Author: African Women's Development Fund

The WHEAT Trust, a grantee partner of AWDF, will launch FemPress, a publishing house to amplify the visibility of grassroots women and their stories next month.

 
I am the Rose
 
If you are in the Cape Town (SA) area, join the December 2nd launch festivities which include the unveiling of I am the Rose, a collection of poetry and art by Zulfa Abrahams.
 
Zulfa Abrahams is a poet, artist and feminist scholar from Cape Town, with an interest in identity politics, gender and embodiment and mixed media visual art. She has MA in Women’s and Gender studies where she examined Muslim women and the politics of power and gender. She is currently undertaking her doctoral study which focuses on emerging technologies, women,power and education.
 
Recently, Zulfa has taken a keen interest in expanding her artistic work as a sketch artist and painter to include a number of mediums. She is particularly interested in the ways in which visual art empowers and provides a feminist space for intellectual creativity.
 
Inspiring women such as Diana Ferrus and Dr. Nadia Sanger will be leading the conversation at the launch.

FemPress, a publishing house for grassroots women stories in Africa
 
Grassroots women are sorely under-represented in the dialogue surrounding the issues that most affect their lives. Thus, they are often robbed of their physical and literary voices.
 
Instead of speaking on their behalf, The WHEAT Trust strongly believes that they deserve the opportunity to tell their own stories.
 
In April 2013, WHEAT hosted a writing skills workshop for some Western Cape grantees that work in the field of Gender Based Violence in their communities.
 
They published a first book containing these grantees’ personal stories born from the workshop. The book was entitled Every Scar Tells a Story.
 
This has inspired other women, like Zulpha, to come forth and tell their stories, and highlighted the need for a platform through which to raise their voices.
 
Thus, it is WHEAT’s aim that the launch of FemPress will enable women to share their stories, articulate their needs and share in the mainstream media in print as well as the additional digital platform.

To find out more about The WHEAT Trust and how you can help, visit the organisation’s website.

[tp lan=”en” not_in=”fr”]In June 2013, a thirteen-year old Egyptian girl Sohair al-Bata’a, died while being circumcised by a doctor in a small village northeast of Cairo. Today it was announced that the “doctor” who performed the procedure was acquitted in Egypt’s first Female Genital Mutilation trial. But we must not forget. We must get up and stand up for our rights and those of girls like Sohair.

Girls such as Sohair are the reason that the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence Campaign exists. From 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, to 10 December, Human Rights Day, the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence Campaign is a time to highlight action to end violence against women and girls around the world.

The campaigns key dates include: November 25th: The International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women; December 1st: World Aids Day; December 3rd: International Day for Persons with Disabilities; December 10th: International Human Rights Day. This year, the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence Campaign will continue with the theme of “From Peace in the Home to Peace in the World: Let’s Challenge Militarism and End Violence Against Women!”

Violence against women continues to affect women in all corners of the globe. The United Nations (UN) defines violence against women as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life”.

One in three women globally has been a victim of either sexual or physical violence by a partner, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a statement released alongside the reports, published recently in the Lancet medical journal.

According to the WHO “despite increased global attention to violence perpetrated against women and girls, and recent advances in knowledge about how to tackle these abuses, levels of violence against women — including intimate partner violence, rape, female genital mutilation, trafficking, and forced marriages — remain unacceptably high, with serious consequences for victims’ physical and mental health.”

In Africa, violence against women continues unabated. Families show their preference for boy children over girl children. Violence against the girl child starts right at birth, with some circumcised between infancy and age 15. These procedures are not performed by medical professionals; moreover, circumcision has no health benefits for girls and women. Circumcision may cause severe bleeding and problems urinating, and later cysts, infections, infertility as well as complications in childbirth and increased risk of newborn deaths. According to World Health Organisation, more than 125 million girls and women alive today have been cut in the 29 countries in Africa and Middle East where FGM is concentrated. Despite activists calling for the end of the practice, female genital mutilation is still a common practice in many communities.

Earlier this year, Uganda signed the Anti-Pornography Act into law; a number of women around Uganda were stripped for wearing mini skirts. Last week, a group of men were caught on video stripping a woman at a popular bus stop in Nairobi, Kenya. Fortunately, women and men from around East Africa took to social media, tweeting the hashtag #MyDressMyChoice and organized protests through the streets of Nairobi demanding the government deal with perpetrators of sexual violence.

We are violated in our own homes by the people who we love; our spouses, our siblings, our relatives, men in the streets, on our way to the well. As a woman, almost everywhere seems unsafe. As a woman, I am used to being harassed, not because of how I dress (and there is nothing wrong with how most women dress) but because I am a woman. And the men get away with it because they think it’s their responsibility to treat women the way they want. In order for women to live peacefully, we need peace in the homes, in the streets, where we can walk without being harassed.

Sometimes, I dream about the time that no child will undergo genital mutilation, no woman will be whistled to by men on the streets, homes where women feel safe and loved and not worry about defilement, rape or incest. And this is not something that is hard for us to do, but why can’t we do them? Why can’t we love women? Why can’t we treat women with respect? We all want peace but we never want another person to be peaceful.

This year, AWDF has commissioned six of the participants of the FEMRITE/AWDF non-fiction writers workshop to blog about the issues highlighted on each day of the campaign. This year’s writers include: Jennifer Thorpe from South Africa and Njoki Wamai from Kenya who through interviews with AWDF grantee partners and using an analysis of women’s rights organising focus on how communities can get involved to end violence against women. Eunice Kilonzo from Kenya and Kechi Nomu from Nigeria focus on issues of HIV/AIDS and disability how they have impacted on women on the continent and some of the strategies of resistance that we see emerging; and finally to close the series on December 10^th, Valerie Bah from the DRC tells the story of a Togolese woman who has faced a widowhood rite, and contextualizes it against the advocacy work being done by AWDF grantee partners there.

