PROGRAM AREA: JUST TRANSITIONS
Building translocal, transnational, interdependent community-level social and ecological justice
CS Fund is inspired by movement leaders in environmental justice, worker justice, climate justice, Indigenous Sovereignty, Black Liberation and more in their collective framing of Just Transition: “Transition is inevitable. Justice is not.” We launched our program at the end of 2023, with a core focus on community power building and community self-determination that transforms our current extractive, supremacist culture to one of justice, joy, belonging and liberation for all living beings. We acknowledge the many visions toward liberation that are grounded in cultures around the world, from Buen Vivir to Ubuntu to Ahimsa, and recognize that a pluralistic view of transformation is needed to build across our cultures.
With this initial round of grantmaking, we are committing $4.6 million USD in general support grants over three years to 88 grassroots and movement organizations from around the world. In response to the continued request for long term funding, our intention is to renew funding to these same organizations for another four years and $6 million USD. Read on for more information about the program, the grantee partners, as well as a new Seminar Series that offers political education on Just Transitions from grassroots and movement leaders from across the globe.
In our conversations with grassroots movement leaders, many indicated that foundation programs are too isolating and segregated, both for movement power building as well as fundraising. They told us that the work was all the same on the ground. This is why we are using a place-based strategy that funds grassroots and movement power building focused on social and ecological justice across 20 different sectors, including racial and caste justice, climate justice, worker justice, digital justice, LGBTQIA+ justice, Indigenous sovereignty, food and land sovereignty, human rights, humanitarian response, arts and media, and more.
Overall, the Just Transitions program is providing multi-year general support funding for 88 organizations across the regions of (1) Mesoamerica and the Caribbean, (2) South Asia, (3) West Africa, and (4) the United States, as well as international movement organizations. Of these 88 organizations, 70% are women led, 90% are Global Majority led, 50% are Indigenous led, and 75% are grassroots organizations working directly in their own communities. The remaining 25% are regional and global social movements, networks, and alliances recommended by and accountable to grassroots communities.
Although we are funding a diverse spectrum of sectors, geographies and cultures, this doesn’t alone mean that we are building connective tissue, trust, and power across our movements. In response to conversations with grantee partners, we have launched an optional virtual Community of Praxis for this grantee cohort that brings the different Just Transitions partners together to build relationship, share tactics and strategies, and build collective power with new partners and novel practices. This Community of Praxis has been designed and facilitated by the team of Rosa González, Alixa García, and Malkia Devich-Cyril, with support from the People’s Climate Innovation Center and an amazing Language Justice team that offers translation and interpretation services across several languages. CS Fund is also seeding a fund for the Community of Praxis cohort to co-govern, experimenting with new pathways for how communities would resource themselves, as well as how communities in direct relationship would resource each other. We are calling this the “Co-Govern to Co-Liberate Fund.”
Lastly, in response to our Community of Praxis cohort, we are offering a new Seminar Series for political education on Just Transitions that features leaders from the many sectors, geographies and cultures that we are supporting. While the Community of Praxis sessions are closed, the Seminar Series will be open to other organizations and funders. The content will center the needs of the cohort members and present on issues such as drawing from grief and loss to build collective movement power to feminist strategies to digital justice, but the space will be accessible and engaging to all participants. The Seminar Series will be facilitated by Gopal Dayaneni and CS Fund’s Director of Just Transitions, Samir Doshi. The first session will be on March 19th, and you can register at this link to attend.
