Author: African Women's Development Fund

“Let’s talk again about possible futures. What would the world look like if more grandmothers were given opportunities and support to help them to take on leadership roles? With 100,000 more women like Mariam sitting on local land councils, would property grabbing come to an end? With the counselling, support and encouragement of 100,000 more women like Zodwa, how much more quickly might we overcome stigma and fear, and get more people into treatment? Would the advocacy of 100,000 more women like Magret bring wife inheritance to an end? We’d surely be a lot closer to reaching those goals.” Theo Sowa, African Grandmothers Tribunal: Seeking justice at the frontlines of the AIDS conference

Read the full report here and check out the special edition of Stephen Lewis Foundation’s Grassroots newsletter dedicated to the trial with features, highlights and reflections on the Grandmothers Tribunal.

 

 

 

The 16 Days against Gender-Based Violence event launched around the world on Monday. The campaign takes place annually between November 25^th [International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women also commemorating the lives of the Mirabal sisters] and December 10^th [International Human Rights Day and the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights]. The 16 Days campaign is also an organizing and mobilizing strategy calling for the elimination of all forms of gender-based violence by persons and groups throughout the world.

The Center for Women’s Global Leadership at Rutgers University [New Jersey, U.S.] began the 16 Days movement in 1991. It has now grown to include over 2,000 organizations in more than 154 countries worldwide.

Violence against women across the world has been frighteningly normalized. In Africa, women and girls can be subjected to a variety of violations including domestic abuse, rape, female genital mutilation, sexual assault, human trafficking and inimical widowhood rites. Violence against women can occur in all aspects of women’s lives and will encompass abuse of women’s civil, cultural, economic, social and political rights. AWDF, as part of its grant-making commitment, gives support to women’s groups and organizations to collectively raise awareness about the work of African women to transform their realities into peaceful and sustainable futures.

*Check out this short film by South African photographer and visual activist, Zanele Muholi, supported by Human Rights Watch for #16Days2013

AWDF has participated in the event since 2003. In that year, we began awarding grants annually as part of our Special Projects Initiative to support the 16 Days campaign. The objective of these grants are to enable African women’s organizations working to eliminate violence against women to better coordinate activities to commemorate the 16 Days event. In addition, the grants awarded strengthen an international, Pan-African women’s network on violence against women to develop into an effective mechanism for social transformation and to create opportunities for this network to join their voices to a critical global campaign.

The 2013 theme for the 16 Days campaign is “From Peace in the Home to Peace in the World: Let’s Challenge Militarism and End Violence against Women.” According to the main organizers, the 2013 campaign “advocates for awareness and action on the multi-faceted intersections of gender-based violence and militarism, while highlighting the connection between the struggle for economic and social rights and ending gender-based violence.”

A three-pronged focus for action underlines the campaign by highlighting the intersections of economic and social rights with militarism and gender-based violence: 1] violence perpetrated by state actors 2] domestic violence and the role of small arms and 3] sexual violence during and after conflict. The campaign encourages worldwide participants to focus on the areas most relevant to their particular context.

For more resources on #16Days and to see how you or your organization can get involved, click here for the 2013 Take Action Kit (TAK). #16Days is also alive and thriving online. Join the campaign by sharing key information and engaging with your social networks on different strategies to eliminate gender-based violence.

At the 2nd African Women in Film Forum (AWIFF), Ade Solanke, award winning playwright and screenwriter led a masterclass on scriptwriting.

The power point from this session is embedded below:

 

 

words by Sionne Neely, Ph.D. | images by Moment Catchers GH

A nation without documentaries is like a home without photo albums. We have to gain confidence in telling our stories to the world. Without a family album, we don’t have a history.

-Yaba Badoe at AWIFF, September 23, 2013

If we have problems documenting our past how do we transcribe our future?

-Sefi Atta at AWIFF, September 23, 2013

 

 

Nearly two weeks after beginning a new position as Knowledge Management Specialist at AWDF, I joined our team in hosting the 2nd African Women in Film Forum [AWIFF] in Accra [September 23-25]. The forum featured a delightful array of intimate speaker sessions and workshops at the African Regent Hotel and free film screenings at Alliance Française d’Accra and the National Film and Television Institute [NAFTI]. Participants came from near and far including Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Cote d’Ivoire, South Africa, U.S., UK, and France. The three days zipped by in a whirlwind of creative conversations by filmmakers, writers, activists, researchers, actors, producers and students on how to sustain African women to share their stories with the world.