Every year, AWDF provides resources to women’s organizations and groups all over Africa who are working to end gender-based violence in Africa. To support the 2014 global campaign to end violence against women, AWDF will support small to medium scale women’s rights organizations across Africa to lend their voice to the campaign to end violence against women. AWDF will support initiatives by women’s organizations and groups in Africa working to: address stigma and discrimination against women living with HIV/AIDS; empower women living with HIV to participate effectively and take the lead in the HIV response in their various communities; and to amplify the voices of women living with HIV. For several years AWDF has recognised the importance of providing grants to support activities to mark 16 Days of Activism and remains committed to this work.

I am glad that women are doing everything to make every woman safe in this world, and men have joined in the fight. Some men need to know that the woman is as important and human as they are, and we should be treated with respect and love. Every woman must help each other fight violence against women. As Maya Angelou once said, “Each time a woman stands up for herself, without knowing it possibly, without claiming it, she stands up for all women.”

Beatrice Lamwaka was born in Gulu in northern Uganda, and now lives in Kampala. She is the General Secretary Uganda Women’s Writers Association (FEMRITE) and a freelance writer with Monitor Newspaper, UGPulse and the Press Institute. She was shortlisted for 2011 Caine Prize for African Writing and finalist for the PEN/Studzinski Literary Award 2009. Her short stories have appeared in Caine Prize anthologies, To See the Mountain and other stories, and African Violet and Other Stories. And other anthologies including: Butterfly Dreams and Other Stories from Uganda, New Writing from Africa 2009, Words from A Granary, World of Our Own, Farming Ashes, Summoning the Rains, Queer Africa: New and Collected Fiction, PMS poemmemoirstory journal, among others. She is working on her first novel and a collection of short stories.[/tp]

[tp lan=”fr” not_in=”en”]En Juin 2013,une jeune écolière égyptienne de 13 ans Sohair al-Bata’a, est morte au cours d’une excision par un médecin dans un petit village au nord du Caire. Aujourd’hui, il a été annoncé que le «docteur» qui a effectué la procédure a été acquitté dans le premier procès pour mutilations génitales féminines en Égypte. Mais nous ne devons pas oublier. Nous devons nous lever et défendre nos droits et ceux des filles comme Sohair.

Les filles tels que Sohair sont la raison pour laquelle lla campagne des 16 jours d’activisme contre la violence sexiste existe. Du 25 Novembre, la Journée internationale pour l’élimination de la violence contre les femmes, au 10 Décembre, Journée des droits de l’homme, la campagne des 16 jours d’activisme contre de violence basée sur le genre est un temps pour mettre en évidence l’action pour mettre fin à la violence contre les femmes et les filles à travers le monde .

Les dates clés de la campagne comprennent: Le 25 Novembre: La Journée internationale pour l’élimination de la violence contre les femmes; 1 décembre: Journée mondiale contre le sida; Le 3 décembre: Journée internationale des personnes handicapées; 10 décembre: Journée internationale des droits de l’homme. Cette année, les 16 jours d’activisme contre la violence basée sur le genre se poursuivront avec le thème de «De la paix à la maison pour la Paix dans le Monde: Défi militarisme du LET et pour en finir avec la Violence contre les femmes”

La violence contre les femmes continue d’affecter les femmes dans tous les coins du globe. Les Nations Unies (ONU) définit la violence contre les femmes comme «tout acte de violence sexiste qui entraîne ou est susceptible d’entraîner, un préjudice physique, sexuel ou psychologique aux femmes, y compris la menace de tels actes, la contrainte ou arbitrairement la privation de liberté, que ce soit en public ou dans la vie privée “.

Une femme sur trois dans le monde a été victime de violence sexuelle ou physique par un partenaire, a déclaré l’Organisation mondiale de la Santé (OMS) dans un communiqué publié aux côtés des rapports, publiée récemment dans la revue Lancet medical journal.

Selon l’OMS “malgré l’augmentation de l’attention mondiale à la violence perpétrée contre les femmes et les filles, et les récents progrès dans les connaissances sur la façon de lutter contre ces abus, les niveaux de violence contre les femmes – y compris la violence du partenaire intime, le viol, les mutilations génitales féminines, la traite et le mariages forcés – restent inacceptablement élevé, avec de graves conséquences pour la santé physique et mentale des victimes “.

En Afrique, la violence contre les femmes se poursuit sans relâche. Les familles montrent leur préférence pour les petits garçons plus que les filles. La violence contre la petite fille commence dès la naissance, avec certaines circoncisions entre l’enfance et 15ans. Ces procédures ne sont pas effectuées par des professionnels médicaux; En outre, la circoncision n’a pas de prestations de santé pour les filles et les femmes. La circoncision peut provoquer de graves hémorragies et des problèmes urinaires, kystes et plus tard, les infections, la stérilité ainsi que des complications lors de l’accouchement et le risque accru de décès de nouveau-nés. Selon l’Organisation mondiale de la Santé, plus de 125 millions de filles et de femmes vivant aujourd’hui ont été coupées dans 29 pays d’Afrique et du Moyen-Orient où la MGF est concentrée. Malgré les militants appelant à la fin de la pratique, la mutilation génitale féminine est encore une pratique courante dans de nombreuses communautés.

