MenaFem Annual Feminist Economics School
The MENAFEM Annual Feminist Economics School is a regional learning sharing initiative that seeks to strengthen feminist engagement with economic justice issues across the South West Asia and North Africa (SWANA) region. Bringing together activists, researchers, students, trade unionists, journalists, civil society actors, and social justice advocates, the School creates a collective space to rethink economics from feminist, decolonial, and justice-centered perspectives.
The idea for the School emerged during the preparation of IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings held in Marrakech in 2023. During those meetings, feminists and allies from across the region reflected on the urgent need to build stronger feminist economic analysis in Arabic-speaking contexts and to create spaces where economic debates could be reclaimed beyond technocratic institutions and inaccessible language. Discussions around debt, austerity, privatization, care, unemployment, and climate crises highlighted how deeply economic policies shape everyday life, while feminist movements often remain excluded from these debates.
The School was therefore conceived as a political and educational space for Arabic-speaking feminist movements and allies across the SWANA region to collectively build knowledge, exchange experiences, and strengthen their engagement with economic justice issues. One of its distinctive features is its commitment to producing and sharing feminist economic knowledge in Arabic. Discussions and materials are primarily developed in Arabic, helping make debates on macroeconomics, debt, taxation, international financial institutions, and global economic governance more accessible and connected to the realities of the region.
Held every year in May, and hosted in a different city of the region whenever possible, the School combines lectures, workshops, and participatory discussions on themes such as feminist economics, care economies, debt and austerity, trade and taxation, labor and social protection, climate justice, and international financial architecture.
More than a training program, the MENAFem Annual Feminist Economics School is also a space for solidarity, regional networking, and collective imagination. It aims to strengthen collaboration between feminist and social justice movements while contributing to feminist visions for economies centered on care, redistribution, dignity, democracy, and ecological justice.
The application for the school 2027 cohort will open soon.