Land Rights, Local Resilience and Feminist Opportunities of the World Social Forum

Presentation and discussion with Burry Tunkara who will be joined by Helen Pörtner (junge ABL)

Thursday, 23rd of April 2026, 5 – 7 pm

Followed by dinner to stay and talk.

Please register here: https://tripetto.app/run/UHATX622DB

The event will be held in English.

Land, water, and traditional seeds are the lifeline of millions of people— particularly women, who serve as the primary guardians of food sovereignty. Yet, in West Africa, they are increasingly threatened by land grabbing and extractive economic models that marginalize women’s traditional land rights. These developments are closely linked to a global economic order in which profits are prioritized over gender equity and the lived realities of rural communities, human rights and ecological limits.  

Strong social and feminist movements are active in many West African countries, opposing these injustices and building alternatives based on solidarity—locally, regionally, and internationally. We will discuss how West African women are not just victims of land grabbing but are leading political agent to highlight how they use collective actions through grassroots organization like the CGLTE-OA caravan to challenge patriarchal land tenure systems and reclaim their roles as primary custodians of biodiversity. The World Social Forum (WSF), which will take place this August in Cotonou is also set to play a central role in this effort. For more than 20 years, the World Social Forum has served as a global space for exchange, networking, and the development of joint strategies among social movements.

We warmly invite you to this event that highlights struggles for land rights and feminist struggles in West Africa and focuses on international solidarity and global movement work. Our guest is Burry Tunkara, an activist from The Gambia and a member of the organizing team for the 2026 World Social Forum in Cotonou. Burry is a member of the Gender Commission of the West African Movement Alliance for Struggles for Land, Water, and Peasant Seeds (CGLTE-OA). She is also president of the Association for the Protection of Domestic Workers’ Rights (ADDAD Gambia). Burry will explore the intersection of labour and land and why the fight for the rights of domestic workers in the city, mirror the struggle of women farmers in the countryside. Highlighting how both struggles aim to end exploitation of women’s labour and ensure their dignity is recognized in every space from the farm to the household.

Resilience is more than survival and to that note Burry will share accounts of the struggle against land grabbing, the importance of gender justice in these struggles, how local and regional alliances have emerged, and the role that international networking and solidarity play in this process. The 2026 world social forum is designed as a space where feminists fit to move beyond neoliberal model and build a global care economy. Burry will share how this forum served as a critical bridge, connecting local West African caravans for land water to the global movement for gender and climate justice. The discussion will also focus on the World Social Forum as an alternative to neoliberal economic forums and the question of how we in Germany can participate and contribute to this effort.  

As we prepare for the 2026 forum we ask, how can social movements, associations civil society organization and feminist solidarity in Germany move beyond support to become a true partnership in dismantling the global structures that threaten local resilience in West Africa? The event is open to anyone interested in global justice, gender equality, food sovereignty, and international solidarity. Come by, listen, and join us in discussing how we can work together to strengthen social movements and address global inequalities.

Afterward, there will be an opportunity to network and build connections over dinner.

Place: Berlin Global Village (Am Sudhaus 2, 12053 Berlin), Paulo Freire Raum

Date and Time: 23.04.2026 | 17:00-19:00  

Please register here: https://tripetto.app/run/UHATX622DB

Language: English

The event is organized by WEED - World Economy, Ecology and Development e.V. with the support of Brot für die Welt.