Year: 2018
#FacesoftheFuture : Grantee Stories and Moments to highlight the Women changing the Future of the African Continent.
#FacesoftheFuture : Grantee Stories and Moments to highlight the Women changing the Future of the African Continent.
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This year we’re placing our grantees at the forefront of our work. The #Facesofthefuture campaign highlights the various women and organisations behind our thematic areas and each individual subsection corresponds with a different aspect of our work. All of our grantees continue to define and shape the future– and it’s important to highlight the myriad ways in which they do this, as they do this.
This campaign centres both our grantees and the work that we’re doing and allows us to highlight some of the more interesting parts of our work.
Track #Facesofthefuture on twitter to keep up with all of the new stories and highlights each week.
Track #FacesofTransformation for stories on women transforming their communities through various interventions.
Track #FacesofLeadership for stories on our capacity building grantees and our innovative Manda Coaching Program that helps shape feminist leaders within women’s rights organisations.
Track #FacesofEmpowerment for stories that focus on the various ways we support economic security and justice.
Track #FacesofAdvocacy for stories on grantees that work in work in advocacy!
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Cette année, nos bénéficiaires occupent la première place dans notre travail. Notre campagne #Facesofthefuture met l’accent sur les différentes femmes et organisations qui contribuent à notre travail lié à nos domaines thématiques et chaque sous-section correspond à un aspect de notre travail. Toutes nos bénéficiaires continuent à définir et à façonner l’avenir. Il est donc important de souligner les diverses manières dont elles le font, pendant qu’elles le font.
Cette campagne tourne autour de nos bénéficiaires ainsi que notre travail et nous permet de décrire certaines des parties les plus intéressantes de notre travail.
Suivez #Facesofthefuture sur Twitter pour avoir accès à toutes les nouvelles histoires et les faits marquants de chaque semaine.
Suivez #FacesofTransformation pour accéder à des histoires sur les femmes qui transforment leurs communautés à travers diverses interventions.
Suivez #FacesofLeadership pour accéder aux histoires sur nos bénéficiaires qui sont dans le domaine de renforcement des capacités et notre programme innovant Manda Coaching qui forme les leaders féministes au sein des organisations de défense des droits des femmes.
Suivez #FacesofEmpowerment pour lire des histoires qui mettent l’accent sur nos diverses manières de soutenir l’autonomisation économique et le plaidoyer.
Suivez #FacesofAdvocacy pour accéder à des histoires sur les bénéficiaires qui ne font que du plaidoyer.
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Reflections on Generations of Sisterhood: International Women’s Day 2018
Reflections on Generations of Sisterhood: International Women’s Day 2018
“Women are not homogenous. We can be different but still find common ground to work together strategically. We cannot, must not, allow age, generation, class, ethnicity, education and professional lives, marital and motherhood statuses, diverse abilities and disabilities to divide us”. Prof Akosua Adomako Ampofo
Feminism is sisterhood and sisterhood requires conversation and interrogation to grow. It is not always the beautiful, flowing moments of synergy, but sometimes the recognition of our differences that require an examination of the cracks in order to find healing.
To mark International Women’s Day this year, The African Women’s Development Fund partnered with Pepper Dem Ministries, a vibrant online activist movement to engage in a conversation about Intergenerational feminism in Ghana. We examined mind sets, structures and the lack of conversation between various generations that could eventually lead to an erasure of our collective gains and histories. We looked at the good, the bad and the complex and emerged better for it.
The conversation was divided into three separate panels. The first panel, labelled the Pacesetters, comprised some of the women whose activism had paved the way for women’s rights in Ghana today. The panel, moderated by Gifty Anti included Nana Oye Lithur, Professor Akosua Adomako Ampofo, Professor Takyiwah Manuh and Professor Akua Opokua Britwum. These women recounted all the times they had challenged power in their long careers, and reminded the audience of the importance of building on foundations. They also spoke to worrying new trends, a resurgence of “traditional” values, that Professor Ampofo aptly referred to as the cult of domesticity.
