Q: Tell us about the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF).

We are a feminist fund. We mobilize resources wherever they are and make them available to feminist movements across the African continent so they can do what they do best: bring gender justice to life for all on our continent. We resource movements, strengthen and accompany them, uplift their voices, and amplify their messages, particularly within the donor community.

For us, it is important to approach this work in a very practical way. We fund initiatives across a wide range of issues, from women’s health to climate justice, while also supporting the architecture that sustains movements: organizing, solidarity, and care that keep movements together.

Q: For someone unfamiliar with women’s and feminist funds, how would you explain their role?

If you want to understand what feminist funds do, you first need to understand why they do it.

Our goal is to make gender justice a reality for all, and we believe that feminist movements are best placed to make that happen. They have the track record, the knowledge, the contextual understanding, and the proximity to communities. They are the ones.

We believe they need the resources to do that work. They have been doing so much for so long with so little. Our role is to position ourselves so that we can access resources, mobilize them, help direct them where they are needed, and provide the kind of support that allows movements to thrive.