Global
The SUBLIME Toolkit: Leading through a feminist lens is a guide designed to support those working for change. It focuses on everyday leadership practice, inviting reflection on how power is exercised and shared, and how more just and inclusive ways of working can take shape in organisations, movements, and collective efforts.
Rather than centring on leadership as a set of competencies or roles, the Toolkit approaches feminist leadership as a lived practice, grounded in values, relationships, and daily decisions. It shifts attention from performance to practice, and from individual authority to collective responsibility.
The Toolkit is grounded in ActionAid’s Top Ten Basics of Feminist Leadership, which frame leadership as a continuous journey rather than a fixed role. Feminist leadership is understood as a positive and inclusive use of power that strengthens collective capacity and enables others to lead. The Toolkit is structured around ten core principles: self-awareness; self-care and caring for others; dismantling bias; inclusion; sharing power; responsible and transparent use of power; accountable collaboration; respectful feedback; courage; and zero tolerance for discrimination and abuse of power.
Before moving into the practical sections, the Toolkit opens with an introduction that frames the learning journey. It explores why leadership is approached through a feminist lens, clarifies how feminism and feminist leadership are understood in this context, and reflects on how feminist leadership relates to wider leadership thinking. It also explains why the Toolkit works with principles rather than fixed models, and offers guidance on how the material can be used in individual or collective settings, as a reflective and evolving practice.
Structured across thematic chapters, the Toolkit then offers a guided learning process through reflective exercises, prompts for dialogue, and short illustrative vignettes. The activities support both individual reflection and collective exploration, helping groups surface assumptions, recognise power dynamics, and practise alternative ways of leading in their own contexts.
The Toolkit is accompanied by the podcast series Leading through a Feminist Lens, with one episode dedicated to each of the ten principles. Through conversations with practitioners and leaders, the podcast adds voice and depth to the learning journey, offering an accessible entry point for reflection and discussion alongside the written material.
Developed by Impact Hub Athens and the Impact Hub Network, and authored by Gerasimos Kouvaras within the framework of the SUBLIME SDGs – EU DEAR project, the Toolkit supports those committed to cultivating leadership practices grounded in care, accountability, and shared power.
Download the SUBLIME Toolkit here and explore the interactive online version.
