The African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) was represented at the 54^th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) between 27^th February and 7^th March by:

Dr Hilda Tadria – Board Chair

Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi – Executive Director

Sarah Mukasa – Director of Programmes

Roselynn Musa – Programme Officer (Information & Documentation)

Nana Sekyiamah – Programme Officer (Fundraising & Communications)

AWDF also supported a number of African women’s rights organisations to participate in the CSW. These included:

• ABANTU for Development (Ghana)
• FIDA Ghana
• Young Women’s Christian Association (Zimbabwe)
• Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices (IAC)
• Nigeria Gender Budget Network (NGBN)
• Women’s Consortium of Nigeria
• Network for Women’s Rights in Ghana (NETRIGHT)

Supporting African women’s rights organisations to attend international conferences and convenings is part of AWDF’s remit to promote learning and the sharing of experiences on a local, national and international level.

Highlights of AWDF’s Activities

The New York Launch of Voice, Power and Soul: Portraits of African Feminists

On the 1^st of March 2010, Hon Gertrude Moneglla , the first President of the Pan-African Parliament and Jessica Horn, co-editor of Voice, Power and Soul: Portraits of African Feminists with Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi, Executive Director of AWDF launched Voice, Power and Soul: Portraits of African Feminists at the African Women’s Caucus which took place at the UN Church Centre, New York. Hon Mongella expressed her congratulations on the production of a document that presents an alternative and affirming image of African women. ‘I am happy to launch a book that does not portray African women as starving, helpless, hopeless and suffering. Instead we see strong, happy and resourceful women. And we also see more young women doing positive things. I am very happy about this. It sends a very important message.’

AWDF’s Participation in the African Women’s Caucus

Also launched at the African Women’s Caucus on 1^st March, was the African Women’s Regional Shadow Report on Beijing +15, a consultative document produced by The African Women’s Development and Communications Network (FEMNET) with financial support from AWDF. The report highlighted the key achievements and challenges in implementing the Beijing Platform of Action. In her remarks on the report, AWDF’s Executive Director, Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi that progress in achieving the benchmarks could be summarized under four key areas, those of Celebration Hope, Urgency, and Despair. Bisi pointed out that although there were areas in which African women could celebrate, such as women’s advancement in political spaces in countries such as Liberia and Rwanda there were also other areas such as the continuous conflicts in many parts of the continent that leads one to despair. Bisi however expressed hope in the vibrancy of the African women’s movement to continue to deal with the pressing issues facing the continent.

The African Protocol on the Rights of Women

Roselynn Musa, AWDF’s Programme Officer for Information & Documentation provided an evaluation of the Implementation of the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa (SEDGA) on behalf of the ‘Solidarity for African Women’s Rights Coalition’ (SOAWR). In her assessment Roselynn named 4 gaps in the process of implementation of the SDGEA including a lack of commitment by nations to submit annual reports on progress made in taking account of gender particularities, a lack of political will, a lack of understanding and knowledge about the content of SDGEA and a lack of cooperation between institutions in order to expose threats/abuses and document cases prosecuted.

Centre for Women’s Global Leadership’s 20^th Anniversary Symposium

AWDF’s Executive Director, Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi was one of the keynote speakers who shared her thoughts on movement building and the importance of sustainability for movement building work. In her address Bisi identified three key challenges facing the women’s movement today, which are a lack of alignment between vision, values and practice, a lack of appropriate leadership with some institutions and a sustainability challenge – some women’s organizations exist on shoestring budgets. In her recommendations, Bisi stressed the importance of re-dedication to global movements, and to feminist values and goals. She highlighted the need to make movements more inclusive and incorporate women who may not be part of formal organizations. This could be done by organizing regional spaces where feminists can convene regardless of organisational affiliation, as has been done in the case of the African Feminist Forum (AFF).

NEPAD/Spanish Fund Panel

Sarah Mukasa, AWDF’s Director of Programmes shared details of what AWDF has been able to achieve with support from the NEPAD/Spanish Fund. Support from the NEPAD/Spanish Fund enabled AWDF to scale up grant-making to support African women in the area of Economic Empowerment. Grants were disbursed to 52 women’s organisations in 9 countries, this funding was provided to scale up income generating activities, to increase vocational skills training and to invest in capital resources. As a result of this additional support the income generation activities of groups funded was strengthened and the provision of vocation skills training enabled women to make choices around which income generation activities they would participate in to support themselves and their families. An important outcome was that AWDF also strengthened its own capacities to respond to the needs of its constituents. The impact of this funding has been at a personal and community level – women been able to raise the visibility of their contributions, and have been able to raise their voices within their communities around what their specific needs are. This funding has resulted in a sustainable resource base for women and their families. Sarah however stressed that this should be seen as a beginning rather than an end.