Count Me In! (CMI) is a group of left-of-center feminist organizations that has a strategic partnership with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. ¹

CMI uses three strategies to support women’s rights organizations, which it classifies as organizations that were created for and led by “women, girls and/or anyone who faces sex or gender discrimination such as non-binary, gender non-conforming, trans and intersex people.” These strategies include funding, strengthening the organizational capacity of its partners, and lobbying. ^{2 3}

Count Me In! organized the Counting Sex Workers In! campaign, which according to CMI, put “a spotlight on sex worker-led advocacy” and highlighted the “voices and perspectives of sex workers,” arguing that it was “time” for human rights organizations and donors to “recognize and promote sex workers’ bodily autonomy” and also “acknowledge their labor rights as workers.” ⁴

Background

Count Me In!, also known as the Count Me In Consortium, is a group of left-of-center feminist organizations that has a strategic partnership with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The consortium is led by the organization Mama Cash, and consists of feminist organizations such as Association for Women’s Rights in Development and Just Associates, and funder organizations including the Urgent Action Fund for Feminist Activism. CMI states that it applies a “feminist lens” to every aspect of its work. ^{5 6}

CMI three strategies to support women’s rights organizations, which it classifies as organizations that were created for and led by “women, girls and/or anyone who faces sex or gender discrimination such as non-binary, gender non-conforming, trans and intersex people.” These strategies include funding, strengthening the organizational capacity of its partners, and lobbying. ^{7 8}

CMI funding splits into different areas including core funding, which consists of long-term and flexible funding, and rapid response funding, which is granted to partners during emergency situations. The consortium engages in the “capacity-strengthening” of its partners’ lobbying and advocacy efforts, so CMI partner organizations can “successfully lobby political leaders, societal actors, and donors.” CMI also states that its members and partners “jointly conduct lobby and advocacy for law and policy reform.” ⁹

According to its website, CMI has made 197 grants to 284 women’s rights organizations across 26 countries. ¹⁰

Sex Work Advocacy

Count Me In! organized the Counting Sex Workers In! campaign, which ran from October 26 to November 10, 2020. ¹¹

According to CMI, the campaign put “a spotlight on sex worker-led advocacy” and highlighted the “voices and perspectives of sex workers” in order to “advance understanding that sex workers’ rights are human rights and a feminist issue.” ¹²

CMI argued that it was “time” for human rights organizations and donors to “recognize and promote sex workers’ bodily autonomy” and also “acknowledge their labor rights as workers.” ¹³

Affiliated Organizations

The Count Me In! consortium is a strategic partnership with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs that consists of multiple feminist organizations and two other strategic partners. ¹⁴

One of the feminist organizations is Mama Cash, which leads CMI. Mama Cash is a left-of-center grantmaking group that directs grants to organizations that advocate for the interests of left-of-center women, transgender people, and intersex people. It advocates for legal reforms and criticizes “oppressive or restrictive norms and practices” regarding specific identity groups. ^{15 16}

The Urgent Action Fund for Feminist Activism (formerly Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights) is an advocacy organization based in California that claims to be a support group for “women, trans and nonbinary” left-of-center activists. ¹⁷

Just Associates is an international feminist activist organization that, built upon the theory that collective power can be leveraged to “create fundamental change,” works to organize transnational activist movements that focus on a variety of left-of-center causes including abortion advocacy, sex work, anti-racism, environmental justice, and LGBT issues. ^{18 19}

The Association for Women’s Rights in Development is an internationally focused feminist advocacy organization. It has endorsed liberal expansionist immigration policies, legalizing prostitution and other sex work, legalizing abortion, abolishing prison and the police, and legalizing hard drugs. ^{20 21}

The Guardian is a newspaper based in the United Kingdom that traditionally supports left-wing causes and Britain’s Labour Party. It is a part of the Guardian Media Group, which also owns The Observer and Guardian Weekly. ²²