The Second panel, captioned the NewGen, included feminists that had come into the fold through the development of their individual belief systems that were doing interesting work and sparking new conversations in their various fields. This panel, moderated by Afia Kwakyewaa Owusu-Nyantakyi was made up of Francisca Kakra Forson, Shamima Muslim, Felicity Nelson, Efe Plange and Maame Adwoa Amoa Marfo. This panel discussed the new conversations that Ghanaian feminists were having to tackle, as well as the necessity in fighting for and understanding differences within the movement. From their discussion, it was clear that a self-serving movement was unsustainable and would ultimately fizzle out.
The Third Panel, was an intergenerational panel that focused on the learnings that the feminist movement would need to address and grow from. They spoke to the changing dynamics within the feminist movements, the importance of harnessing social media space and momentum as well as the need for better communication of our feminist histories within the movement. This panel comprised Kinna Likimani, Louise Carol Donkor, Dinah Adiko, Rita Nketiah, Sheila Minka-Premo and was moderated by Akosua Hanson.
The conversation was lively, raising issues that are often glossed over and charting a history that isn’t always spoken of. Participants left the event with renewed vigour and a thirst to learn more about our shared movement and discover better ways to work together. This will enable us to truly consolidate our gains.
Beyond Tie Dye: Rethinking African Women’s Economies and the role of Funders.
Beyond Tie Dye: Rethinking African Women’s Economies and the role of Funders.
Jessica Horn, AWDF’s Director of programs was interviewed by News Deeply! See an excerpt below-and follow the read the entire interview.
Don’t talk to Jessica Horn about tie dye. The director of programs for the African Women’s Development Fund doesn’t have time for women’s advancement projects that lean on an age-old standby: artisanal crafts.
“One of the most common post-conflict reconstruction initiatives in economic empowerment is teaching women to make soda soap and to do tie dye,” she says. “Now you’re flooding the market with sub-standard tie-dyed cloth. Who’s going to buy it?”
To become real economic players, equal to men, Horn says, women need a say in the decisions that affect them. Which is why every project the African Women’s Development Fund supports has to meet at least two goals: increased income generation and greater political participation.
At the Bond conference in London, News Deeply spoke to Horn about the relationship between economics and politics, and the trouble with “women’s work.”
For the entire interview click here: http://bit.ly/2oQb5ai
#She Decides 2018
#She Decides 2018
Every girl and every woman has the right to health and the right to do what she chooses with her body. These rights affect her personal development, her participation in society, her livelihood and whether her family and community thrives.
#SheDecides is a global movement to promote, provide, protect and enhance the fundamental rights of every girl and woman and ensure that every girl and every woman can safely exercise her right to decide for herself what she does with her body, who she shares her body with and whether she wants to have children.
In a #SheDecides conference held in South Africa on 2nd March 2018, our Grants Manager, Beatrice Boakye-Yiadom spoke on Unlocking the Resources to ensure that girls and women everywhere have access to the right information and a full range of services, so that they really can decide. This means finding and spending the money from governments, foundations, donors, individuals so that all women and girls have the services, information and education they need to decide.
For more information on how to support the movement click here
Women’s Human Rights: A Look at AWDF Grant Best Practices
Women’s Human Rights: A Look at AWDF Grant Best Practices
Within the strategic plan, AWDF prioritised issues under the WHR thematic area which included Violence against women: ending impunity, practical support to survivors of violence, Fundamentalisms: religious, cultural, political, economic, legal and social, Property rights: ownership, inheritance, access, control of assets and Citizenship. The grantee portfolio at the time included initiatives that addressed the following issues including: legal, policy development and reform, movement building using The Charter of Feminist Principles for African Feminists, awareness raising through campaigns, events, media outreach on issues listed above, research and documentation, practical support to women affected by the thematic issues,training and capacity building. The purpose of the evaluation
was to increase organisational learning by assessing AWDF and grantee partners. It was designed to understand AWDF and performance between 2009-2011. The evaluation used relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability as an overarching framework. The analysis of the report was guided by the social change matrix, a tool utilised by the Global Fund for Women for internal reflection practices. It is our hope that the findings over that period of time will only continue to strengthen the work of AWDF as well as deeper understandings and practices in women’s human rights.