Plus tôt cette année, l’Ouganda a transformé la loi anti-pornographie en droit; un certain nombre de femmes autour de l’Ouganda ont été dépouillées pour avoir porté des mini-jupes. La semaine dernière, un groupe d’hommes ont été capturés sur la vidéo de déshabillage d’une femme à un arrêt de bus populaire à Nairobi, au Kenya. Heureusement, les femmes et les hommes d’Afrique de l’Est ont utilisé les médias sociaux, Twitter :#MyDressMyChoice hashtag et des manifestations organisées dans les rues de Nairobi exigent l’accord de gouvernement pour les auteurs de violences sexuelles.

Nous sommes violées dans nos propres maisons par les personnes que nous aimons; nos conjoints, nos frères et sœurs, nos parents, les hommes dans les rues, sur notre chemin vers le bien. En tant que femme, cela semble dangereux presque partout. En tant que femme, je suis habituée à être harcelée, pas à cause de la façon dont je me habille (et il n’y a rien de mal avec la façon dont la plupart des femmes s’habillent), mais parce que je suis une femme. Et les hommes pensent qu’il est de leur responsabilité de traiter les femmes comme ils le veulent. Pour que les femmes puissent vivre en paix, nous avons besoin de la paix dans les maisons, dans les rues, où l’on peut marcher sans être harcelée.

Parfois, je rêve de l’époque où aucun enfant ne subira de mutilations génitales, aucune femme ne sera sifflée par les hommes dans les rues, des maisons où les femmes se sentent en sécurité et aimées et ne vous inquiétez pas à propos de la souillure, du viol ou de l’inceste. Et ce n’est pas quelque chose qui nous est difficile de faire, mais pourquoi ne peut-on faire entre eux? Pourquoi ne pouvons-nous pas aimer les femmes? Pourquoi ne pouvons-nous pas traiter les femmes avec respect? Nous voulons tous la paix, mais nous ne voulons jamais une autre personne d’être pacifique.

Cette année, AWDF a commandé à six des participants de FEMRITE/AWDF non-fiction writers workshop un blog sur les questions mises en évidence à chaque jour de la campagne. Les écrivains de cette année comprennent: Jennifer Thorpe de l’Afrique du Sud et Njoki Wamai du Kenya qui, à travers des entretiens avec les partenaires bénéficiaires de subventions d’AWDF et de l’aide d’une analyse des droits des femmes organisant l’accent sur la façon dont les communautés peuvent participer pour mettre fin à la violence contre les femmes. Eunice Kilonzo du Kenya et Kechi Nomu du Nigeria se concentrent sur les questions de VIH / sida et handicap comment ils ont eu un impact sur les femmes sur le continent et quelques-unes des stratégies de résistance que nous voyons émerger; et enfin pour clore la série le 10 Décembre, Valerie Bah de la RDC raconte l’histoire d’une femme togolaise qui a fait face à un rite de veuvage, et contextualise contre le travail de plaidoyer effectué par les partenaires bénéficiaires de subventions AWDF.

Chaque année, AWDF fournit des ressources aux organisations et groupes africains de femmes qui travaillent pour mettre fin à la violence fondée sur le genre en Afrique. Pour soutenir la campagne mondiale 2014 et mettre fin à la violence contre les femmes, AWDF va soutenir les petites et moyennes organisations de droit des femmes à moyenne échelle à travers l’Afrique afin de prêter leurs voix à la campagne pour mettre fin à la violence contre les femmes. AWDF va soutenir les initiatives des organisations et des groupes de travail de femmes en Afrique: lutter contre la stigmatisation et la discrimination contre les femmes vivant avec le VIH / sida; l’autonomisation des femmes vivant avec le VIH afin de participer efficacement et de prendre les devants dans la riposte au VIH dans leurs différentes communautés; et pour amplifier la voix des femmes vivant avec le VIH. Depuis plusieurs années AWDF a reconnu l’importance de fournir des subventions pour soutenir les activités pour marquer le 16 Jours d’Activisme et demeure déterminé à ce travail.

Je suis heureuse que les femmes fassent tout pour rendre chaque femme en sécurité dans ce monde, et les hommes ont rejoint dans la lutte. Certains hommes ont besoin de savoir que la femme est aussi importante et des humains comme ils le sont, et nous devrions être traités avec respect et amour. Chaque femme doit aider l’autre dans le combat contre la violence contre les femmes. Comme l’a dit Maya Angelou, “Chaque fois qu’une femme se lève pour elle-même, sans le savoir peut-être, sans prétendre, elle se lève pour toutes les femmes.”

LamwakaBeatrice Lamwaka est né à Gulu, dans le nord de l’Ouganda, et vit maintenant à Kampala. Elle est Secrétaire générale de l’Association Ougandaise des femmes écrivains (FEMRITE) et un rédacteur pigiste avec moniteur de journaux,a UGPulse et l’Institut de presse. Elle a été finaliste en 2011 pour le Prix Caine pour l’écriture africaine et finaliste pour le PEN / Studzinski Literary Award 2009. Ses nouvelles ont paru dans des anthologies Caine Prize, pour voir La Montagne et autres histoires, ou La violette africaine et autres histoires. Et d’autres anthologies dont: Rêves de papillon et autres histoires de l’Ouganda, de l’Afrique du New Writing 2009, Mots de A Granary, World of Our Own, agricoles Ashes, Summoning les pluies, l’Afrique Queer: Nouveau et recueilli Fiction, PMS poemmemoirstory Journal, entre autres . Elle travaille sur son premier roman et un recueil d’histoires courtes.[/tp]

At the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF), we are actively working with women’s organisations on the ground to respond to the ebola crisis.

Members of our Grants department correspond with partner networks each week who are responding to community needs by amplifying accurate information about the virus and viable prevention methods, particularly to remote communities.