List of grantee partners
Mesoamerica and the Caribbean
Alharaca - El Salvador
Alianza Mesoamericana de Pueblos y Bosques - Regional
Asociación de Forestería Comunitaria de Guatemala Utz Che' - Guatemala
Asociación Ocote - Regional
Association Nationale Tèt Kole Ti Peyizan Ayisyen - Haiti
Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras - Honduras
Caribbean Network of Fisher Organizations - Regional
Consejo para el Desarrollo Integral de la Mujer Campesina - Honduras
Cooperativa Sulá Batsú - Costa Rica
Dromómanos - Regional
Instituto Agroecológico Latinoamericano Ixim Ulew - Nicaragua
Mouvement Paysan de Papaye - Haiti
Movimiento de Mujeres del Campo de la ATC - Nicaragua
Plateforme Haïtienne de plaidoyer pour un Développement Alternatif - Haiti
South Asia
Awaj Foundation - Bangladesh
Badabon Sangho - Bangladesh
Bangladesh Agriculture Farm Labour Federation - Bangladesh
Bytes for All - Pakistan
Center for Internet and Society - India
Dhaatri Trust - India
Jatiyo Kisani Shramik Society - Bangladesh
Kalpakvriksh - India
Movement for Land and Agricultural Reform - Sri Lanka
Namdu - India
National Fisheries Solidarity Organisation - Sri Lanka
Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee - Pakistan
Women's Awareness Centre Nepal - Nepal
West Africa
Association de Soutien a l'Auto Promotion Sanitaire Urbaine - Cote d'Ivoire
Comité pour l'Annulation de la Dette du Tiers Monde / Afrique - Mali
Community Healthcare Initiative - Liberia
Green Advocates International - Liberia
Health of the Mother Earth Foundation - Nigeria
Jeunes Volontaires Pour l'Environment Cote d'Ivoire - Cote d'Ivoire
Association des Pêcheurs de la Commune Rurale de Mangagoulack of Kawawana - Senegal
Kebetkache Women Development and Resource Centre - Nigeria
Lokiaka Community Development Centre - Nigeria
Nous Sommes la Solution - Senegal
Paradigm Initiative for Information Technology Development - Nigeria
Women in Humanitarian Response in Nigeria - Nigeria
United States
Alaskans Take a Stand - Alaska
Data for Indigenous Justice - Alaska
Fairbanks Climate Action Coalition - Alaska
Girinkhii - Alaska
Grandmothers Growing Goodness - Alaska
Herring Protectors - Alaska
Just Transition Collective - Alaska
Mother Kuskokwim Tribal Coalition - Alaska
Native Conservancy - Alaska
Native Movement - Alaska
Tlaa Deneldel - Alaska
United Tribes of Bristol Bay - Alaska
Yaakwdaat Latinx'i Coalition - Alaska
Āina Momona - Hawai’i
Hawaiʻi Investment Ready - Hawai’i
Hawai’i Peace and Justice - Hawai’i
Hui Mālama i ke Ala ʻŪlili - Hawai’i
KAHEA: The Hawaiian Environmental Alliance - Hawai’i
Koʻihonua - Hawai’i
Illinois Workers in Action - Midwest
Miigwech - Midwest
One Fair Wage - Midwest
Rural Communities Worker Alliance - Midwest
Solidarity STL - Midwest
Twin Cities Innovation Alliance - Midwest
Working Families Party - Midwest
Comedores Sociales de Puerto Rico - Puerto Rico
Instituto para la Investigación y Acción en Agroecología - Puerto Rico
La Jornada Se Acabaron las Promesas - Puerto Rico
Organización Boricuá de Agricultura Ecológica de Puerto Rico - Puerto Rico
Parceleras Afrocaribeñas por la Transformación Barrial, Inc - Puerto Rico
Algorithm Justice League - National
Ekvn-Yefleocev - National
Fireweed Collective - National
IllumiNative - National
The Black Hive @ Movement for Black Lives - National
Movement Generation - National
NDN Collective - National
New Economy Coalition - National
The Chisholm Legacy Project - National
Global
Program Areas
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Fighting False Solutions
Stopping techno-fixes and securing precautionary assessment, regulation and oversight
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Food Sovereignty
Building capacity and power in Indigenous communities, communities of color, and social movements
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Rights and Governance
Protecting and advancing civil rights and liberties, justice and equity, and democracy