Health and Reporductive Rights portfolio: A look back at the last 14 years of thematic grantmaking and recommendations for moving forward
Health and Reporductive Rights portfolio: A look back at the last 14 years of thematic grantmaking and recommendations for moving forward
In an effort to ensure that the HRR thematic area remains relevant to women’s needs and reflect current and emerging issues that affect health and reproductive rights of women in Africa, AWDF commissioned an independent consultant (Ms. Everjoice J. Win) to conduct an evaluation of the thematic HRR area. This report is an abridged version of the findings from that assessment. To obtain a full copy of the evaluation, please contact Ms. Zeytuna Abdella Feyissa-Azasoo, the M&E
Specialist at AWDF.
- The overall objectives of the HRR evaluation were:
- To document and assess the work of AWDF in this thematic area, examining the relevance
of selected priorities; - To understand major challenges that have contributed to low patronage of the thematic
area and suggest improvements; - To identify current and emerging HRR issues of importance to African women.
To read the report in Full please click the link below:
Planting Seeds: Funding Women’s Economic Empowerment
Planting Seeds: Funding Women’s Economic Empowerment
This abridged report summarizes an evaluation of the EE&L theme. The evaluation had the objective to assess the performance of this thematic area from 2001 to 2011. The evaluation’s goal is to measure qualitative and quantitative gains in the lives of women and women’s organisations, and to examine the approach and scope of implementation. Furthermore, the evaluation draws lessons from the interventions, to provide recommendations to strengthen the thematic focus. Finally, the evaluation assesses efficiency and effectiveness of the approach and contributionsto the development of the women’s agenda of economic security in Africa.
The evaluation was carried out by Dr. Rudith Sylvana King along with supporting consultants Professor Imoro Braimah and Mr. Owusu Amponsah. The method of evaluation used was both a desk review and field interviews, including two country visits, and email interviews in six
countries.
Find a link to the full document below:
CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: Consultancy for developing a joint Communications Strategy for Leading from the South
CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: Consultancy for developing a joint Communications Strategy for Leading from the South
CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
The African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) is inviting applications from feminist oriented Communications Practitioners to develop a Communications Strategy with work plan for Leading From the South, a funding initiative supporting women’s rights advocacy in the global South.
For Terms of Reference, kindly click here.
Closing date for receiving applications is Friday 9th March 2018.
Feminist Africa Issue 22: Feminists Organising- Strategy, Voice, Power.
Feminist Africa Issue 22: Feminists Organising- Strategy, Voice, Power.
We are excited to announce the publication of Feminist Africa Issue 22, a collection of essays, opinion pieces and artistic reflections on feminist organising across the African continent. This special edition was produced through a collaboration between Feminist Africa and the African Women’s Development Fund. The content germinated out of conversations at the 4th African Feminist Forum, organised by AWDF in Zimbabwe in 2017. This collection aims to articulate the priorities, concerns and collective aspirations of contemporary feminist activists and organisers from various parts of the continent. The special edition, titled Feminists Organising: Strategy, Voice, Power was produced with editorial direction from Guest Editor Charmaine Pereira, Feminist Africa editors Jane Bennett and Amina Mama, and AWDF staff Sionne Neely and Jessica Horn. As you read, we invite you to consider some of the crucial questions offered in the journal’s editorial introduction by Charmaine Pereira: How has contemporary feminist organising in Africa addressed the nexus of strategy, voice and power? How have feminists in Africa organised and what are the ends to which feminist organising is directed? What strategies are used to pursue which goals and what trajectories of change are envisaged? How do we effect change within ourselves, even as we strive to change relations and conditions at local, national, regional, and/or global levels?
We hope this edition engenders deep critical reflection for readers, as we move towards our collective feminist futures!
Click here for the New Edition: Here
1 year of Change: 2017 AmplifyChange Annual Report.
1 year of Change: 2017 AmplifyChange Annual Report.
We are delighted to present our work for the past reporting period (November 2016 – November 2017). AmplifyChange is meaningfully contributing to our vision of improved sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) for young people, men and women – including the most vulnerable. In this Annual Report, we headline our scale of reach, the results our grantees are collectively achieving, our approach to fund management and how we strive to continuously learn and improve. AmplifyChange has consolidated its strong position as a multi-donor Fund within the SRHR landscape. We currently support a diverse and vibrant array of civil society organisations (CSOs) who advocate eagerly for SRHR.
To see the Entirety of the Report click HERE