Below are excerpts of letters from the field written by AWDF’s grantee partners in Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Women Solidarity, WSD-Liberia

Bettea S. Monger

The disease has spread to all 15 counties. It is no longer the business of the Liberian government. The virus is covering the entire country.

The most affected communities are West Point, Montserrado, Dolo’s Town, Margibi, Barkidu, Grand Kru, Lofa, Gbarpolu, Bong, Sinoe, Nimba, Kolahun and Foyah District Lofa counties.

With limited and restricted financial resources, we have created public awareness and prevention strategies for the disease through the following activities:

1. Radio awareness and prevention messages in two dialects (Kpaleh and Bassa) during the months of August and September. The radio program is presently operating in six counties including Montserrado, Margibi, Bong, Bomi, Grand Cape Mount and Grand Bassa.

2. Printing and posting of information leaflets in the communities of Soul Clinic, Paynesville and Zaysay.

One of the volunteers in our office has nearly lost her entire family to ebola. They were among the twenty-five (25) who succumbed to the virus on 20th August in the Kolahun district of Masabolahun.

In many cases, a driver will take a patient from one health center to another until the person ends up dying inside the vehicle. The body could be in the vehicle for 2-3 days before the ebola response until takes it away. The death rate of women affected by ebola is quite high, particularly among pregnant women as well as children and babies.

The increasing spread of ebola is due to people traveling from community to community without taking preventive measures into consideration. At the same time, awareness and prevention messages are yet to reach the most remote communities in the country.

In an effort to rapidly respond to and combat the ebola crisis, we are in dire need of the following items:

• Printing educational posters, banners and leaflets
• Handwashing buckets
• Community to community sensitization and awareness/prevention workshops for residents, rural clinical workers (TBAs and TTMs and other midwives assigned in remote communities)
• Chlorine
• Protective personal equipment (PPE) for rural clinical workers

The markets are closed causing the price of commodities to skyrocket. Traveling from one part of Liberia to another has become extremely difficult. The epidemic is devastating the economic fabric of our country.

Community Empowerment Program (CEP), Liberia

Lucy Page

The outbreak has created an unfavorable economic situation. Communities are hugely challenged by the interruption of their cultural practices – shaking hands, hugging, bathing and grooming the dead. While none of the members of the organization have been personally affected, they have been emotionally and culturally impacted because of the number of relatives, friends and associates who are at risk because they live in “hotspot” communities.

If death occurs from the virus, they are unable to celebrate the homecoming properly because the deceased can not be touched or provided a proper burial. Women are at high risk for infection due to their dominance in the nursing profession and other caregiving careers.

Compound Number 1, a project community based in Grand Bassa County is encountering a spillover effect from Dolos Town in Margibi County. The gender equality program there is currently under quarantine. Market sellers are prohibited from trading in the quarantined neighborhoods causing additional challenges in income generation and food security.

CEP management has integrated an ebola prevention awareness campaign into one project, Department of Defense-Supported HIV/AIDS Prevention, as well as treatment and care targeting soldiers of the armed forces and surrounding communities of five (5) military barracks.

The organisation will conduct individualised and group counseling sessions, integrated with psychological counseling, and community events that target survivors of ebola. This action plan will be followed by the reactivation of economic empowerment initiatives to help rekindle the hopes of Liberians. These high-impact initiatives will help beneficiaries and communities to heal from the trauma of this experience. It is our hope to mend the existing fractured socio-cultural system so that citizens can resume a normal life.

What is still needed are the provision of sanitising materials or hygiene kits – chlorine, soap and rubber buckets with faucets. We also need funding to intensify the campaign of massive sensitisation and awareness with special attention to curbing the spread of the disease in high risk communities.

Given the accelerated pace that ebola is spreading in Liberia, we request fast-tracked assistance to provide women organisations the capacity to intensify the campaign against ebola.

New Liberian Women Organisation

Miata Kiazolu Sirleaf

My sisters, can you imagine that it was the women of West Point who led the demonstration! About 31 persons are said to have died. Our people are losing their lives on a daily basis. Much is needed in every way possible to make our people aware.

We encountered a problem in the field with a 16-year old girl giving birth. She went into a coma for three hours at a local clinic in Fandell, rural Montserrado County. We tried taking her to the hospital but, unfortunately, none of the hospitals allowed her. This took us nearly three days running from one place to another. At one point we were asked to carry her to the center where ebola patients are treated. We’ve known her quite well for many months and she was only giving birth. We refused because she does not have ebola.

At last, one private hospital, SDA Cooper Hospital, was able to treat her and she is responding well, even speaking and walking.

The country has very limited ambulance activity. As a result, dead bodies remain in the streets and homes for three to four days before the Taskforce Team can remove them.

Through the AWDF grant we have been able to do the following:

• A well-organized educational and awareness campaign to spread the word on symptoms and prevention methods
• A dramatization of how ebola is spread
• A talk show on radio in rural Montserrado County
• Distribution of essential materials such as clorox, biomedical soap, handwash buckets, stickers, fliers and posters to local marketplaces, communities, villages and towns
• A large projection frame to show how the virus works on the human body

We no longer live in normal conditions.

Schools are closed. The economy has declined, prices of local and international commodities have increased, hospitals are refusing people who are sick for fear of ebola. We no longer have long hours of work. Our rights are limited and the future of our children is at stake. It’s difficult to find food, women are depressed due to a loss of dignity and financial capacity to take care of their families. Women are especially affected because they tend to be the breadwinners for the family.

We need massive educational and awareness campaigns in the rural parts of the country where people lack basic information due to bad road conditions and limited electricity. Medication, food and ambulances are highly required to fight this battle against ebola.