The Guardian announced in January 2015 that it was partnering with Count Me In! for its “women’s rights and gender equality in focus” series that was launched in February 2014. The series was “initiated with support” from two members of CMI, Mama Cash, and the Association for Women’s Rights in Development, but at the time of the announcement, was co-funded by CMI. ²³

1. Members and Strategic Partners.” Count Me In!. Accessed July 31, 2024. https://cmiconsortium.org/members-and-strategic-partners/.
2. “Our vision and strategies.” Count Me In!. Accessed July 31, 2024. https://cmiconsortium.org/our-vision-and-strategies/.
3. “Annual Report 2022.” Count Me In!. April 28, 2023. Accessed July 31, 2024. https://cmiconsortium.org/wp-content/uploads/CMI-Annual-Report-2022-updated-web-version.pdf.
4. “Counting Sex Workers In! Campaign.” Count Me In!. Accessed July 31, 2024. https://cmiconsortium.org/campaigns/counting_sexworkers_in/.
5. “Members and Strategic Partners.” Count Me In!. Accessed July 31, 2024. https://cmiconsortium.org/members-and-strategic-partners/.
6. “Feminist PMEL.” Count Me In!. Accessed July 31, 2024. https://cmiconsortium.org/feminist-pmel/
7. “Our vision and strategies.” Count Me In!. Accessed July 31, 2024. https://cmiconsortium.org/our-vision-and-strategies/.
8. “Annual Report 2022.” Count Me In!. April 28, 2023. Accessed July 31, 2024. https://cmiconsortium.org/wp-content/uploads/CMI-Annual-Report-2022-updated-web-version.pdf.
9. “Our vision and strategies.” Count Me In!. Accessed July 31, 2024. https://cmiconsortium.org/our-vision-and-strategies/.
10. “Home.” Count Me In!. Accessed July 31, 2024. https://cmiconsortium.org/.
11. “Counting Sex Workers In! Campaign.” Count Me In!. Accessed July 31, 2024. https://cmiconsortium.org/campaigns/counting_sexworkers_in/.
12. “Counting Sex Workers In! Campaign.” Count Me In!. Accessed July 31, 2024. https://cmiconsortium.org/campaigns/counting_sexworkers_in/.
13. “Counting Sex Workers In! Campaign.” Count Me In!. Accessed July 31, 2024. https://cmiconsortium.org/campaigns/counting_sexworkers_in/.
14. Members and Strategic Partners.” Count Me In!. Accessed July 31, 2024. https://cmiconsortium.org/members-and-strategic-partners/.
15. “Home.” Mama Cash. Accessed July 31, 2024. https://www.mamacash.org/.
16. “Members and Strategic Partners.” Count Me In!. Accessed July 31, 2024. https://cmiconsortium.org/members-and-strategic-partners/.
17. “Who We Are – Urgent Action Fund.” Accessed July 31, 2024. https://urgentactionfund.org/who-we-are/.
18. “Where We Are – JASS.” Accessed July 31, 2024. https://justassociates.org/where-we-are/.
19. “Change Theory – JASS.” Accessed July 31, 2024. https://justassociates.org/who-we-are/change-theory/.
20. “Feminists Demand States and the UN Uphold the Right to Bodily Autonomy for All.” AWID. July 14, 2023. Accessed July 31, 2024. https://www.awid.org/news-and-analysis/feminists-demand-states-and-un-uphold-right-bodily-autonomy-all.
21. “No Borders, No Walls: Feminists for Abolition.” AWID. May 7, 2021. Accessed July 31, 2024. https://www.awid.org/resources/no-borders-no-walls-feminists-abolition-0.
22. Staff, Guardian. “About women’s rights and gender equality in focus.” The Guardian. January 14, 2015. Accessed July 31, 2024. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/feb/04/womens-rights-gender-equality-in-focus.
23. Staff, Guardian. “About women’s rights and gender equality in focus.” The Guardian. January 14, 2015. Accessed July 31, 2024. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/feb/04/womens-rights-gender-equality-in-focus.