500
Ahead of Mozambique’s 2024 elections, Women’s Forum convened 500 women for a national conference to promote active participation as candidates, voters, observers, and election officials.
Women’s Forum
Women’s Forum
Fórum Mulher
Maputo
Women’s Forum is a Mozambican women’s rights network working to advance gender equality and women’s autonomy through advocacy, coalition-building, and capacity strengthening. The organization promotes women’s economic, social, political, reproductive, and environmental rights at local, national, and regional levels.
Partner Focus Areas
Ending violence against women
Sexual and reproductive health and rights
Girls’ education and leadership development
Women’s economic autonomy and livelihoods
Partnership Highlights
Partner since 2014
Regional feminist collaboration across Lusophone Africa (Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde)
Strengthening civil society networks and feminist coalitions
Women’s leadership development and political participation
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A facilitator reads a passage about communication skills in a Forum Mulher training of trainers workshop.
About Women’s Forum
Founded in 1993 in Maputo, Women’s Forum (FM) is a national network of civil society organizations and activists working to advance gender equality and women’s human rights across Mozambique. Bringing together feminist leaders, community-based organizations, and advocates from across the country, FM works to promote structural, economic, and socio-cultural transformation that improves the lives of women and girls.
Rooted in collective action and feminist solidarity, FM strengthens the capacity of its member organizations while advancing advocacy on women’s political participation, economic justice, sexual and reproductive health and rights, climate justice, and the elimination of gender-based violence. The network works closely with rural women, community leaders, academics, journalists, activists, and political leaders to build stronger movements for gender justice and democratic participation.
A major focus of FM’s advocacy has been influencing legal and policy reforms that expand protections and opportunities for women and girls in Mozambique. The organization has contributed to reforms related to family law, women’s land access, labor protections, and social rights, while also supporting public dialogue and civic engagement during periods of political tension and post-election unrest.
Since joining Women’s Learning Partnership in 2014, FM has integrated WLP leadership methodologies and curricula into its trainings and advocacy initiatives while strengthening Lusophone regional feminist collaboration. Working primarily in Portuguese, the network continues to expand opportunities for women’s leadership and civic participation across Mozambique.
Driven by a vision of a world free from violence, sexism, and oppression, FM remains one of Mozambique’s leading feminist coalitions, mobilizing communities and organizations nationwide to advance equality, peace, and social justice for all women and girls.
Key Accomplishments
- Mobilized hundreds of women in national electoral inclusion initiatives, strengthening women’s participation as candidates, voters, observers, and electoral officials.
- Hosted global advocacy events at international forums, highlighting climate justice, food sovereignty, and women’s economic rights.
- Conducted national and regional trainings for women leaders to strengthen advocacy skills in political, security, and climate-related contexts.
- Organized large-scale regional feminist convenings bringing together thousands of participants to advance African feminist agendas and strategies for political participation.
- Led advocacy campaigns addressing harmful practices, including efforts contributing to public accountability on child marriage-related policy discourse.
- Convened national dialogues on land policy reform, supporting rural women in drafting collective policy demands submitted to government authorities.
- Coordinated international and regional conferences centering rural women’s leadership and economic justice.
- Led public mobilization campaigns during the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, calling for accountability and an end to impunity for violence against women.
- Strengthened feminist coalitions focused on women’s land rights and rural economic justice through policy advocacy and community organizing.
- Expanded civil society engagement in national elections through voter education, monitoring, and candidate support initiatives.
A group of participants discuss women's roles in politics and ending gender-based violence during a Forum Mulher workshop in Maputo.
Organizational Programs and Activities
- Ending Violence Against Women: Implements education, advocacy, and public campaigns to influence policy change and strengthen institutional responses to gender-based violence. Works with media partners and civil society organizations to document and address domestic violence.
- Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights: Advocates for reproductive justice, including access to safe reproductive health services and legal reform efforts addressing harmful practices affecting women and girls.
- Women’s Political Participation: Provides training and support for women candidates and monitors electoral processes to promote fairness, transparency, and inclusion of women in political life.
- Institutional Capacity Building: Strengthens a national network of member organizations through leadership development, feminist organizing, technical training, and collaborative advocacy initiatives.
- Economic Justice and Land Rights: Works with rural women’s networks to advance land ownership rights, improve access to credit and livelihoods, and promote women’s economic autonomy, particularly in informal and agricultural sectors.
About Mozambique
Mozambique continues to face significant challenges linked to economic hardship, climate-related shocks, and regional insecurity. These pressures contribute to deepening inequalities and affect access to essential services such as education, healthcare, and economic opportunity, particularly for women and underserved communities. Conflict, climate disasters, and widespread poverty continue to have disproportionate impacts on women and girls.
Women’s rights organizations, community leaders, and civil society actors continue to play a critical role in advancing participation, resilience, and human rights at local and national levels. Efforts to support women’s leadership and community-driven solutions remain central to building more inclusive, equitable, and resilient systems.
- Population: 34.1 million
- Region: Eastern Africa
- Government: Presidential Republic
- Women in Parliament: 39.2%
- Female Labor Force Participation: 77%
- Key issues: Combating child marriage and gender-based violence and expanding women’s economic opportunities.
Our responsibility is to help women to be able to say ‘No’ when they don’t want something and ‘Yes’ when they do want something. First of all, women have to say yes to themselves: ‘Yes, I want to be myself. I want to take control of my life.' This is [what] can help women fight together for change.