In closing, let me give you nine (9) unsuspecting ebola sources you and your staff should pay extreme caution:

1. Door handles/access and transfer points in public places

2. Toll gate exchanges

3. Sharing writing utensils

4. Restaurants, food and drink handling

5. Fuel pumps and tanks

6. Makeup kits

7. ATM machine buttons

8. Hair and nail salons

9. Sharing cell phones and other mobile devices

Women and Children Development Association of Liberia (WOCDAL)

Malinda B. Joss

Along the Robertsfield Highway, twenty-seven (27) persons have died in the last two weeks. 13 children, 9 men, 6 women.This community is a concession area with diverse people. The situation was so alarming that President Sirleaf paid an emergency visit.

Four people have died in the community where our program manager lives. There’s not enough materials there for sanitation.

The government ministries don’t have the requisite training to prevent the spread. Cultural and traditional norms are negatively competing with the interventions of NGOs and medical team workers. There is a huge need for more funds to enable us to do the work.

Thankfully, we have a disaster management person on staff who was trained in Zimbabwe. This will help us to ensure that we handle the intervention according to the appropriate standards.

Centre for Safe Motherhood Youth & Child Outreach (CESMYCO), Sierra Leone

Laurel Bangura

For now, all organisations in the country are geared towards fighting ebola. It has caused a lot of mayhem in every facet of our society. Women and children are suffering. They are always the most vulnerable especially because women serve as domestic nurses to patients before the intervention of medical personnel.

In many cases when both parents die, the children are left as orphans. There are so many now in different communities across the country.

The government is presently quarantining five (5) districts in Sierra Leone: Moyamba, Bombali, Portloko, Kailahun and Kenema. The government is unable to meet all the needs of the people, especially that of women and children. We have been helping to assist pregnant and nursing mothers with food items, toiletries and soap.

On October 8th, Laygbay Lilian Amadu, Gender Advocacy Officer for Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs, provided the following estimates of ebola’s impact on women and children:

Number of children infected: 105

Number of women infected: 813

Number of children orphaned: 313

Number of children who have died: 48

Number of women who have died: 433

The numbers are growing with each day.

*All photos used in this article are from ebola prevention activities implemented by the Women and Children Development Association of Liberia (WOCDAL). AWDF provided USD5,000 towards this endeavor.

Schools are closed. The economy has declined. Hospitals are refusing people who are sick for fear of ebola. Women are especially affected because they tend to be the breadwinners for the family.

We no longer have long hours of work. Our rights are limited and the future of our children is at stake.

-Miata Kiazolu Sirleaf

New Liberian Women Organisation

On the 18^th of September 2014, the UN declared ebola as a threat to international peace and security and swiftly formed the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER). Currently, there are more than 13,500 cases globally and the West African countries of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone have been hit the hardest. UNICEF estimates that 5 million children have been affected by the outbreak and 4,000 orphaned by the virus.

The disease has killed nearly 5,000 people and the World Health Organization figures show that 12 new cases are reported in Sierra Leone every day.

The daily life of women, in particular, has been greatly impacted by the virus since women most often are the primary caregivers of family members, especially those who fall sick. This puts women at significant risk should they come into contact with the bodily fluids of the infected, including blood, sweat, feces or vomit.

The hazards are evident in Liberia where more than 75% of the ebola death toll has been women.

Implications of the disease on women’s lives

The government ministries don’t have the requisite training to prevent the spread. Cultural and traditional norms are negatively competing with the interventions of NGOs and medical team workers. There is a huge need for more funds to enable us to do the work.

-Malinda B. Joss

Women and Children Development Association of Liberia (WOCDAL)

As providers of healthcare in their communities, women have a greater likelihood of contracting the disease since they are often employed as nurses or patient care technicians. Furthermore, women are the ones who check on family members who have been quarantined. If family members are not well informed about the modes of ebola transmission or the welfare of infected kin, panic and worry can become additional traumas affecting women caregivers.

The spread of the virus has interrupted the daily life of cultural communities in West Africa – particularly spaces where women are critical decision-makers – such as markets (where crowds and market sellers are being stigmatized), food and water gathering practices for families (women are going further away from home centers to locate adequate and cost-effective supplies) and corpse bathing rituals (important socio-cultural traditions between the living and deceased).

On this point, AWDF’s CEO Theo Sowa adds, “Women are the ones who have primary responsibility in most of our communities for family and family responses. If we look at the HIV/AIDS crisis, if it hadn’t been for African women, our continent probably wouldn’t have survived. It was women who were the caregivers, women who worked to help change behaviors, women who took care of treatment. Women have trusted relationships with their families and communities. They can change the way people think about ebola and help others to really understand the nature of the disease. If we want to crack any problem on our continent, women have to be at the heart of the response.”

The disease has not only impacted everyday life but also the convening of organisations in West Africa and even other parts of the continent. The African Media Leaders Forum, which enables networking and discussion of new opportunities in multimedia, was postponed because many participants come from West African countries and, therefore, would encounter difficulties acquiring visas to South Africa for the forum. Similarly, the African Grantmakers Network [AGN], chaired by Theo Sowa, has postponed the 3^rd annual General Assembly due to Ghana’s government moratorium on all international conferences.

It is expected that the outbreak could take more than six months to control.

AWDF activates ebola prevention and eradication

One of the volunteers in our office has nearly lost her entire family to ebola. They were among the twenty-five (25) who succumbed to the virus on 20th August in the Kolahun district of Masabolahun.

The disease has spread to all 15 counties. It is no longer the business of the Liberian government. The virus is covering the entire country.