The forum engrossed us in the crosshairs of many stories. Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah, Communications Specialist at AWDF and the lead organiser of AWIFF, did a brilliant job making all feel welcome and comfortable. Her sincere and persistent focus on creating evolving discussions and action steps on the way forward was inspiring. Therefore, we were compelled to share our experiences or what Dr. Beti Ellerson called “a plurality of perspectives” with one another. Day by day, narratives kept unfolding – stories of forced exile and bittersweet return [Yaba Badoe’s The Witches of Gambaga], stories between grandmothers, mothers and daughters that trigger the pulse of diasporic longing [Sarah Bouyain’s Children of the White Man and The Place in Between], stories that re-imagine myth-making through the portal of a father’s funeral [Akosua Adoma Owusu’s Kwaku Ananse], stories that search for answers in the dense mine fields along the Zimbabwean border [Tsitsi Dangarembga’s On the Border].

As a researcher and archivist, my job is all about mining stories. Digging for stories in the field to understand how AWDF impacts grantees. Cultivating the organisational narrative and helping our staff, donors, partners and grantees to see how our stories and solutions are interconnected. Sharing new information with all stakeholders about how our work matters and the many ways we can captivate with our stories. Stories show us the magic of life, of journeys with no fixed end in sight but rather boundless paths leading to exploration, discovery and possibility.

Stories are also relational practices – a social contract between speakers and listeners. What stories are we telling and for what purposes? By engaging storytelling as a political tool, the sharing transforms an account into an act of accountability, reciprocity and self-awareness between witnesses.

 

Here are just a few key stories that I gleaned from AWIFF:

 

1. Our Stories Are Diverse and Multi-Faceted

Hawalatu Inusah took a 24-hour round-trip bus ride, from Tamale to Accra, to see the AWIFF film screenings. She works as Project Director of Northern Friends for Development, an NGO that trains young women with professional sewing, hairdressing and weaving classes. The organization began as a way to combat “kayayoo” (female head porters) or the migration of Northern women to Accra for work that often results in exploitative conditions.

Hawa’s bright eyes and warm spirit mirrors a passion to transform the livelihoods of women in the North. “AWDF works with many local organizations in northern Ghana and helps us to stay connected, brainstorm and exchange ideas,” Hawa shared prior to the first AWIFF film. “It’s enlightening to learn about film production because it’s different from my field. They are helping to change the way African women are shown. And this affects my chances – as an African woman – of being seen and heard.”

Playwright and scriptwriter, Ade Solanke who also led a master class on Scriptwriting on the first day of the forum, asked what other genres can we explore for storytelling? Ade’s production company, Spora Stories, is invested in telling stories of the diaspora or “fish out of water stories, African abroad stories, in and out of culture stories.” Such diverse migration stories, according to Ade, are universal experiences increasingly felt by people across the world. However, cultural and commercial values are revealed in how we share our stories. Ade suggests we reframe the story by focusing on fresh, nuanced strategies to express the many realities of African lives.

 

2. Our Stories are Always on the Move

Our stories indicate that we are flexible when confronting challenges, able to adapt and thrive, and imagine alternative dimensions to expand. Anita Erskine, CEO of Brand Woman Africa, spoke about the importance of chasing the passion of our stories and nurturing organisational development. She discussed a desire to change the narrative of what it means to be African women into a destiny that is resourceful, inventive and interdependent. On the last day of AWIFF, Anita demonstrated her commitment by announcing that her company would provide production grants to two women students to make short films [and the grants will be managed by AWDF].

Similarly, Tsitsi Dangarembga pointed to the need for greater production support of African women’s stories, particularly mid-career directors who are often locked out of viable funding options. Tsitsi remarked, “filmmaking is not a site of privilege for African women but a site of struggle.” Therefore, our work should ensure that future generations of women can “climb higher.”

