Author: African Women's Development Fund

Alliances for Africa (AfA) was established in 1993 at the United Nations Conference on Human Rights, Vienna, Austria. AfA works to interface local, national, sub-regional and international initiatives on human rights, peace and sustainable development. AfA acts as a facilitator for the generation and dissemination of information within the women’s right field, pertinent to Africa. With this grant, AfA will advocate for the domestication of the Violence Against Persons Act (VAPP Act) in the 22 States in Nigeria which have not as yet domesticated the Act to ensure better protection against SGBV for Women and girls in Nigeria.

Ajegunle Community Project (ACP) is a feminist organisation established in 1996 to build solidarity and a safe space for discussion, problem solving and advocacy to advance feminist strategies of ending VAWG. With this grant, the organisation will create awareness around Violence Against Women and Girls (WAVG) and promote Women’s Mental Health in Ajegunle Community through street drama with artistic culture and dance and sensitization of members of the public on VAWG.

WILDAF-AO was founded by a group of women who were passionate about women’s rights and who had gathered in Zimbabwe following the Nairobi NGO forum in 1985. WILDAF-AO was set up in 1997 to bring together the various national secretariats in the West African region and to address their needs more efficiently. The organisation was awarded a renewal grant to enable them to complete its grassroots, national and sub-regional level advocacy and lobbying activities for the elimination of child marriage in communities across Togo and Mali.

The Women Land Rights in Afrika Consortium is made up of 3 organisations from Kenya, Mozambique and Tanzania and led by GROOTS Kenya. The consortium was formed to deploy the collective experience of all three organisations to strengthen land governance across the continent. With the Leading from the South grant, the consortium will advance women land rights in Tanzania, Kenya and Mozambique through the scaling up of tested successful community based approaches developed by women grassroots movements.

TAMWA was formed in 1987 to promote the improvement of women and children’s social, political and economic status through media advocacy. With the Leading from the South grant, the organisation will undertake empowerment activities for women and young women interested in politics through training, mentoring and coaching to increase the number of women aspiring to and capable of becoming good leaders.

SIHA Network was started by a group of Somali and Sudanese women living in conflict in the 1990s with the aim of giving grassroots women a voice to address subordination and violence against women and girls in the Horn of Africa. With this renewal grant, the organisation will strengthen the capacities of 300 street vendors in Kampala and Hargeisa in leadership, networking and training skills; to advocate for access to resources for women street vendors and to plan national advocacy campaigns to end all forms of violence against women and increase their political participation

SIGI was established in 1998 to empower and protect women and girls, to increase their opportunities to actively engage in their own life, based on international standards as well as the Jordanian constitution. With the Leading from the South grant, the organisation will increase women’s knowledge on the benefits and protections they have under the new amendments to the income tax law, labour law, civil retirement law and social security law in Jordan by training and working with community based organisations and groups, young women activists and working women

Raising Voices was founded by sexual health professionals in 1990 to figure out how to prevent violence against women and children. The organisation’s work has resulted in two ground-breaking approaches: the Good School Toolkit and the SASA! Activist Kit, both evidence-based and now used in more than 30 countries around the world. With the Leading from the South grant, the organisation will help change social norms that perpetuate Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) by enhancing feminist analysis in addressing the problem.

NAGAAD Women’s Network is a network of 45 women’s organisations in Somaliland founded in 1997 to serve as a collective voice for women and children to demand their rights as equal citizens of Somaliland. With the Leading from the South grant, the organisation will advocate for the passage of electoral law (Law No. 20) that has a provision for a leadership quota system for women by working closely with women candidates, the 3 political parties in Somaliland, the parliament, government structures, women’s rights organisations and community women.

Kafa (enough) Violence & Exploitation (KAFA) was established in 2005 to eliminate all forms of exploitation and violence against women and girls and to achieve substantive gender equality through a combination of advocacy for law reform, influencing public opinion, research, empowering women and children survivors of violence, and providing them with social, legal, and psychological support. With the Leading from the South grant, the organisation will advocate for better systems and regulations around Women Migrant Domestic Workers’ labour rights in Lebanon.