–Bettea S. Monger

Women Solidarity, Liberia

In response to the epidemic, AWDF has ensured measures to protect employees and to gain a greater insight into the effects of ebola on grantee organisations. Subsequently, learning sessions with health professionals have been provided to thoroughly educate all staff about prevention strategies within and outside the workplace. Precautions have also been implemented in the event of an ebola outbreak in Ghana.

Since early August, AWDF has supported six (6) grantee organisations in Liberia and Sierra Leone, with a total amount of US30,000, to intensify educational activities and resources that help prevent the spread of the disease and increase community knowledge about the outbreak. The Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Market Fund for Women (SMFW) has been granted USD10,000 to facilitate large-scale, mass awareness campaigns by market women in seven (7) markets across the country. The organisation is working with a coalition of government, NGO and CSO partners to accurately inform citizens about the disease, symptoms and prevention methods. SMFW improves the infrastructure of markets in Liberia by connecting women traders to a wealth of information and resources including assistance with credit, healthcare, childcare centres, storage areas, sanitary facilities and literacy development.

Additionally, the New Liberian Women Organisation/Skills Training Centre (NLWO) has been awarded USD5,000 to undertake a series of educational activities on the outbreak within selected communities in Careysburg City, Bentol City, Yeantown and Cruzerville. NWLO will use the community-valued methodologies of music and dance to translate ebola prevention messages to residents. The organization works to develop the capacity of unemployed, young women and refugee women in specific skills-based training and advocacy.

In Sierra Leone, the Foundation for Integrated Development (FID) was granted USD5,000 to generate the “Kick Ebola Out of Makpele and Soro-Gbema” campaign as a supplement to the government’s efforts to prevent the spread of the disease in the Pujehun District. The campaign will build critical awareness of the epidemic in targeted sessions with 120 town chiefs and provide sanitation kits to selected communities in two chiefdoms. FID was set up in southern Sierra Leone in 2004 to support women with small scale agricultural trading and other income generation projects.

A Labor of Love

Communities are hugely challenged by the interruption of their cultural practices – shaking hands, hugging, bathing and grooming the dead. If death occurs from the virus, they are unable to celebrate the homecoming properly because the deceased cannot be touched or provided a proper burial.

It is our hope to mend the fractured socio-cultural system so that citizens can resume a normal life.

-Lucy Page

Community Empowerment Program, Liberia

The effects of the outbreak are felt on an intimate level in Moiyatta Banya’s story, “A Phone Call, a Journal and a Bar of Soap.” The reality of the disease in Sierra Leone, a country in persistent recovery, has been devastating. Moiyatta’s organisation, the Girls Empowerment Summit Sierra Leone, educates and builds the capacity of young women by providing them with “knowledge, skills, courage, and confidence to become fulfilled and successful young women.” In the article, Banya narrates how the loss of family members, and particularly breadwinners, has been detrimental to the sustainability of families. Schools have been shut down in order to prevent the virus from spreading. However, this measure disrupts the education of girls and increases their vulnerability through this indeterminate suspension of school.

Since the presence of ebola has now been documented in a few cases outside West Africa, there is greater urgency for the disease’s containment and eradication. Liberia’s Minister of Commerce and Industry, Axel Addy, alluded that human kindness, which has led to the spread of the disease, is the very trait that could aid its elimination. Similarly, Wanja Maina, a Kenyan journalist and participant in AWDF’s African Women Writers Residency on Creative Non-fiction, muses on the transmission of the virus: “Ebola is spread through love, really. It is very African to take care of a sick relative. Therefore, we need a global community to show love to our West African friends during these trying times.”

Together, we can support women organisations to provide comprehensive and sustainable community responses to the disease. This is one way forward towards counteracting the devastating effects of ebola.

By: Sionne Neely & Shakira Chambas

Between January 12th-15th 2015, RESURJ will host an Africa Feminist Dialogue in Accra, Ghana. The meeting will bring younger feminist activists together to mobilize constituencies for Sexual and Reproductive Justice at national and regional levels. We are seeking applications from young women aged 18-35 from across the region. Please click on the below for the application form, criteria and more details: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1pfGUK8SEdXS2oS8OcTcjIWyNj44pnhldibCFh4J9eOM/viewform

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As Ghanaians we are rightly proud of our national achievements; winning early independence, championing pan-Africanism and supporting liberation struggles across the continent, founding a vibrant democracy and building our economy. And yet 57 years after independence there are still areas that remain woefully neglected; particularly the education system in the north of the country.

This came home to me recently as I was taking my daughter to school in the capital Accra to sit for the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).

The BECE – a week of examinations taken by every school child in Ghana – serves as the crucial bridge between basic and higher level education. My daughter, along with others attending schools in urban areas in the south of the country, stands a relatively fair chance of passing this exam.

But pupils in the rural parts of the north, where I grew up, are almost certain to fail because of the decades of educational neglect by successive governments. Ghana consistently ranks high in education spending in sub-Saharan Africa, but it is still failing many of its young people.

Basic education is compulsory and free in Ghana but many northern rural areas lack teachers, school buildings and other facilities. I thought about the children who were ill-prepared for the exams after spending their school life attending makeshift classes sitting under trees. And the children who arrive at school too hungry to concentrate; having slept the previous night with nothing but a drink of millet-flour water or possibly a breakfast of porridge. Many of these children have never seen a textbook or other material required for an effective education.

All of this makes me question how fair it is to assess these children by the same standards as those who have better facilities. These children’s opportunities are thwarted from the very start of their lives. This regional disparity is not confined to Ghana, in many other African countries quality basic education is assured for some but not all of the people.

