The Team

Alia, women's cultural association for research and action

Alia, a women’s cultural association for research and action, was founded in 2005 with the aim of promoting knowledge and driving feminist social change from an intersectional perspective. The organization has developed a wide range of creative, educational, training and research activities which bring a feminist perspective to broadcasting, the arts, technology, society and culture.

In particular, it has led various initiatives for policies against gender-based violence, including its contribution to the FemBloc project and support for the design of the helpline service.

Donestech

Donestech is a collective focused on the intersection of feminism, technology, and digital sovereignty. It has been carrying out research and work on the relationship between gender and ICT, and for the empowerment of LGBTQI+ women and people in the digital sphere. Of late, it has been focusing on digital security from a cyberfeminist perspective, developing research, training, and outreach materials to raise awareness on this issue, and promoting international and local alliances.

Bringing its experience in feminist digital self-defence and FLOSS computer tools to the FemBloc project, Donestech has taken a lead role in training and is responsible for the design of the technological infrastructure and documentation of the information and support helpline.

Calala Women's Fund

Calala is a women's fund with 10 years of experience in promoting the rights, empowerment and leadership of women in Mesoamerica and Spain, helping them gain access to resources to strengthen their organizations, networks and movements.

Calala brings key experience in project coordination and delivery to FemBloc, in addition to knowledge and partnerships with women's organizations in Catalonia, Spain and Europe.

University of Barcelona

The University of Barcelona is a leading public institution for education, science and critical thinking. The COPOLIS Research Group, which concentrates on public wellbeing, community and accountability, with a specific focus on gender and family studies, and has collaborated with ALIA on gender and technology projects for over 10 years.

As part of FemBloc, COPOLIS will support the collection and analysis of knowledge, and will contribute its expertise on gender to the project's research and training initiatives. It will also play a role in preparing research publications and articles.

Alex Haché

Alex Haché is a sociologist with a PhD in economics and a postdoctoral fellowship from the European Commission. She is a cyberfeminist and co-founder of Donestech. She has coordinated the "Gender and Technology Institutes" for the digital safety of LGBTQI+ people and women human rights defenders. She has published books on technological sovereignty and is involved in feminist infrastructural initiatives such as anarchaserver.org. Since 2018, she has served as coordinator for both the Digital Defenders programme rapid response networks and it's Gender and Cultural Diversity strategy.

In addition to being one of the founders of the project, she has used her expertise in digital security to help develop FemBloc's service mapping, identify gaps in dealing with digital gender-based violence, and support Alia in creating the FemBloc support service.

Laia Serra

Laia Serra is a criminal lawyer and feminist activist. She works for the strategic protection of human rights in areas such as the right to protest, the right to freedom of expression, and the right to information. She also works for the protection of the rights of women against violence, particularly sexual violence and violence in the digital realm. She has published research on hate speech and digital violence against women. She has collaborated in the drafting of LGBTI+ legislation and legislation to combat gender-based violence in Catalonia.

She is one of the founders of the FemBloc project, through which she is involved in the construction of a legal framework for dealing with digital gender-based violence, and advocacy on behalf of feminist institutions and groups.

Fundación Surt

Fundación Surt was part of the project during 2021. They have contributed knowledge and experience to the project for the elaboration of the conceptual framework and the approach model that will be put into practice during the pilot.Surt is a grassroots organization with more than 25 years of experience working to strengthen the economic, social and cultural rights of cis and trans women, and to eradicate all forms of gender-based discrimination.

It develops activities, services and programmes from an intersectional feminist and human rights perspective, with the aim of tackling gender-based violence and supporting the recovery of women and sexually and gender-diverse people who are affected by it. It is also involved in local and international social research and innovation projects focused on analyzing the causes of gender-based violence and developing response strategies to stamp it out.

This has led Surt to link up with the FemBloc project and share its expertise in the design of a model for tackling the emerging phenomenon of digital gender-based violence.

Fundació SURT joined the project in 2021.