SAAPE’S ENGAGEMENT IN THE GLOBAL CIVIL SOCIETY MOBILISATION DURING THE IMF–WORLD BANK ANNUAL MEETINGS
The International People’s Assembly (IPA) concluded in Bangkok on 13 October 2026, bringing together civil society organisations, social movements, trade unions and people’s organisations from across the Global South and beyond. Convened by the APMDD together with a broad coalition of partners, the two-day Assembly provided a space to connect struggles around debt, taxation, climate justice, gender justice, inequality, public services, food sovereignty, labour rights, Indigenous peoples’ rights and other issues. The closing session brought together the key messages and outcomes emerging from the Assembly’s thematic and self-organised sessions. Participants reflected on the need to move beyond fragmented responses to debt, inequality, climate change and social injustice and to build stronger collective action for systemic change.
The Assembly’s broader demands included debt cancellation, climate reparations, progressive and democratic tax governance, universal public services and social protection, an end to austerity and forced privatisation, and greater democratic participation in global economic decision-making. Reshma Shakya, representing SAAPE and contributing to the Gender Justice and Women’s Rights thematic session, presented the key outcomes of the session during the closing of the Assembly. She shared the collective messages developed through the thematic discussion, highlighting the inseparable links between gender justice, debt justice, tax justice and climate justice. The presentation emphasised that economic policies are not gender-neutral. Debt burdens, austerity measures, regressive taxation and inadequate public investment in essential services disproportionately affect women and marginalised communities, while reductions in public services and social protection often increase women’s unpaid care and domestic work. The thematic session had identified six key areas for action: democratising global economic governance; ending austerity and increasing public investment in universal public services and care; advancing feminist tax justice; delivering debt justice; advancing climate justice and rejecting false climate solutions; and strengthening feminist solidarity economies. Bringing these messages to the Assembly’s closing session helped connect the experiences and demands raised by feminist movements with the wider economic justice agenda of the IPA. It reinforced the collective understanding that women’s rights cannot be fully realised without transforming the economic structures that reproduce inequality, and economic justice cannot be achieved without feminist leadership and collective action.
The closing of the Assembly marked an important transition from discussion and collective reflection towards continued mobilisation and advocacy. The outcomes were intended to strengthen the broader civil society mobilisation during the IMF–World Bank Annual Meetings and to carry people-centred demands into future regional and global advocacy spaces.