In Sierra Leone and Ethiopia the few educational opportunities that exist are not evenly distributed, putting children from rural areas at a huge disadvantage. All children from rich household in Ethiopia had been to school while 43% from pastoralist households in rural regions had not, for example – and girls from the poorest families fare just as badly. If indeed Africa is rising, how is it rising for a child who does not even have an exercise book or lies on her stomach on the bare ground to learn?

Primary school enrollment in African countries is among the lowest in the world and disproportionately distributed. Forty-two million children in sub-Saharan Africa are out of school and children in rural areas are twice likely to be out of school. It is a situation that demands a change in attitudes and political will towards long-neglected regions and rural communities. This is not just a matter of justice and fairness but also about building sustained economic growth, which can only come with an educated, skilled workforce from all geographical locations.

The dry savannah of northern Ghana has seen little development and most people live in chronic poverty with few economic prospects. An improved education could give northern children better life opportunities, but to achieve this requires long term, coherent and systemic strategies by the government.

Poor school facilities are a problem throughout the north. Many children in rural areas attend classes under trees where they are also exposed to high temperatures, rainfall, and dust storms. As in many African countries, poor infrastructure has an impact on children’s attendance as well as their educational achievement. Improving the facilities doesn’t have to mean spending lots of money.

Rather than relying on capital-intensive construction methods, governments could work closely with local communities to develop and build schools using local materials such as clay, mud and straw. I lived in a thatched roofed, stone and mud dormitory whilst in secondary school in the mid-80s. The building is still housing girls in my old school, occasionally the thatch roof is changed. This practice can be replicated in many rural areas for children to get a better education.

Another important issue across rural Africa is that it is hard to attract skilled teachers to remote areas. In the north of Ghana for example, over 400 schools in the region have no qualified teachers. One way our governments could solve this problem is by encouraging retired teachers or civil servants, who have returned home to the area, to act as tutors and mentors so that even those children in the poorest areas have a chance at sharing in their country’s development successes.

Community participation models in rural education – where local community members are involved in and help to decide class supervision, school hours and seasons, as well as contribute to the housing of students and teachers – have worked well in some countries, whether organised by government or NGOs.

For example in parts of Ethiopia and Mali, as well as Ghana, the complementary schooling, Schools for Life and community schools are operating successfully because of their inherently decentralized approach and reliance on local initiatives, management, and decision-making.

This type of model, when it fits with the local context, can be highly successful and cost effective and governments must be encouraged to adopt more of them so that rural children might gain not just an education but also to also go on to have meaningful livelihoods.

Many may dismiss investing in rural populations because rural populations are increasingly moving into urban areas. In 2014, 40% of Africa’s population lives in cities. Although urban growth is expected to increase to 56% by 2050, the continent will still remain one of the most rural in the world.

All of these reforms require political will and investment in the educational system across Africa. It also essential that we reform our public institutions and for the state to be even more accountable for the way public and donor money is managed. Thankfully Ghana does not have the deep regional and religious divides of other West African countries but, even so, we know that leaving young people with high unemployment and social disparities can sow the seeds of these social tensions.

If we are to make further economic progress then children, even from the poorest families, need to have the chance for social mobility. If Africa is rising, the children from rural communities must rise with it.

Nafi Chinery is the Capacity Building Specialist at the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) and is a 2014 Aspen New Voices Fellow at the Aspen Institute. Connect with her on Twitter (@nafichinery).[/tp]

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Comme nous sommes à juste titre Ghanéens et fiers de nos réalisations nationales; la première conquête de l’indépendance, champions du panafricanisme et soutenir les luttes de libération à travers le continent, la fondation d’une démocratie dynamique et à bâtir notre économie. Et pourtant, 57 années après l’indépendance, il ya encore des zones qui restent terriblement négligées; en particulier le système d’éducation dans le nord du pays.

Cela est arrivé chez moi récemment, j’emmenais ma fille à l’école dans la capitale Accra pour passer l’examen de base du Certificat d’étude (BECE).

Le BECE – une semaine d’examens prises par chaque enfant à l’école au Ghana – sert de pont crucial entre l’éducation de base et de niveau supérieur. Ma fille, avec d’autres fréquentent des écoles dans les zones urbaines dans le sud du pays, et a une chance relativement juste de passer cet examen.

Mais les élèves dans les régions rurales du nord, où je grandissais, sont presque voués à l’échec en raison des décennies de négligence éducative par les gouvernements successifs. Le Ghana se classe constamment haut pour les dépenses d’éducation en Afrique sub-saharienne, mais il ne parvient toujours pas à atteindre beaucoup de ses jeunes.

L’éducation de base est obligatoire et gratuite au Ghana, mais de nombreuses zones rurales du Nord manquent d’enseignants, de bâtiments scolaires et d’autres installations. Je pensais aux enfants qui étaient mal préparés pour les examens après avoir passé leur vie à l’école pour assister à des classes de fortune assis sous les arbres. Et les enfants qui arrivent à l’école en ayant trop faim pour se concentrer; avoir dormi la nuit précédente avec rien, mis à part un verre d’eau avec de la farine de mil ou peut-être un petit-déjeuner fait de porridge. Beaucoup de ces enfants n’ont jamais vu un manuel ou autre matériel nécessaires à une éducation efficace.

Tout cela me fait juste me demander comment il est possible d’évaluer ces enfants par les mêmes normes que ceux qui ont de meilleures installations. Les possibilités de ces enfants sont contrariés dès le début de leur vie. Cette disparité régionale ne se limite pas au Ghana, dans de nombreux autres pays africains l’éducation de base de qualité est assurée pour certains, mais pas pour tous les gens.