Writer and filmmaker Sarah Bouyain’s work sits at the crossroads of mixed-race identity and reflects the complexity of being both French and Burkinabé. Bouyain’s work is persistently framed through Burkina Faso and a dense exploration into intergenerational relationships between women family members. She muses, “I was looking for cinema even when I was writing novels. I was writing with images. [Therefore] I want to make films from the perspective of a mother – to be an example for my daughter so she can do what she wants.” In her next film, Sarah will use multi-racial identity as a conceptual device to tell the story because “it’s on my mind all the time, being from two countries where one colonized the other.”

 

3. Our Stories Are Thread with Common Experiences

Writer and documentarian, Yaba Badoe shared her story of “endless perseverance” to complete book and film projects over the past two decades. She’s continuing the journey with her next project, a feature-length documentary about the life and work of writer and activist Ama Ata Aidoo who inspires Badoe with a thriving “pan-African and internationalist” blueprint.

In the closing address, Dr. Yaba Blay shared a touching story about meeting Ama Ata Aidoo as an adult during AWIFF after hearing stories from her father for years about the writer who also named Blay at her outdooring.

Indeed, African women are the repositories of history, “the keepers of culture” says Blay. She encouraged us to be self-reflexive, to see that the story begins with ourselves. “Who are we in relation to the stories we tell?” Blay prodded. “Part of my duty in storytelling is in telling the truth. We are accountable to each other through our stories. My people, my integrity are at stake and I am not for sale.”

South African filmmaker and producer, Lodi Matsetela, was moved to tears by the women in Badoe’s Witches of Gambaga who reminded her of her grandmother and other women from home. “It doesn’t matter how far apart we are – we all have similar stories to tell,” she mused. The future of our stories is what is at stake for Lodi who asks, “how do we create alternative distribution for independent filmmakers? How do we set up a pan-African circuit for developing our projects?”

 

4. Our Stories Must be Focused on Self-Determined Strategies

Sarah Mukasa, Director of Programmes at AWDF, also raised pertinent questions about the sustainability of our stories. How do we keep the firing burning year after year? Citing how development work can use film to build capacity and raise awareness about the issues we are working against, Sarah added, “Film can amplify the voices of African women, connect us as agents of our change and help us to share new ideas. How do we sustain the generation of resources – funding, technical assistance, resource sharing – on the continent and in the diaspora?”

Filmmaker Anita Afonu understands all to well the thin line between historical preservation and extinction. The director of Perished Diamonds, the documentary chronicles the Ghanaian cinema industry and its currently endangered archive. Last year, Anita singlehandedly launched a campaign to preserve more than 15,000 colour films made during Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s tenure in office. The films – archived in London facilities for safekeeping – were under threat due to years of overdue payments shirked by Ghana’s government. “I lost weight, I couldn’t sleep, I cried so many nights,” Anita shares. With the help of forum participants, Anita will lead a committee to organize a digital archive of the films for educational and commercial use in Ghana.

Marking the way forward, we closed AWIFF with discussions on how to encourage new spaces of hope and innovation for women story makers. Where can we create “home” in the craft of storytelling and mold nodes of comfort, nurture, openness and honesty within our communities? One action group meeting in particular focused on composing an African women and media manifesto led by Dr. Ellerson and Tsitsi Dangarembga.

In addition to nurturing talent, strengthening capacity and focusing on women’s skills and expertise, we can interface digital technologies with our stories. How do we do this? By making more information available online, participating actively in digital forums, innovating digital projects, seminars and open Skype sessions, launching crowdsourcing platforms and digital distribution of our stories.

The 2nd African Women in Film Forum is proof in the pudding that we as African women can innovate alternative spaces to learn and improve our craft, establish new techniques and invent new patterns of being.

Sisters, keep stirring that magic brew.

As keepers of the archive, we must also be keepers of the flame.

As part of it’s workplace giving scheme, the staff of the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) has provided women prisoners at Nsawam Female Prison with a range of items including an industrial sewing machine, knitting machine, fabrics, threads and a range of sewing accessories valued at approximately US$1400. These items were donated by staff of AWDF in order to support women prisoners learn skills which will help them gain employment/a means of making a living once they re enter the outside world.

AWDF staff participate in an internal Workplace Giving Programme which is funded by optional monthly deductions from staff salaries. In previous years AWDF staff have supported the Mothers Hostel at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital through the provision of a water tank for the unit.

