocus @3rdworldnetwork

It's tomorrow! Register here to join us at ➡️ bit.ly/GTCatCSW70 @FemnetProg @RegionsRefocus @3rdworldnetwork

On 17 March, join us for a #CSW70 virtual parallel event. Together with @regionsrefocus @FemnetProg @3rdworldnetwork, we'll unpack why trade is a feminist issue & build solidarity in the fight for feminist trade justice. Register here ➡️ bit.ly/GTCatCSW70

8 years ago, the GTC was initiated by feminist & progressive activists to advance feminist trade analysis & equitable trade policy. With +300 members globally, we stand in opposition to neoliberal co-optation of women's human rights as a means to expand an unjust trade system.

It's a wrap! The Coordination Group came together in Manila for an in-depth meeting to reflect on the rapidly shifting global landscape and what it means for the future of the #FfD process and collective. To learn more about the Coordination Group visit: csoforffd.org/governance/