En Sierra Leone et en Ethiopie les quelques possibilités d’éducation qui existent ne sont pas uniformément réparties, en donnant aux enfants des zones rurales un énorme désavantage. Tous les enfants de ménages riches en Ethiopie avaient été à l’école, tandis que 43% des ménages d’éleveurs dans les régions rurales n’y ont jamais été, par exemple – et les filles des familles les plus pauvres s’en tireront tout aussi mal. En effet, si l’Afrique est à la hausse, comment est-elle en hausse pour un enfant qui n’a même pas un livre d’exercices ou doit se raconter des mensonges sur son ventre, assis sur le sol nu apprendre?

Le taux de scolarisation primaire dans les pays africains est parmi les plus bas dans le monde et distribué de façon disproportionnée. Quarante-deux millions d’enfants en Afrique sub-saharienne sont hors de l’école et les enfants dans les zones rurales sont deux fois plus susceptibles d’en sortir. Il est une situation qui exige un changement d’attitude et une volonté politique en faveur des régions longtemps négligées et les communautés rurales. Ce n’est pas juste une question de justice et d’équité, mais aussi sur la construction d’une croissance économique soutenue, qui ne peut venir avec une main-d’oeuvre éduquée et qualifiée de tous les emplacements géographiques.

La savane sèche du nord du Ghana a vu peu de développement et la plupart des gens vivent dans la pauvreté chronique avec peu de perspectives économiques. Une éducation améliorée pourrait donner aux enfants du nord de meilleures possibilités de vie, mais pour atteindre cet objectif cela exige a long terme, des stratégies cohérentes et systémiques par le gouvernement.

Les pauvres installations scolaires sont un problème dans tout le nord. Beaucoup d’enfants dans les zones rurales suivent des cours sous les arbres où ils sont également exposés à des températures élevées, des précipitations et les tempêtes de poussière. Comme dans de nombreux pays africains, l’insuffisance des infrastructures a un impact sur la fréquentation des enfants ainsi que leur réussite scolaire. Améliorer les installations ne doit pas signifier beaucoup de dépenses d’argent.

Plutôt que de compter sur les méthodes de construction à forte intensité capitalistique, les gouvernements pourrait travailler en étroite collaboration avec les communautés locales pour développer et construire des écoles en utilisant des matériaux locaux tels que l’argile, de la boue et de la paille. Je vivais dans un un dortoir couvert de chaume, fait de pierre et de boue tandis que j’étais dans l’enseignement secondaire au milieu des années 80. Le bâtiment est toujours un logement pour filles dans mon ancienne école, et parfois le toit de chaume est modifié. Cette pratique peut être reproduite dans de nombreuses zones rurales pour permettre aux enfants d’avoir une meilleure éducation.

Une autre question importante à travers l’Afrique rurale est qu’il est difficile d’attirer des enseignants qualifiés dans les régions éloignées. Dans le nord du Ghana, par exemple, plus de 400 écoles de la région n’ont pas d’enseignants qualifiés. Une façon dont nos gouvernements pourraient résoudre ce problème est d’encourager les enseignants retraités ou fonctionnaires, qui sont rentrés chez eux dans la région, pour agir comme tuteurs et mentors de sorte que même les enfants dans les régions les plus pauvres aient une chance de partage dans les succès de développement de leur pays .

Les modèles de participation communautaire dans l’éducation rurale – où les membres des communautés locales sont impliquées et aident à décider de la supervision de la classe, des heures et des saisons scolaires, ainsi que de contribuer au logement des étudiants et des enseignants – ont bien fonctionné dans certains pays, que ce soit organisé par le gouvernement ou des ONG.

Par exemple, dans certaines régions d’Éthiopie et du Mali, ainsi qu’au Ghana, la scolarisation complémentaire, écoles pour la vie et les écoles communautaires fonctionnent avec succès en raison de leur approche intrinsèquement décentralisée et le recours à des initiatives locales, la gestion et la prise de décision.

Ce type de modèle, quand il s’adapte au contexte local, peut être très efficaces et rentable et les gouvernements doivent être encouragés à adopter plusieurs d’entre eux de telle sorte que les enfants ruraux pourraient avoir non seulement une éducation, mais aussi d’aller aussi avoir les moyens de subsistance significatifs .

Beaucoup peuvent rejeter l’investissement dans les populations rurales parce que les populations rurales se déplacent de plus en plus dans les zones urbaines. En 2014, 40% de la population africaine vit dans des villes. Bien que la croissance urbaine est prévu d’augmenter de 56% d’ici 2050, le continent restera toujours l’un des plus rurale dans le monde.

Toutes ces réformes exigent une volonté politique et des investissements dans le système éducatif à travers l’Afrique. Il est également essentiel que nous réformions nos institutions publiques et de l’état d’être encore plus responsables de la façon dont l’argent public et des donateurs est géré. Heureusement le Ghana n’a pas les profondes divisions régionales et religieuses d’autres pays d’Afrique de l’Ouest, mais, même ainsi, nous savons que laisser les jeunes avec un chômage élevé et les disparités sociales peut semer les graines de ces tensions sociales.

Si nous voulons faire des progrès économiques, puis les enfants, même dans les familles les plus pauvres, ont besoin d’avoir la chance de la mobilité sociale. Si l’Afrique est à la hausse, les enfants des communautés rurales doivent se lever avec elle.

Nafi Chinery est la spécialiste de renforcement des capacités au Fonds Africain de développement de la femme (AWDF) et est une lauréate 2014 d’Aspen New Voices à l’Institut Aspen. Connectez-vous avec elle sur Twitter (nafichinery).[/tp]