With the first meeting and working together of five women's organisations in 1985 to form the first Joint Action Group to campaign against Violence against Women, the seeds of alliance building were planted.

Alliance building is not new to AWAM . Networking - or when we work with other groups or organisations - can also be said to be a form of alliance building. Outreach is also a form of alliance building, as demonstrated by our programme with the Orang Asli.

One of AWAM's earliest objectives was expanding its reach to women in other parts of the country. The initial name of AWAM , All Women's Action Movement, reflected this desire. However, upon formal registration, it was confined by the Registrar of Societies to remain in the Federal Territory and Selangor. As such, alliance building is strategically important to gain more support for our advocacy demands and actions from women in other states. This will also make them more representative of women from all localities, recognising the range of challenges and needs.

Our alliance building programme allows us to disseminate AWAM's vision in the areas of gender equality, women's rights and democracy to a wider audience. We hope to be able to build the capacity and change the mindsets of young women in different states, and also to support and provide services for women in crisis there. Specifically, through the Young Persons Take Charge project we plan to make in-roads into three new states, namely Johor, Pahang and Melaka.

AWAM's current alliance building programme is funded by the generous support of the European Union, under a collaborative project between AWAM, Women's Development Collective (WDC) and Women's Centre for Change (WCC) that aims to strengthen cooperation among women's NGOs for the promotion of gender equality, non-discrimination and democracy. AWAM's activities in this project also include WWRP and NMMS.