The First Iteration of this program is complete and the information here has not yet been updated to the Second Iteration currently in process. Thank you for your patience and do come back!
Welcome,
'Global Sisterhood from the Ground Up' is a Program for women from globally marginalised groups, who are already immersed in NGL, and women see the NGL approach as a path to individual and collective liberation that they want to be part of and steward.
This program is based on the premise that supporting women’s leadership in the areas of liberation and nonviolence is a revolutionary path towards a livable future, because of the specific ways that the subordination of women has been integral and primary to patriarchy.
Across the world individuals, groups, organisations, and communities, across all social divisions, are actively liberating themselves and one another from the grip of patriarchal conditioning, leaning on the leadership of women to bring forth their full essence, genuine self-confidence and unique combination of gifts and limitations, and walking together as part of a vast network of trust that supports individuals and communities in the re-mothering of a world structured upon narratives that are oriented to needs and natural limits.
Create a liberative and mutually supportive environment to unleash the creativity and resilience of women from PhOCO* groups, to increase our collective capacity to respond to a world in crisis
[to be re-worked] We get energy from: making things that are fully within capacity and big on vision; from celebrating our work as we witness each other walking together towards liberation from within solid support structures; from experiencing the integration and togetherness within both supporting one another and being participants; from co-discovery and iterative learning, as we construct and care for the program; and from connecting with reverence for frameworks and tools which have evolved from NGL’s experiments around orientation to human needs. These elements are resources that support us to seed an interdependent network of solidarity and intimacy, and to unleash our own collective capacity and creativity to respond to a world in crisis.
*PhOCO: Phenotypically or Culturally Othered
The program focuses, in particular, on women who have also been marginalised based on race, ethnicity, religion, caste, class and/or income.
It does not focus on all women, because of the ways that women from more dominant groups (e.g. white in relation to darker skinned people; Christian in relation to Jews and other religions; middle and owning classes in relation to working classes) have often aligned themselves with narratives and actions that resulted in the continued marginalisation of the majority of people on the planet.
The aim is that women attend the program with the express intention of focusing on rapid movement towards restoring sufficient choice, togetherness, and flow to be able to learn how to work with others using the materials covered within the program.
This means doing so both proactively in their communities and in response to requests made from people to NGL for services and offerings.
We mourn that, at present, the program is limited by several factors, and thus it is likely to take several iterations before we cross the accessibility barriers sufficiently. Here are some of the limitations we are aware of, most of which are likely to continue for years still:
Existing NGLs materials are heavily text-based, and thus themselves easily act as barriers related to education;
The program is only offered online, limiting it to those who have access to technology;
The investment in the program - both hours per week and the length of the program - is very demanding.
As we embark on the first phase of the program, we expect there to be voids, imperfections and unforeseen challenges. Our intention is to name and hold the voids, imperfections and challenges together, and discern if there are within capacity pathways to attend to them. We expect to fold in the learnings from this first phase into the next iteration and co-shape the program with the participants.
The program is currently funded by a one-time estate donation that is designed to sustain both the support team and any participants who would not be able to participate without receiving a stipend to cover for loss of income. Simultaneously, we invite contributions (please mention its for the Global Sisterhood Program while contributing money) from anyone reading this description who is excited about this program and has any capacity to contribute financially to its long term viability.