Example projects

Over the last 35 years or so, The Maypole Fund has received thousands of applications supporting feminist anti-militarist activities all over the world. Unfortunately, we can only fund a small number of projects.

All the projects we financially support have to be aligned with our aims. The following are some examples of projects which received a grant from The Maypole Fund, demonstrating different types of successful initiatives, together with some brief comments from The Maypole Fund.

We hope you will find the examples useful when you consider applying for a grant from us.

“Destroy weapons, save the planet”, Spain

The Maypole Fund gave a grant to the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom in Spain (WILPF España) to create an inspirational and visual 23 page document to share through social media, speaking directly to young people about the links between militarism and the climate crisis.

The publication proposes a journey through five truths to save the world. It exposes the vicious circle of militarism as a war against our planet Earth and offers five examples of how the military industry destroys the planet. To do so, the authors’ feminist approach provides rigorous sources and introduces the concept of ‘environmental peace’, which means the ‘eradication of all violence (aggressions, injustices or discrimination) against the planet and their inhabitants’. In addition, the authors call for the inclusion of women in all decision-making, as women are especially negatively affected by militarism and the climate crisis. 

Notes: The Maypole Fund especially liked that the publication speaks to the passion of feminist and youth activism and makes complex information accessible in a clear and visual format. Also, it pushes our understanding of the links between militarism and the climate crisis, how they affect women, and how we all can contribute to positive change. The strategy to disseminate the important messages through social media to teachers, students and the public is likely to reach diverse audiences. 

A mural in a neighbourhood in Bogotá, Columbia

The Maypole Fund gave a grant to Encuentro de Mujeres Creadoras, a group of women of all ages, to transform an external wall of a neighbourhood cultural centre in Bogotá into a mural with strong messages of feminist anti-militarism. The mural depicted seven panels with silhouettes of women, girls and male peasants; each panel had a message of feminist anti-militarism. The messages, speaking to both women and men, were:

• No more sexual violence as a weapon of war.
• No more forced recruitment.
• No more polarized media
• They are killing diversity.
• Women are not spoils of war.
• No more false positives (referring to extrajudicial killings).
• Yes to conscientious objection.

Notes: The Maypole Fund found a mural to be a powerful and lasting medium to convey the group’s messages of feminist anti-militarism. The active involvement of the local community, from choosing a cultural centre as the ‘canvas’, to seeking permission to paint the wall and working with the residents including children, ensured local ownership, which we consider to be important in feminist activism. 

Greenham 40th Anniversary Group, UK

The Maypole Fund gave a grant to The Greenham 40th anniversary group of grassroots women with Greenham backgrounds towards the logistics for a series of celebratory events, which coincided with the anniversary of the arrival of the Women for Life on Earth march at the Greenham Common airbase on 5 September 1981 which became the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp. 

The series of events celebrated what Greenham women experienced and achieved, and reflected in all the different ways that the Greenham protest impacted on the lives of the women involved, campaigning, and the world over the past 40 years.  In addition to engaging with the ‘daughters of Greenham’ to recreate the march from Cardiff to Greenham, the grassroots anniversary group ran a series of international online meetings, reaching out to Greenham women in the UK and abroad, along with subsequent generations of women working on today’s ecofeminist challenges, such as resisting military-industrial violence and building peace, security and climate justice in Britain and beyond.

This video records one of the webinars in the series called ‘Weaving the web/inars’ which were part of the celebration.

This video, by the brilliant filmmaker, Cydney Adams, offers a window into why women marched from Cardiff to Greenham for the 40th anniversary of Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp. 

Notes: The Maypole Fund contributed money to the 40th anniversary of the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp for a number of reasons, including the fact that the Peace Camp politicised many women both in the UK and further afield and many of the women’s experiences at the Camp sparked extensive national and international anti-militarist activism. In addition, the anniversary celebration made visible this important contribution to feminist anti-militarist history, highlighted the changes women’s activism had achieved, looked forward to and discussed what actions needed to be taken now and in the future in order to challenge ongoing militarisation and war and their impacts on women in different parts of the world.