We represent women’s human rights organisations and their NGO partners in Africa. Our work on a daily basis confronts gender inequality and seeks to ensure the protection of women’s rights and bodily integrity. Nowhere are these rights more violated today than in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). From 21 September to 1 October 2008, our organisations were in fact in the DRC as part of a delegation of women from the African continent, and witnessed first-hand some of these challenges, and received testimonies from women survivors of these violations.

The African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) is pleased to announce that it has been successful in securing a grant from the ‘MDG 3 Fund’, an initiative spearheaded by the Dutch Government. Receipt of this new funding stream will enable AWDF to accelerate its efforts in supporting African Women’s organizations to work towards ‘Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women’, the third Millennium Development Goal.  

The African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) is pleased to announce that as part of our Endowment strategy, we have invested in office property which we moved into on the 25th of November 2008. AWDF has funded over 600 African women’s organisations, and in order to sustain funding for African women, embarked on an Endowment Campaign in 2006, supported by co-chairs Graca Machel and President Ellen Sirleaf Johnson. 

 

The African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) at the XVII International Aids Conference held a press conference on the 6th of August to showcase the work being done by African women’s organizations in combating the global HIV/AIDS pandemic and launched a progress report showcasing the achievements of AWDF’s HIV/AIDS fund. Speakers at the press conference included Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi, Executive Director of AWDF; Chantal Cuddumbey, Nelson Mandela Foundation; Nyaradzai Gumbonzvanda, Secretary General, World YWCA; Siphiwe Hlophe, Director, Swaziland Positive Living for Life; and Lucy Mensah, Executive Director, Women United against Aids in Ghana.

The African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) will be attending the XVII International Aids Conference in Mexico, August 3rd- 8th. Activities AWDF will be involved in at the Mexico conference include the press launch of a progress document on the achievements of our HIV/AIDS fund since it’s inception in November 2005. To date, AWDF’s HIV/AIDS fund has disbursed U$2,013,375 in grants to128 African women’s organisations in 26 countries, provided grant-making and technical support for grassroots organisations, networks and support groups of women living with HIV/AIDS in several countries and invested in multi-year funding in order to scale up some of the initiatives of African women’s organisations working on HIV/AIDS. Key events for AWDF at the Mexico conference include:

Actress Cicely Tyson, Former President of Ireland, Mary Robinson, and Nobel Laureate and Environmentalist Wangari Maathai will attend the event to highlight African Women’s Role in Economic Development

AWDF Sponsors Movie Premiere Of Pray The Devil Back To Hell A documentary feature on the extraordinary role played by Liberian women in bringing peace to their country

A network of women’s rights organisations express solidarity with Liberian refugee women