Organisations which wish to set up an Employee Workplace Giving Scheme to support women and girls may contact the Special Programmes Department at AWDF via specialprograms@africlub.net/awdf

[tp lang=”en” not_in=”fr”]Currently I am in Ekiti State, Nigeria and have had the pleasure of joining Erelu Bisi, Co-Founder of AWDF and Founder of the Ekiti Development Foundation (EDF) in various activities commemorating her 50th birthday.

Frankly I have been amazed at the energy that Erelu has. A full day was recently spent with journalists from print media, radio and television stations, and the ease with which she answered questions showed clearly that she is a woman with a purpose. Next on the schedule was a donation to beneficiaries of the EDF food bank which supports elderly people in the state of Ekiti who do not have the means to support themselves. Afterwards we headed to an event organised by the women of Ekiti in celebration of Erelu Bisi where various women’s groups have testified to Bisi’s strong support of the rights of women in the State.

To top it all off Iconic magazine presented Erelu Bisi with the iconic woman award. Congratulation Bisi, I remain inspired by the work you do in Ekiti State, Nigeria.

Rissi Assani Alabi

Francophone Programme Officer

AWDF[/tp]

[tp lang=”fr” not_in=”en”]Actuellement, je suis dans l’État d’Ekiti, Nigeria et ai eu le plaisir de me joindre Erelu Bisi, co-fondatrice d’AWDF et fondatrice de la Fondation Ekiti de développement (FED) à diverses activités commémorant son 50e anniversaire.

Franchement, je suis étonnée de l’énergie d’Erelu. Une journée entière a été récemment passée avec les journalistes de la presse écrite les stations de radio et de télévision, et la facilité avec laquelle elle a répondu aux questions a clairement montré qu’elle est une femme avec un but. Suivant le calendrier, c’était un don aux bénéficiaires de la banque alimentaire EDF qui soutient les personnes âgées dans l’Etat d’Ekiti qui ne possèdent pas les moyens de subvenir à leurs besoins. Ensuite, nous sommes allées à un événement organisé par les femmes d’Ekiti pour la célébration d’Erelu Bisi où les divers groupes de femmes ont témoigné du fort soutien de Bisi aux droits des femmes dans l’État.

Pour couronner le tout, le magazine emblématique a présenté Erelu Bisi avec l’attribution de la femme emblématique. Félicitation Bisi, je reste inspiré par le travail que vous faites dans l’État d’Ekiti, Nigeria.

Rissi Assani Alabi

Chargé de Programme francophone

AWDF[/tp]

In this video Beatrice Boakye-Yiadom, AWDF’s Grants Manager speaks to Mawusi Nudekor Awity, Executive Director of the Network of Women in Growth (NEWIG), Ghana, about business management skills and enterprise development for community based women.Mawusi also shares how AWDF’s capacity building support has enabled NEWIG to reach potential new donor partners.

 

 

Read more: 2nd African Women in Film Forum (AWIFF)[/tp]

[tp lang=”fr” not_in=”en”]En 2008, le Fonds Africain de Développement de la Femme (AWDF) a lancé un projet de culture populaire au 6e Forum africain du développement, tenu à Addis Abéba, Ethiopie. En 2010, AWDF en collaboration avec l’Académie du Spectacle Vivant Lufudo (LAPA) a convoqué le premier Forum des femmes africaines dans l’industrie du Film (AWIFF) à Lagos, au Nigeria, sur le thème de la dynamique de la femme et sa représentation. Puis, en 2012, AWDF a ajouté une nouvelle orientation thématique – Art, Culture et Sports – afin de reconnaître et de soutenir les femmes qui transforment leurs communautés dans ces domaines. Cette séquence d’efforts est une expression explicite de l’importance qu’AWDF a donné à l’étude et aux pratiques des femmes africaines dans les arts et la culture populaire. AWDF croit que grâce à une utilisation efficace des productions culturelles pour changer les attitudes envers les femmes africaines, nous pourrons accélérer l’égalité des sexes.

En 2013, le 2e Forum des femmes africaines dans le Film a pour thème «Créer un contenu sur la justice sociale convainquant pour les Films et la télévision.” Il rassemble des cinéastes et autres producteurs culturels de tout le continent et de la diaspora pour délibérer sur la narration comme un moyen de mettre en avant les histoires de femmes africaines.

Lire la suite: 2nd African Women in Film Forum (AWIFF)[/tp]

[tp lang=”en” not_in=”fr”]2 years ago I saw Notre Etrangere/The Place in Between at the 2011 FESPACO (Pan African Film and Television Festival of Ougadougou), and in the blog post I wrote after the festival I cited the film as one of my favourites out of all the films I had seen at FESPACO. So you can imagine how excited I am that the filmmaker behind Notre Etrangere will be participating in the African Women in Film Forum (AWIFF)

Best of all, Sarah’s film Notre Etrangere will be screened on Tuesday 24th September for free from 6pm at the NAFTI Preview Theatre at the NAFTI Hostel in Cantonments, Accra.

On that same day, time and venue, I am also really looking forward to watching Anita Afonu’s ‘Perished Diamonds’. In Yaba Badoe’s words,

“The documentary relates the painful story of how the Ghana Film Industry Corporation (GFIC) was sold – or to use IMF jargon ‘divested’ – in 1997 to a Malaysian company for the sum of 1.23 million dollars. The idea behind the divestiture was to recapitalize GFIC before it was eventually returned to the state. The sale included all of the GFIC’s assets, its studios and equipment and, most controversial of all, Ghana’s film archive.”

It is heart breaking that we as Ghanaians have had so little regard for commemorating our history and allowed our film archives to be destroyed. The poster created below captures the failure in leadership in allowing this sad situation to occur.

The screening of Notre Etrangere and Perished Diamonds will be followed by a question and answer session with Sarah Bouyain and Anita Afonu facilitated by Anita Erskine of Brand Woman Africa, a sponsor of the 2nd AWIFF. This will take place at the NAFTI Preview Theatre at NAFTI Hostel – Cantonments, Accra (turn right at the roundabout after passing the entrance of the American Embassy on your left and NAFTI hostel will be on your right).

I hope to see you there.

Nana Darkoa[/tp]

[tp lang=”fr” not_in=”en”]Il y a 2 ans en 2011 je vis Notre Etrangère / The Place in Between au FESPACO (Festival panafricain du cinéma et de la télévision de Ouagadougou) , et pour mon blog j’ai écrit dessus, je citais ce film comme l’un de mes favoris de tous les films que j’avais vu au FESPACO. Alors vous pouvez imaginer à quel point je suis heureuse que la cinéaste derrière Notre Etrangère participe à l’African Women in Film Forum (AWIFF)

Image of Sarah Bouyain by Nyssos

Le meilleur de tous, le film de Sarah, Notre Etrangère, sera projeté le mardi 24 Septembre gratuitement à partir de 18 heures en avant première au Théâtre du NAFTI Hostel à Cantonnements, Accra.

Le même jour, même heure et même lieu, je suis également impatiente de regarder le film d’Anita Afonu’s ‘Perished Diamonds’. Dans les mots de Yaba Badoe,

“Le documentaire raconte l’histoire douloureuse de la façon dont Ghana Film Industry Corporation (GFIC) a été vendue – ou pour utiliser le jargon du FMI« dépouillée »-. en 1997 à une société malaisienne pour la somme de 1,23 millions de dollars L’idée derrière la cession était de recapitaliser GFIC avant d’être finalement retourné à l’état. La vente comprenait tous les actifs, ses studios et l’équipement de GFIC et, plus controversés de tous, les archives du film du Ghana “.

C’est le cœur brisé que nous, Ghanéens avons eu si peu d’égard pour commémorer notre histoire et permis à nos archives cinématographiques d’être détruites. L’affiche créée ci-dessous capte le manque de leadership en permettant à cette triste situation se produise.

La projection de Notre Etrangère et de Perished Diamonds sera suivie d’une session de questions et réponses avec Sarah Bouyain et Anita Afonu facilitée par Anita Erskine de Brand Woman Africa, un parrain de la 2e édition de l’AWIFF. Cela aura lieu au Théâtre de NAFTI au NAFTI Hostel – Cantonments, Accra (tourner à droite au rond-point après le passage de l’entrée de l’ambassade américaine sur votre gauche et NAFTI Hostel sera sur votre droite).

J’espère vous y voir.

Nana Darkoa[/tp]